Abstract From 1965 to 2000 glacial geomorphology became increasingly specialized and developed significantly due to technological improvements, particularly in remote sensing, surveying and field-based glaciological process studies. The better understanding of basal thermal regimes in ice sheets and glaciers led to the development of concepts such as spatial and temporal migration of ice divides in dynamic ice sheets that could overprint subglacial landform assemblages, debris entrainment processes related to polythermal glacier systems, and glacier and ice sheet beds composed of cold and warm based mosaics. Process observations at the ice–bed interface led to the discovery of the third glacier flow mechanism, substrate deformation, which provided the impetus to reconstruct the genesis of subglacial bedforms such as drumlins and to evaluate the origins and potential flow law for till. Numerical evaluations of glacial erosion led to a better understanding of abrasion and quarrying as well as the erection of genetic models and erosion rates for larger-scale features such as U-shaped valleys and cirques. Linkages were made between debris transport pathways and moraine construction in supraglacial environments, with the role of glacier structure being linked to specific landforms, such as medial, lateral, hummocky and ice-cored moraines as well as rock glaciers. Our appreciation of the erosional and depositional impacts of glacifluvial systems was enhanced significantly with the advent of process observations on the hydrology of modern glaciers as well as the final vindication of J.H. Bretz and his proposed jökulhlaup origins of the Channelled Scablands and the Missoula Floods. In addition to the increasing numbers of studies at modern glacier snouts, the embracing of sedimentology by glacial geomorphologists was to result in significant developments in understanding the process-form regimes of subglacial, marginal and proglacial landforms, particularly the recognition of landform continua and hybrids. Advances resulting from this included the recognition of different modes of moraine and glacitectonic thrust mass development, lithofacies models of the varied glacifluvial depositional environments, and the initial expansion of work on the sediments and depocentres of glacimarine settings, the latter being the result of glacial research taking to submersibles and ice-strengthened ships for the first time. A similarly new frontier was the expansion of research on the increasingly higher resolution images returning from Mars, where extraterrestrial glaciations were recognized based on comparisons with Earth analogues. Holistic appreciations of glaciation signatures using landform assemblages were developed, initially as process-form models and later as glacial landsystems, providing an ever-expanding set of templates for reconstructing palaeoglaciology in the wide variety of topographic and environmental settings, which also acknowledge spatial and temporal change in glacier and ice sheet systems.

Abstract The Quaternary is the youngest geological period, beginning 2.58 Ma ago and including the present day; it is therefore the only geological period that is continuously growing. During the first epoch of the Quaternary, the Pleistocene, extremely cold and warm conditions alternated, frequently over short periods of time. This resulted in processes currently only operating in cold (polar and high-mountain) environments extending to and affecting the midlatitudes, including the currently densely populated areas of North America and Europe. In Britain every region has been affected by cold-region processes, which have produced unique sedimentary and geomorphological signatures. Hence, an intimate knowledge of these processes is of direct relevance to engineering geologists and anyone working with natural materials. This chapter reviews the state of the art of (a) the stratigraphic (nomenclatorial) framework of the Quaternary, (b) prominent concepts that are of direct relevance to understanding the detailed overviews in Chapters 3 – 5 ; and (c) key findings on the dynamics of these processes and their implications for engineering-geological questions and problems.

Abstract The development of the conceptual ground model (CGM) is a critical component of any desk study or ground engineering project planning process. A key task of the engineering geologist is to develop the CGM in order to predict the occurrence of known terrain units, elements and facets within a given landsystem, and to communicate the lateral and vertical variability of engineering rocks and soils found within that system. This chapter details the significant ground components of glacial and periglacial landsystems within a geomorphological framework describing the sediments, structures and landforms that could reasonably be expected to be encountered in these terrains. Examples are provided of both modern and relict glacial and periglacial landforms, their mode of formation and their field recognition. Glaciogenic and periglacial sediments are described both in terms of their sedimentological and formal engineering description. The chapter provides a suggested naming nomenclature for these sediments that can be used within a BS 5930 description. An extensive photoglossary is presented as a field aide memoir, enabling the engineering geologist to identify these features once on site.

