Glacial and paraglacial history of the Troutbeck Valley, Cumbria, UK: integrating airborne LiDAR, multibeam bathymetry, and geological field mapping

Miller, H., Cotterill, C.J. and Bradwell, T (2014) Glacial and paraglacial history of the Troutbeck Valley, Cumbria, UK: integrating airborne LiDAR, multibeam bathymetry, and geological field mapping. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 125 (1), 31-40. (doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2013.04.007).

Abstract

High resolution airborne LiDAR (light detection and ranging) and multibeam bathymetry data, supplemented by geomorphological and geological field mapping are used to derive the glacial and post-glacial history of Troutbeck Valley (English Lake District) at a catchment scale. The results inform wider regional and ice sheet wide glacial reconstructions and demonstrate the effectiveness of an integrated approach combining geomorphological and sedimentological signatures with remote sensing. The holistic catchment approach is used to reconstruct palaeo-ice flow and behaviour of a small part of the last British and Irish Ice Sheet, identifying a series of depositional environments that accompanied both ice advance, ice retreat and post-glacial deposition within the Lake District. Drumlins are mapped in the lower catchment and show multiple regional (wider-extent) ice flow events and a sedimentology consistent with deposition by lodgement processes during the Main Late Devensian Stadial. Other subglacial deposits include till sequences formed under variable basal conditions beneath an advancing ice mass. Retreat features include a suite of recessional moraines formed by still-stands or small readvances of an outlet glacier. Following deglaciation, major sediment redistribution led to formation of a large fan delta via paraglacial and post-glacial fluvial sedimentation. This study indicates that an integrated approach, using geomorphology, sedimentology and remote sensing on a catchment scale, is capable of deriving a more in-depth understanding of regional ice sheet reconstructions and highlights the complexity of palaeo-ice sheet dynamics at a range of spatial scales.

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