Map and GIS database of glacial landforms and features related to the last British Ice Sheet

Abstract

A review of the academic literature and British Geological Survey mapping is employed to produce a ‘Glacial Map’, and accompanying geographic information system (GIS) database, of features related the last (Devensian) British Ice Sheet. The Map (1:625000) is included in a folder and GIS data is freely available by web download (http://www.shef.ac.uk/geography/staff/clark_chris/britice.html). Emphasis is on information that constrains the last ice sheet. The following are included: moraines, eskers, drumlins, meltwater channels, tunnel valleys, trimlines, limit of key glacigenic deposits, glaciolacustrine deposits, ice-dammed lakes, erratic dispersal patterns, shelf-edge fans, and the Loch Lomond Readvance limit of the main ice cap. The GIS contains over 20000 features split into thematic layers (as above). Individual features are attributed such that they can be traced back to their published sources. Given that the published sources of information that underpin this work were derived by a piecemeal effort over 150 years then our main caveat is of data consistency and reliability. It is hoped that this compilation will stimulate greater scrutiny of published data, assist in palaeo-glaciological reconstructions, and facilitate use of field-evidence in numerical ice sheet modelling. It may also help direct field workers in their future investigations