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Reconstructing the late Pleistocene glacial history of the Cairngorm
Mountains, Scotland, using paired cosmogenic 10Be and 14C
Abstract: Chronologic and geomorphic evidence of past glaciations is largely recorded in areas at relatively low elevation and/or landscapes defined by high glacial erosion. As a result, data from areas that did not experience significant glacial erosion and the highest elevation locations are lacking from reconstructions of past ice masses.
Here, we use paired 10Be and 14C exposure dating on quartz derived from glacial erratics and bedrock to resolve past ice mass fluctuations across an elevation and geomorphic gradient in the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland. We find that the highest elevation samples in our dataset, at 1140m above sea level, yield 10Be ages indicating 23 000 years of exposure and are at secular equilibrium for 14C, indicative of a single period of exposure starting as a nunatak during the Last Glacial Maximum. Other samples from above 1000m elevation produce 14C exposure ages indicating deglaciation during the Bølling–Allerød Interstadial, while 10Be concentrations display varying levels of inheritance due to local variations in glacial and non‐glacial erosion. Samples from lower elevations indicate a Lateglacial moraine building event 15 000 years ago, coincident with the Wester Ross readvance, followed by a period of glacier retreat interrupted by moraine deposition at ~14 000 and ~11 000 years ago. This dataset reconstructs both thinning and marginal recession of paleo‐ice masses within the Cairngorm Mountains across a >600m vertical gradient during the most recent glacial–interglacial transition, demonstrating the utility of paired 10Be/14C exposure dating in ice mass reconstructions in areas of low glacial erosion, increasing the geomorphic diversity of chronologic data available for glacial reconstructions.
© 2025 The Authors Journal of Quaternary Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
(Click on image for pdf)
Kelley et al. (2025) Reconstructing the late Pleistocene glacial history of the Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland, using paired cosmogenic 10Be and 14C North Sutor,
Cromarty 3D model
First described by Hugh Miller, the model covers part of the Devonian Cromarty Fish Bed and Raddery Sandstone Formation, and the contact with the Moine.
Click on image to view (external link)
Credit: North Sutor (Cromarty), Jess Pugsley, VOG Group, https://v3geo.com/model/913
Tags:
Cromarty
Devonian
Hugh Miller
North Sutor, Cromarty Cromarty mid Devonian Fish Beds
A new research paper published in the Scottish Journal of Geology provides a chronology of Hugh Miller's discoveries and the work of his son, a surveyor with the British Geological Survey. The understanding of Hugh Miller's work and the impact on the new science of geology are updated with recent field work to provide an updated account of Middle Devonian geology of the Cromarty Firth.
The Schiehallion
Experiment
250 years ago, astronomers and surveyors from the Royal Society measured changes in gravitational pull on Schiehallion. They used a very special astronomical clock and maths to calculate the relative mass of the Earth.
They calculated Earth as 4700 kg/m^3 , within 20% of the currently accepted figure of 5513 kg/m^3 (which equates to a mass of 5.972 x 10^24kg).
Read more here
Schiehallion, Perthshire - photo National Museums Scotland Portsoy rocks
helping to unlock understanding of the moon
Click here for information about research.
Portsoy Rocks - image by Prof John Parnell Mull lava field
New research identifies eruption vent-proximal deposits in Calgary Bay: pahoehoe and a'ā lavas and lava tubes.
Basaltic fissure eruptions of the Mull lava field, British Paleogene Igneous Province
Calgary Bay, Mull: Pugsley et al. (2025) Microbially mediated carbonates in the Mesoproterozoic Stoer Group of NW Scotland; earliest evidence of life in Britain?
A new interpretation of carbonate structures in Stoer Group rocks suggests a biological origin. These sediments would be the oldest microbial stromatolites in the British Isles.
Click here for a pdf of the article.
Figure:
Gutteridge, P. (2025) Microbially mediated carbonates in the Mesoproterozoic Stoer Group of NW Scotland; earliest evidence of life in Britain? Journal of the Geological Society, Vol. 182, 2025, jgs2024-269
How great is the Great Glen Fault?
New research using sedimentological, geochemical, and zircon dating suggests 250 - 300km of displacement and reveals three new pre-strike-slip relationships.
Torridon rocks and Mars
A one-billion-year-old Scottish meteorite impact
"The Stoer Group in northwest Scotland is one of the oldest well-preserved sedimentary successions in Europe and includes the Stac Fada Member, an impact ejecta deposit. ...Our new age constrains the Stoer Group to the early Tonian and suggests a new Neoproterozoic plate tectonic context for these rocks. These data revise the age of some of the oldest known nonmarine microfossils in the UK and their role for timing the eukaryotic colonization of land."
13-23 June 2025
Step into science at Hugh Miller’s Birthplace
Join the team at Hugh Miller’s Birthplace Cottage and Museum for a thrilling experience filled with family-friendly science activities.
https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/summer-of-science
Fossil discovery