Abstract Former glaciation style is dictated by physiography and ice dynamics and is encoded in glacial landsystem imprints. As a holistic evaluation of sediment–landform associations and their genetic relationships to the processes involved in terrain development, glacial landsystems can facilitate a preliminary prediction of expected subsurface conditions using depositional surface morphology and wider physiographic setting. This chapter provides exemplars representative of the widely variable glacial depositional environments of the British Isles. The glacial deposits of the British Isles are viewed in terms of the dominant landsystems in the Quaternary sediment–landform record and can be grouped under four categories: (1) ice-sheet-related deposits and (2) upland (hard bedrock) glacial deposits, organized according to subglacial footprints, ice-marginal complexes and supraglacial assemblages; (3) glaciofluvial sediment–landforms, organized according to whether they are ice-contact or proglacial in nature; and (4) subaqueous depositional sequences, related to ice-proximal and ice-distal environments. These glacial landsystems are related to the concept of Quaternary domains in an attempt to translate sediment–landform assemblages into a format that has practicability in engineering geology. In this respect the regional distribution of landsystems resonates to some degree with the classification schemes of ‘glaciogenic subgroups’ and ‘till formation domains’. Beyond the glaciogenic subgroup and domain classifications, landsystems further identify localized complexities and ensure a higher level of detail for site investigations where intensive Quaternary geological assessments have yielded a range of data including geomorphological mapping and outcrop investigations with three-dimensional analyses of borehole archives.

Abstract The Sr isotope ratios and Sr concentration in tooth enamel from a rural tenth-twelfth century Anglo-Saxon population living on a Jurassic clay-carbonate terrain in eastern England gives the following mean values: 87 Sr/ 86 Sr=0.7098±0.0018 (2σ, n =22) and Sr concentrations = 74±62 p.p.m. (2σ). The isotope data are taken to be representative of Anglo-Saxon biosphere values in the area of study. The Sr isotope composition of soil leachates, plant material, riverwaters and animal tooth enamel associated with the burial site were all analysed to see which gave the best approximation to these local Anglo-Saxon values, the aim being to define the best method of predicting the local Sr signature of areas for archaeological purposes. The Sr isotope composition of acetic acid soil leachates were dominated by the carbonate soil component and gave 0.7085±0.0020 water leachates gave 0.7090±0.0014 and plant material gave 0.7092±0.0018 (all at 2σ, n =12). All of these materials were less radiogenic that those of the Anglo-Saxon population. Riverwater gave the same result as the plants at 0.7092±0.0012 (2σ, n =3). The Anglo-Saxon animal tooth enamel gave the best match with a value of 0.7099±0.0017 (2σ, n =13). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests show that there is a high probability (>70% probability, 2SD) that the animals and the humans sampled were from the same population with respect to Sr isotope composition. Thus animal tooth enamel proved to be the best proxy, in this study, for the local human population.

The interaction between rocks and water during low-grade metamorphism leads to the growth of a predominantly hydrated secondary mineral assemblage and results in the elevation of whole-rock oxygen isotope values. Rb-Sr whole-rock isotope systems are also disturbed during low-grade metamorphism and give reset metamorphic ages. The process of isotope disturbance during low-grade metamorphism is examined by comparing the behavior of the oxygen isotope systems in rocks of similar composition that have undergone differing levels of metamorphic recrystallization. Two intrusions from the Ordovician volcanic province of North Wales represent metamorphically undisturbed systems. They give low oxygen isotope whole-rock values of δ 18 O SMOW (standard mean ocean water) = 7.3‰ ± 0.3‰, their Rb-Sr whole-rock systems are undisturbed and they show minimal metamorphic recrystallization. By comparison, other Ordovician igneous rocks have elevated oxygen isotope values enriched between 1‰ and 7‰ over undisturbed rocks and give metamorphic Rb-Sr whole-rock regression ages. Interaction with water is shown to be the main influence on the resetting of Rb-Sr systems during low-grade metamorphism. The metamorphic pressure-temperature conditions are not a controlling factor.