How much do we know about Stonehenge? Less than we think. And what has Stonehenge got to do with the Ice Age? More than we might think. This blog is mostly devoted to the problems of where the Stonehenge bluestones came from, and how they got from their source areas to the monument. Now and then I will muse on related Stonehenge topics which have an Ice Age dimension...
Pages
▼
Monday, 9 December 2013
Bancywarren geology lesson
How about this for a geology lesson? Faulted fluvioglacial sands and gravels at Bancywarren, north of Cardigan. These sands and gravels were emplaced during a Devensian ice ADVANCE -- that's a bit counter-intuitive, since big fluvioglacial sequences are normally laid down during ice wastage phases.
The faults are so sharp here that the mass of sand and gravel must have been frozen by permafrost when the faulting took place. The structures here are very different from those formed by settling / compaction / loading when the mass of fluvioglacial material is in a semi-liquefied state. So what we have here is an example of a frozen body of sediment which has been subjected to pressure either from the side (eg by an advancing ice front) or by a great weight of ice or other sediments exerting pressure from above.
A fascinating bit of geology. How was it determined to have been deposited during an advnce?
ReplyDeleteCharlie -- a number of very detailed papers by people from Aberystwyth for the most part. Here is one of the papers: http://cadair.aber.ac.uk/dspace/handle/2160/1585
ReplyDeleteThere's a complicated sequence of sedimentation, including thick lacustrine clays accumulated in Lake Teifi as the ice was advancing.
Same old rock from MPP
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81owUAZJ4Qk
PeteG
Very good presentation. I thought from the first slide that MPP would be beating a dead horse (or two) but it looks like this is still a runner.
ReplyDelete