The glacial geomorphology of the Loch Lomond Stadial in Britain : a map and geographic information system resource of published evidence.

Abstract

The Loch Lomond Stadial (LLS) was an abrupt period of renewed cooling between 12.9 and 11.7 ka and has long been associated with the regrowth of glaciers in much of upland Britain. Mapping the glacial landforms associated with this period has been undertaken for over a century, but in a non-systematic nature and at specific locations. In this paper, glacial geomorphology associated with the LLS in Britain has been compiled from the published literature into a glacial map and accompanying geographical information system database that is available electronically as supplementary information. A variety of scales have been used to best represent the evidence in the database. Map A is at 1:310 000; B, C, D, E, F, J, L, M and O are at 1:175 000; K, N, P are at 1:100 000 and G, H and I are at 1:50,000. The database contains over 95,000 individual features, which are organised into thematic layers and each attributed to its original citation. The evidence includes moraines, drift and boulder limits, drift benches, periglacial trimlines, meltwater channels, eskers, striations and roches moutonneés, protalus ramparts and ice-dammed lakes. Creation of this database overcomes the drawbacks posed by the non-systematic nature of previous mapping output from studies of LLS glaciation. It is intended to be a catalyst for future research in this area, with especial significance for regional palaeoglaciological and palaeoclimatic reconstructions of the Younger Dryas and numerical modelling.