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Tuesday, 27 February 2024

Anglian / Wolstonian ice extent

 


In another context, I have been having a bit of an argument with a senior academic about whether there is any sort of a consensus in glacial geomorphology circles about an extensive ice cover in the SW part of the British Isles -- and in particular the Celtic Sea.

Well, I'm very confident that there is a consensus, which gets stronger every year -- for example as more papers are published by the members of the BRITICE-CHRONO team.  I have discussed many of their articles on this blog.  

One example is the map reproduced above, and mentioned in an earlier post on this blog:

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2015/08/prehistory-and-irish-sea.html

We now know that the ice edge during the Devensian glaciation reached the ice shelf edge -- this was not known 24 years ago when the map was drawn.  Earlier glaciations were at least as extensive, and we now also know that the Scilly Isles were at one time submerged beneath glacier ice.  This means that the ice of the Irish Sea Ice Stream on its SE edge must have impinged powerfully on the coasts of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset.

Does anybody now dispute that contention?  If so, let's hear from you, and let's see the colour of your evidence.........

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