Cosmogenic isotope (36Cl) surface exposure dating of the Norber erratics, Yorkshire Dales: Further constraints on the timing of the LGM deglaciation in Britain

Abstract

Cosmogenic isotope (36Cl) surface exposure dating of four of the erratic boulders at Norber in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, northwest England, yielded mean ages of ∼22.2±2.0ka BP and ∼18.0±1.6ka BP for their emplacement. These two mean values derive from different 36Cl production rates used for exposure age calculation. The ages are uncorrected for temporal variations in production rates and may underestimate the true ages by 5–7%. The former age, although implying early deglaciation for this area of the British ice sheet, is not incompatible with minimum deglaciation ages from other contexts and locations in northwest England. However, the latter age is more consistent with the same minimum deglaciation ages and geochronological evidence for ice-free conditions in parts of the northern sector of the Irish Sea. Within uncertainties, the younger of the mean ages from Norber may indicate that boulder emplacement was associated with North Atlantic Heinrich event 1. The limited spatial (downvalley) extent of the Norber boulders implies that at the time of their deposition the ice margin was coincident with the distal margin of the erratic train. Loss of ice cover at Norber was followed by persistent stadial conditions until the abrupt opening of the Lateglacial Interstadial when large carnivorous mammals colonised the area. The 36Cl ages are between ∼3.0ka and ∼13.0ka older than previous estimates based on rates of limestone dissolution derived from the heights of pedestals beneath the erratics.