Loch lomond stadial glacier at Fan Hir, Mynydd Du (Brecon Beacons), South Wales: Critical evidence and palaeoclimatic implications

Abstract

AbstractThe c. 1·2 km long, up to c. 25 m high ridge east of the almost north‐south aligned Fan Hir scarp, Mynydd Du, South Wales has been regarded as a remarkable protalus rampart formed in the Loch Lomond Stadial (c. 11–10000 years BP). New data are presented which indicate that it is a moraine. The main points supporting this glacigenic origin are: its curved plan form at the lower, southern end; its scale and the ample depth for snow to glacier ice transformation; the presence of subsidiary ridges interpreted as recessional moraines; the exceptional rate of rockwall retreat required if it were a protalus rampart; and, most importantly, the presence in the ridge of matrix‐supported abraded clasts, up to 20% of which are striated. Useful criteria for differentiating moraines and protalus ramparts are thereby proposed and a sound basis is provided for palaeoclimatic reconstruction. Palaeoclimatic inferences imply that the glacier owed its existence to the combined effect of a mean July temperature of c. 8·5°C and topographically enhanced accumulation, nearly half of which was from wind‐blown snow.