This thesis is an attempt to combine a number of different approaches as part of a wider attempt to re-interpret the late Quaternary history of the Vale of Pickering and Northern Wolds in Yorkshire. This involved the critical analysis of part evidence together with the collation and interpretation of data from a variety of sources, some published, some unpublished but mostly from field work.The course of the research followed a number of different lines. The first of these was to study the sedimentary data from glacial and pro-glacial deposits in the Vale of Pickering to assess their age and environment of deposition. The sediments were mapped in the field and analysed in the laboratory. A glacial outwash rather than lake-beach origin was proved for an important group of these sediments. The sedimentary data from the Vale of Pickering showed that ice had undoubtedly advanced further into the area than had been envisaged by Kendall at the turn of the century. - this was supported independently by geomorphological evidence and more sedimentary data from the northern Yorkshire Wolds escarpment. In the western end of the Vale, a thicker lobe of ice than that supposed by Kendall seems to have advanced into the area from the Vale of York, but its furthest limits cannot be shown from data available at the moment.On the Yorkshire Wolds an attempt was made to delineate the advance of the Late Quaternary ice, but unfortunately the data was so poor that no firm limits could be drawn. Glacial outwash sediments were found at several scattered sites and compared with those found in the Vale, some similarity was proved, suggesting that meltwater from late Quaternary glaciers had flowed across the Wolds and that ice from the Vale had overtopped the Wolds scarp along much of its length. The soils were analysed and found to have a higher blown sand content than suspected previously. The blown sand content increased towards the northwest, suggesting a probable glacial outwash source.The dry valleys were studied and new light shed on the processes which may have contributed to their formation. In addition evidence of periglacial evidence from the whole region was collected, described and assessed. Finally it was found that the structural lines of disturbance which traverse the chalk of the northern Wolds could easily be mapped from aerial photographs. These were mapped and included in the thesis as a small contribution to the solid geology of the area, even though they only impinge indirectly upon the main scope of this study
