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Tuesday, 20 October 2026

Scourse "cancel culture" is facilitated , when it should be condemned. The QRA should pay more attention.........


Map showing my revised LGM limit for the Isles of Scilly.  The most substantial deviation from the old map published by Scourse and others is based on the discovery of glacigenic sediments on the islands of St Mary's and St Agnes.  The published evidence is simply ignored by Scourse, who should know better.......


Another map by the present author, showing the relationship between proposed ice edges for the LGM and local bathymetry.  The extension of a lobe onto the coasts of St Mary's and St Agnes would not be an "aberration" (as claimed by Scourse) but a perfectly normal feature of ice flow near the edge of an ice stream.  In fact an ice edge running southwards as proposed by Scourse and others is unrealistic -- that would be very much an aberration.

I have been looking at the new Isles of Scilly Field Guide, just published by the Quaternary Research Association.  I will review it in more detail later on, but my initial response is one of profound disappointment and anger that the editorial team has somehow allowed this book to be published without adequate oversight.  James Scourse is the co-editor and prime contributor, and he has been allowed to promote a "cancel culture" directed specifically at me, by effectively ignoring my contributions to Scilly Islands Quaternary research.  This is a pretty appalling abuse of a privileged position, driven by a petty animosity that I find difficult to comprehend.

In fact most of my field observations and conclusions are in line with those published by Scourse -- which makes his animosity even more bizarre. 

In 2018 the Quaternary Newsletter published a short paper of mine, entitled Evidence for extensive ice cover on the Isles of Scilly.  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328413421_Evidence_for_extensive_ice_cover_on_the_Isles_of_Scilly

It was properly peer reviewed, revised and published under the supervision of the QN editor and must -- we assume -- have been considered a worthy contribution to the discussion about the Quaternary history of the islands.  The article was non-confrontational and perfectly respectful of the work done on the islands across many years by James Scourse.  And yet he seems to have considered it to be a personal affront, and he responded with fury in a petulant and indeed arrogant response which the journal published, together with my reply. That was all eight years ago........

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2019/03/scourse-versus-john-rather-scilly-spat.html

Now, in the new Field Guide, Scourse ignores my work completely apart from three brief citations.  Instead, he cites his own response to my article and fails to mention the fact that I disputed every point that he raised.  Just a reminder.  I argued, on the basis of strong presented evidence, that glacial ice must at some time have covered the whole of the Scilly archipelago; that Late Devensian ice was more extensive than Scourse and others have previously claimed; that the "established" Devensian limit on the northern islands is less certain than claimed, because of a lack of dating controls; and that the Scourse Quaternary lithostratigraphic scheme is more complex than it needs to be.  These are important points that deserve careful consideration.  But they are ignored by Scourse in this new Field Guide.

Ironically, the QRA, as publishers of this new Field Guide, is now unwittingly participating in the attempt by Scourse to ignore my carefully considered proposals,  and sharing in the pretence that the "Quaternary narrative" for the Isles of Scilly is universally accepted and undisputed.  In other words, it is participating in the dismissal or "cancellation" of a serious and highly relevant paper published in its own journal.  Scourse also displays a complete lack of respect for me as a serious geomorphologist and field worker with a long track record.   If nothing else, my paper deserves scrutiny because it is the most recent published contribution to the Scilly Islands Quaternary debate.

 Should we laugh, or should we cry?



Another of my suggestions, proposing the existence of a Scilly Nunatak, which seems to me to be based on glaciological common sense.  I have referred to this type of glacial exploitation of topographic  low points as "glacial wrapping".......

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-scilly-nunatak.html

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2021/11/glacial-wrapping.html


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Here is a reminder of the articles that Scourse should not simply have cited but should have scrutinized for the perusal of students and future researchers who study within the island group.

Brian John. 2016. The southernmost extent of the Irish Sea Glacier: observations from the Isles of Scilly. Researchgate Working Paper, September 2016, Version: 4

Brian John.  2018. Evidence for extensive ice cover on the Isles of Scilly.  Quaternary Newsletter 146,  October 2018, pp 3-27.

Brian John.  2019. Reply to Scourse "Comment on Evidence for extensive ice cover on the Isles of Scilly by Brian John.  Quaternary Newsletter 147, Feb 2019, pp 7-9.

Also relevant:

Bennett, J. A., Cullingford, R. A., Gibbard, P. L., Hughes, P. D., & Murton, J. B. (2024). The Quaternary Geology of Devon. Proceedings of the Ussher Society, 15, 84-130.


Quote:  Glaciation appears to have modified the landscape south of the Bristol Channel relatively little, although this is not surprising given that the ice from both the Irish Sea and South Wales did not penetrate far beyond the present north Devon and Somerset coast. Presumably the relatively easily deformed marine deposits flooring the Bristol Channel allowed the ice to flow along or across the valley until reaching the resistant rocks on today’s northern coast of Devon. Here, river valleys parallel to the coast and also truncated may in fact be ice- marginal landforms (Rolfe, 2015; Gibbard, et al. 2017). The BRITICE project (Clark et al., 2020) takes a broad view of the glacial limits in Britain but suggests that the pace of ice retreat from the Celtic Sea may have varied according to bed topography. In addition, Scourse et al. (2021) propose short- lived events of ice advance down the Celtic Sea that may have affected the north Devon coast and the further possibility that the ice margin had advanced as far as the shelf break at 25.5 ka.

This is a reasonable analysis, butv itvc is unduly cautious.  I think we could include the western coast of Devon as another topographic barrier to ice flow from the west.

Some of the exposures of Devensian till on the Isles of Scilly:
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