The full programme book (PDF) - Royal Geographical Society

T2
New Be 10 surface exposure ages and topoclimatic factors for Younger Dryas
glaciation in the Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland.
M. Standell 1 * D. Graham 1 R. Hodgkins 1 and Á. Rodés 2
1 Department of Geography, Loughborough University
2 NERC CIAF, East Kilbride
The Cairngorm Mountains contain an outstanding assemblage of glacial landforms from
both the deglaciation of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet and the Younger Dryas Readvance;
these provide a wealth of information about glacier-climate interaction and palaeoclimate.
Previous interpretations have left doubt over the extent and style of the Younger Dryas
readvance. In addition, the pattern and timing of deglaciation in the southern Cairngorms
and, particularly, how local and external ice masses interacted is unclear.
New geomorphological mapping from aerial images and fieldwork has been compiled in a
GIS for a 600 km 2 area of the Cairngorm Mountains. This has been combined with new
cosmogenic surface exposure ages taken from areas of ‘hummocky moraine’ previously
subject to differing age interpretations. The effect of moraine denudation on apparent Be 10
ages has been checked by inverse modelling of the Be 10 concentration vs. boulder height.
The results indicate more extensive Younger Dryas glaciation, with preliminary glacier
reconstructions and ELAs comparable with the surrounding areas. Reconstruction of both
valley and plateau-fed glaciers, combined with modelling of local topoclimatic factors such
as radiation, avalanche and snow drifting can explain some of the variations within the
ELAs. The geomorphological evidence and palaeoclimatic inferences are important,
alongside a growing number of palaeoglaciological studies, in acting as evaluation areas
for current numerical models of ice sheet growth and decay.
Keywords: palaeoclimate; Younger Dryas; glacier reconstruction; ELA; cosmogenic Be 10
exposure dating