This article was written by Dr Jenna Sutherland. All photos and images are credited to Jenna Sutherland. A long history of scientific debate Along the east coast of the UK, spectacular coastal sections expose sediments that were deposited by the last British Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) around 21,000 years ago. For many years, Late Devensian … Read more
By Dr Sam Roberson, British Geological Survey, Belfast Glaciation of Ireland during the Devensian The island of Ireland has been glaciated many times during the Quaternary period. The last glaciation in Ireland is referred to historically as the ‘Midlandian’, but now, the British-Irish term ‘Devensian’ is more commonly used. During the Devensian, the British-Irish Ice … Read more
What is the shelf-edge margin of the British-Irish Ice Sheet? | How do we know the British-Irish Ice Sheet reached the shelf edge? | How did the British-Irish Ice Sheet retreat from the shelf edge? | Why do we study shelf-edge margins of the British-Irish Ice Sheet? What is the shelf-edge margin of the British-Irish … Read more
What is a glacial erratic? Glacial erratics, often simply called erratics, or erratic boulders, are rocks that have been transported by ice and deposited elsewhere. The type of rock (lithology) that the glacial erratic is made from is different to the lithology of the bedrock where the erratic is deposited. For example, an erratic could … Read more
