What is the British-Irish Ice Sheet? | The Devensian British-Irish Ice Sheet | How do we know? | What’s in a name? | Activities | References | Comments What is the British-Irish Ice Sheet? The British-Irish Ice Sheet is a name given to ice sheets that covered Britain and Ireland at different times during the […]
The LGM British-Irish Ice Sheet: an introduction Read More »
Glaciers that carry little to no rock or sediment debris at their surface are known as ‘clean’ or ‘uncovered’ glaciers1. Truly ‘clean’ valley glaciers represent an ideal end member in the range of valley glacier types, which differ as a result of local basin topography, the amount of surface debris they carry, mass balance, and
Landsystem of ‘clean’ valley glaciers Read More »
The Loch Lomond Stadial in Britain Between around 13 and 11 thousand years ago, the climate in Britain, as well as across much of Northern Europe, cooled abruptly1. This short-lived cold period temporarily reversed the general pattern of warming that drove the retreat of ice sheets after the Last Glacial Maximum, causing glaciers to readvance
Cirque glaciation landsystem of upland Britain Read More »
Glaciated valley landsystems refer to the landforms and sediments produced by valley glaciers in upland and mountainous environments1. As valley glaciers currently exist under a broad range of topographic and climatic settings across the globe2,3, the landsystems they create are equally varied. The glaciated valley landsystems section of ‘AntarcticGlaciers’ will give examples of the range
Introduction to glaciated valley landsystems Read More »
This section of ‘AntarcticGlaciers’ deals with valley glaciers and the landsystems they create. Before diving into examples from specific glacier systems, we suggest first reading the Introduction to glaciated valley landsystems page, which covers valley glacier behaviour and how this influences the landforms and sediments they leave in the landscape. Videos This video shows some
Glaciated valley landsystems Read More »
Temperate glaciers reach the pressure-melting point throughout, for at least for part of the year. Today, temperate glaciers are found in mild maritime climates such as southern Iceland, western Norway, New Zealand, and southern Chile, where both winter snowfall and summer melt rates are high. Temperate glaciers are often very sensitive to changes in climate
Active temperate glacier landsystem Read More »
Ice streams are corridors of fast-flowing ice within ice sheets that are flanked on either side by slowly moving ice1. Palaeo-ice streams are ice streams that existed in former ice sheets2,3, such as the continental ice sheets that grew during the last Ice Age. Glaciologists know that these palaeo-ice streams existed as they left a
Palaeo-ice stream landsystem Read More »
What are glacial landsystems | The landsystems approach | Studying landform–sediment assemblages | Why are glacial landsystems useful? | Summary | Key terms | References What are glacial landsystems? Research in glacial geology has increasingly concentrated on glacial landsystems1,2. In broad terms, the landsystems concept attempts to understand how a landscape was created through investigation
Introduction to glacial landsystems Read More »
“Glacial Landsystems” are assemblages of characteristic glacial sediments and landforms. Different types of glacier deposit different assemblages of these sediments and landforms. The study of glacial landsystems can therefore give us information about the type and style of palaeoglaciers, and give us insights into glacial processes. You can also view our work on the plateau
Glacial landsystems Read More »
Earth’s glaciers are incredibly varied in their size and shape, ranging from small ice masses that cling precariously to steep mountain sides, to vast ice sheets that submerge entire continents below kilometres thick ice1,2. The form, shape and structure – known as the morphology – of these two extreme examples, as well as all glacier
