The Late‐Devensian proglacial Lake Humber: new evidence from littoral deposits at Ferrybridge, Yorkshire, England

Abstract

Proglacial Lake Humber is of UK national significance in terms of landscape drainage and development of the British Ice Sheet (BIS) during Marine Isotope Stage 2 (MIS 2), yet it is poorly understood in terms of its dynamics and timing. Sands and gravels exposed at Ferrybridge, West Yorkshire, UK, are interpreted as part of the Upper Littoral sands and gravels related to a high‐level Lake Humber, which inundated the Humber Basin to ∼30 m OD during MIS 2. Excavations exposed well‐rounded gravels of local origin extending downslope from the 27.5 m OD contour and interbedded sands and fine gravels, which are interpreted as the coarse littoral deposits and nearshore associated deposits. A sample from the distal sands returned an Optically Stimulated Luminescence age of 16.6±1.2 kyr, providing the first direct age for the high‐level lake and for when North Sea Basin ice must have blocked the Humber Gap. An underlying sequence included a diamicton dated to after 23.3 ±1.5 kyr and before 20.5±1.2 kyr, indicating that the Late Devensian ice reached at least 15 km south of the Escrick Moraine prior to the high‐level lake. Previous to both the high‐level lake and this ice advance, loess found at the two sites investigated indicates a long period of loess deposition earlier in MIS 2. These new data for the history of Lake Humber are discussed in the context of ice‐marginal oscillations in both the Vale of York and the North Sea Basin.