Abstract
ABSTRACTThe stratigraphic sequence at North Cave, on the eastern margins of the Lake Humber basin, records the deposition of a fluvioperiglacial fan (LFs 1–4), with early sedimentation (LF1) dating to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (optically stimulated luminescence date range 41.8–38.6 ka and 14C dates 41.6–49 ka BP). Three phases of permafrost and ice wedge development during MIS 3 are evident and indicate possible fan abandonment and hence periods of reduced nival runoff. Involution structures dated to 11.1 ka with large boulders and fine‐grained sorted circles in LF4b are interpreted as periglacially cryoturbated littoral deposits with boulders derived from anchor ice, initially deposited at the margins of Lake Humber up to an altitude of 8 m OD during MIS 2. The style and age of fluvioperiglacial fan deposition at North Cave is compatible with several mid‐Devensian sites around Britain characterized by significant nival melt and run‐off from steeply incised valleys in permafrozen cuesta landscapes. This phase of fluvioperiglacial fan aggradation to near or below 0 m OD is recorded around the glacial lakes Humber and Fenland basins and indicates that no glacial lakes existed at that time.
Highlights
During Marine Isostope Stage (MIS) 2 (29–11.7 ka, Late Devensian) the British and Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) expanded considerably to cover large parts of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England as well as the Irish Sea and parts of the North Sea
We present the stratigraphy and sedimentology of North Cave, a site located at the proposed former margins of Glacial Lake Humber in the south Vale of York (Fig. 2) and critical to the reconstruction of depositional events in the area
We present the results of dating of the North Cave deposits and thereby erect the first chronology of depositional events at the eastern margins of the Lake Humber basin immediately before MIS 2 or Dimlington Stadial glaciation
Summary
During Marine Isostope Stage (MIS) 2 (29–11.7 ka, Late Devensian) the British and Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) expanded considerably to cover large parts of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England as well as the Irish Sea and parts of the North Sea. With extensive marine margins, located in a maritime driven climatic system and extensive ice at low altitudes, the BIIS appears to have been highly dynamic This is well illustrated with the significant advances that have been made recently in the reconstruction of glacial limits and associated ice-dammed lakes in eastern England during the last glaciation (Catt, 2007; Murton et al, 2009; Evans and Thomson, 2010; Livingstone et al, 2012; Evans et al, 2017; Bateman et al, 2018). It is apparent that the Lake completely emptied at least once based on subaerial exposure of the lake floor (Gaunt et al, 1970; Gaunt, 1974), opinions are divided as to whether Lake Humber existed only during MIS 2 (e.g. Gaunt et al, 1992; Bateman et al, 2015; Fairburn and Bateman, 2016) or an initial Lake phase dates to an earlier glacial advance as proposed by Straw (1979; cf. Murton et al, 2009; Murton and Murton, 2012)
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