Morphostratigraphic principles in glacier reconstruction - a perspective from the British Younger Dryas

Glacier reconstruction enables the calculation of palaeoglaciological and palaeoclimatic variables such as the equilibrium-line altitude and palaeo-precipitation values. Such data are important for our understanding of past atmosphere-cryosphere interactions and as input variables to constrain numerical models effectively. Numerical dating is crucial to constrain the age of glacial events, but, due to absence of dateable material and/or contamination problems, ice masses can frequently be constrained satisfactorily only in a few locations. Thus, extrapolation and interpolation of geomorphological evidence is required to establish the extent of glaciers at a given time for the whole ice mass. Using examples from areas in Britain that were last covered by glaciers during the Younger Dryas, geomorphological approaches are reviewed and potential pitfalls highlighted. A multiproxy morphostratigraphic approach that utilizes clear landsystem contrasts inside and outside dated glacial limits is developed and tested in an area where numerical dates are sparse. Landform assemblages suitable in this respect are the type and frequency of moraines, river terrace sequences, glaciofluvial landforms, raised beaches, the upslope terminations of sediment cover ('drift limits'), periglacial trimlines and periglacial features such as blockfields, solifluction lobes and thick talus accumulations. It is concluded that, if multiple lines of geomorphological evidence converge, these can be used to confine the extent of past glaciers in a given area and to guide dating programmes.