Abstract In engineering terms, all materials deposited as a result of glacial and periglacial processes are transported soils. Many of these deposits have engineering characteristics that differ from those of water-lain sediments. In the UK, the most extensive glacial and periglacial deposits are tills. Previously, engineering geologists have classified them geotechnically as lodgement, melt-out, flow and deformation tills, or as variants of these. However, in this book tills have been reclassified as: subglacial traction till, glaciotectonite and supraglacial mass-flow diamicton/glaciogenic debris-flow deposits (see Chapter 4 , Sections 4.1 – 4.3 ). Because this classification is new, it is not possible to relate geotechnical properties and characteristics to the subdivisions of the new classification. Consequently, the domain/stratigraphic classification, recently developed by the British Geological Survey and others, has been used and their geotechnical properties and characteristics are discussed on this basis. The geotechnical properties and characteristics of the other main glacial and periglacial deposits are also discussed. For some of these (e.g. glaciolacustrine deposits, quick clays and loess), geohazards relating to the lithology and/or fabric of the deposit are discussed along with their properties. Other geohazards that do not relate to lithology and/or fabric are discussed separately as either local or regional geohazards. In some cases (e.g. glaciofluvial sands and gravels), the geotechnical properties and behaviour are similar to sediments deposited under different climatic conditions; these deposits are therefore not discussed at length. Similarly, some of the local geohazards that are found associated with glacial and periglacial deposits relate to current climatic conditions and are not discussed here. Examples include land-sliding and highly compressible organic soils (peats).

We review mantle redox models and present new data for xenolithic and megacrystic intrinsic oxygen fugacity (IOF) studies from varied geologic settings. The roles of fluid inclusions, carbon, autoreduction, auto-oxidation, Ti 3+ , crystal defects, disproportionation, metasomatism, and gravity are examined with regard to their possible influences on redox data. In several IOF studies, the geothermometric determination for a multimineral sample yields very close temperature concordance with totally different geothermometric techniques; these specific studies mandate some confidence in the IOF f O 2 values obtained. Also of high confidence are the IOF data that come from nearly flawless, gem-quality megacrysts (GQ) of various silicates. Both types of these high-confidence IOF data indicate that the redox state of the mantle is nearer the wüstite-iron (WI) buffer than the quartz-fayalite-magnetite (QFM) buffer. The f O 2 data of the ilmenite-containing xenolithic assemblages that have either been calculated (Eggler, 1983), IOF-measured (Arculus and others, 1984), or gas mixture-equilibrated (McMahon, 1984) have all shown reasonable overlap in f O 2 -T values, and all indicate that these samples come from a mantle region more like (QFM). The ilmenitic xenoliths subjected to IOF analysis in our laboratory have exhibited auto-oxidation and therefore are difficult to interpret unequivocally. The high-confidence IOF data do argue strongly for mantle redox inhomogeneity, but much more work is needed to establish whether there is a general systematic redox decrease with depth into the mantle, on which the observed redox inhomogeneity is superimposed.

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