Clare M. Boston

A glacial geomorphological map of the Monadhliath Mountains, Central Scottish Highlands

The Monadhliath Mountains in the Central Scottish Highlands are dominated by an extensive plateau area that has received little Quaternary research attention during the last century. Previous studies have focussed on the geomorphology and sedimentology of isolated valleys and therefore the 1:57,500 map presented here provides the first systematic assessment of the glacial geomorphology of the region as a whole, covering an area of approximately 840 km2. Results of mapping from remotely sensed imagery and in the field reveal a large number of moraines and ice-marginal meltwater channels both within outlet valleys and on the plateau, alongside a wide range of glacial, periglacial and fluvial features including glaciolacustrine landforms and sediments, lake overflow channels, ice-contact fans, blockfields, solifluction lobes, alluvial fans, debris cones, river terraces and rock slope failures. The spatial distribution of the majority of landforms indicates that the region was dominated by at least one local plateau icefield glaciation. The map now provides a framework for further analysis, which will greatly improve understanding of the extent and dynamics of former ice masses in the region.

Glacitectonic composite ridge systems and surge-type glaciers: an updated correlation based on Svalbard, Norway

Glacitectonic composite ridge systems are found at the margins of a number of surge-type glaciers globally. On the High-Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, the pioneering work of Croot (Glaciotectonics: forms and processes. Balkema, Amsterdam, 1988) highlighted the coincidence between composite ridge systems and surge-type glaciers on the island of Spitsbergen. These observations have contributed significantly to our understanding of the links between glacier surges and the landforms they produce. We update this work and expand it to the whole archipelago using the Norwegian Polar Institute’s TopoSvalbard aerial photograph archive to identify 50 composite ridge systems. These are found on all four of the largest islands: Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet, Edgeøya and Barentsøya, and at the margins of both tidewater and land-terminating glaciers. Of the 50 composite ridge systems, 49 are associated with glaciers that have either been documented as surge-type or contain indicative geomorphological evidence of surging in the form of crevasse-squeeze ridge (CSR) networks. This provides further support for the established link between composite ridge systems and surging. Based on the proportion of glaciers that are documented as being of surge-type and those that display indicative evidence of surging (but have not been observed to surge), we conclude that at least 32.6% of all glaciers in Svalbard surge or are likely to have surged. This study contributes to the understanding of the links between glacier surging and specific landforms/landform assemblages (composite ridge systems and CSR networks), which has applications in other modern glacial environments and at the margins of former ice masses in palaeoglaciological settings.

Chapter 2 The Quaternary

Abstract The Quaternary is the youngest geological period, beginning 2.58 Ma ago and including the present day; it is therefore the only geological period that is continuously growing. During the first epoch of the Quaternary, the Pleistocene, extremely cold and warm conditions alternated, frequently over short periods of time. This resulted in processes currently only operating in cold (polar and high-mountain) environments extending to and affecting the mid-latitudes, including the currently densely populated areas of North America and Europe. In Britain every region has been affected by cold-region processes, which have produced unique sedimentary and geomorphological signatures. Hence, an intimate knowledge of these processes is of direct relevance to engineering geologists and anyone working with natural materials. This chapter reviews the state of the art of (a) the stratigraphic (nomenclatorial) framework of the Quaternary, (b) prominent concepts that are of direct relevance to understanding the detailed overviews in Chapters 3–5; and (c) key findings on the dynamics of these processes and their implications for engineering-geological questions and problems.

Examining the effect of changes in plateau icefield mass balance on ice margin retreat patterns and depositional processes

WHAT DID WE FIND? We collected both live biofilm materials, from which cyanobacteria and microalgae were isolated and brought into culture, and frozen biofilm samples, both of which are being used for an in-depth characterization based on DNA molecules using so-called next generation sequencing methods (i.e. methods which “read” the composition of the DNA molecules). While to-date the analyses are still in full progress, preliminary results have uncovered a high microbial diversity in the Greenland lakes, in particular in some groups of silicashelled microalgae or diatoms. Interestingly, the observed species are different from those in similar habitats in Antarctica, suggesting different evolutionary pathways for biofilm community development in each Polar Region.