A marine seismic study of late Quaternary sedimentaion and inferred glacier fluctuations along western Inverness-shire, Scotland |
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| Authors: | GEOFFREY S BOULTON P NEIL CHROSTON JACK JARVIS |
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| Institution: | School of Environmental sciences, Norwick NR 4 7TJ, England;department of Geography, The University, St. Andrews, Scotland |
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| Abstract: | A sparker survey was undertaken of the sea area inshore of the peninsula of sleat and the islands of Eigg and Muck in Western Scotland. This revealed major submarine moraines across the mouths of Loch Nevis and Loch Ailort, which help define the margin of a major glacier readvance phase, presumed to be equivalent to the late-glacial Loch Lomond Readvance. Formation names are suggested for the seismic para-stratigraphy. West of the moraines, there is a till (Minch Para-formation) resting on bedrock, overlain by a stratum (Muck para-formation) with well-defined internal layering parallel to the substratum. The till is presumed to have been deposited by an ice cap which at its maximum reached the western edge of the continental shelf at some time after 27,000 B.P. The Muck para-formation probably represents a glaciomarine unit deposited during the retreat of this ice cap, and has been deeply eroded. Above this erosion surface occur a series of sediments which infill local basins, and which appear to be of Flandrian age (Arisaig para-formation). East of the moraines in Loch Nevis and Loch Ailort the draped sediments are missing and the till is overlain by apparent equivalents (Nevis para-formation) of the marine sediments of Flandrian age to the west |
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