Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-8mjnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T11:11:16.168Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Late Quaternary history of east-central Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

A. M. McCabe
Affiliation:
School of Environmental Sciences, Ulster College, The Northern Ireland Polytechnic, Jordanstown, Newtownabbey, County Antrim
P. G. Hoare
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology, Collier Road, Cambridge

Summary

The drift succession in east-central Ireland is the result of a series of ice movements spreading from major centres of dispersion within theIrish Sea Basin and over the north-central Irish plain, and from local mountain sources. These glaciations have produced laterally and vertically complex sequences of deposits. The large-scale events influenced almost the entire area; problems of correlation emerge when considering episodes of relatively restricted extent such as those associated with upland ice-caps in the S and the hitherto unreported readvances which interrupted the withdrawalof ice-sheets across the northern part of the region under examination. Thetask of assigning the older units to particular Quaternary cold stages is frustrated by the absence of interstratified organic horizons. Two possible models of glaciation are considered: one may be regarded as ‘traditional’; the other requires a much shorter period of time by assuming that the stratigraphy records differences in the relative strengths of essentially contemporaneous ice-masses.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature. 1961. Code of stratigraphic nomenclature. Bull. Am. Ass. Petrol. Geol. 45, 645–65.Google Scholar
Bowen, D. Q. 1973(a). The Pleistocene history of Wales and the borderland. Lpool Manchrgeol. J. 8, 207–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowen, D. Q. 1973(b). The Pleistocene succession of the Irish Sea. Proc.Geol. Ass. 84, 249–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charlesworth, J. K. 1928. The glacial retreat from central and southern Ireland. Q. Jl geol. Soc. Lond. 84, 293342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colhoun, E. A., Dickson, J. H., McCabe, A. M. & Shotton, F. W. 1972. A Middle Midlandian freshwater series at Derryvree, Maguiresbridge, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Proc. R. Soc. B 180, 273–92.Google Scholar
Colhoun, E. A. & McCabe, A. M. 1973. Pleistocene glacial, glaciomarine and associated deposits of Mell and Tullyallen townlands, near Drogheda, eastern Ireland. Proc. R. Ir. Acad. 73 B, 165206.Google Scholar
Colhoun, E. A. & Mitchell, G. F. 1971. Interglacial marine formation inShortalstown townland, Co. Wexford. Proc. R. Ir. Acad. 71 B, 211–45.Google Scholar
Farrington, A. 1942. The granite drift near Brittas, on the border between County Dublin and County Wicklow. Proc. R. Ir. Acad. 47 B, 279–91.Google Scholar
Farrington, A. 1944. The glacial drifts of the district around Enniskerry, County Wicklow. Proc. R. Ir. Acad. 50 B, 133–57.Google Scholar
Farrington, A. 1957. The Ice Age in the Dublin district. J. Inst. Chem. Ire. 5, 23–7.Google Scholar
Hoare, P. G. 1975. The pattern of glaciation of County Dublin. Proc. R. Ir. Acad. 75 B, 207–24.Google Scholar
Hoare, P. G. 1977(a). The glacial stratigraphy in Shanganagh and adjoining townlands, south-east County Dublin. Proc. R. Ir. Acad. 77 B, 295305.Google Scholar
Hoare, P. G. 1977(b). The glacial record in southern County Dublin, Eire. J. Glaciol. 20, 223–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollin, J. T. 1969. Ice-sheet surges and the geological record. Can. J. Earth Sci. 6, 903–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollin, J. T. 1977. Thames interglacial sites, Ipswichian sea levels and Antarctic ice surges. Boreas 6, 3352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jessen, K. & Farrington, A. 1938. The bogs at Ballybetagh, near Dublin, with remarks on Late-Glacial conditions in Ireland. Proc. R. Ir. Acad. 44 B, 205–60.Google Scholar
Lamplugh, G. W., Kilroe, J. R., McHenry, A., Seymour, H. J. & Wright, W. B. 1903. The geology of the country around Dublin. Mem. geol. Surv. U.K.Google Scholar
McCabe, A. M. 1972. Directions of Late-Pleistocene ice-flows in eastern Counties Meath and Louth, Ireland. Ir. Geogr. 6, 443–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCabe, A. M. 1973. The glacial stratigraphy of eastern Counties Meath and Louth. Proc. R. Ir. Acad. 73B, 355–82.Google Scholar
McCabe, A. M., Mitchell, G. F. & Shotton, F. W. (in the press) An inter-till freshwater deposit at Hollymount, Maguiresbridge, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Proc. R. Ir. Acad.Google Scholar
Mitchell, G. F. 1972. The Pleistocene history of the Irish Sea: second approximation. Scient. Proc. R. Dubl. Soc. 4A, 181–99.Google Scholar
Mitchell, G. F. 1976. The Irish landscape. 240 pp. London: Collins.Google Scholar
Mitchell, G. F., Penny, L. F., Shotton, F. W. & West, R. G. 1973. A correlation of Quaternary deposits in the British Isles. Geol. Soc. Lond., Special Report, no. 4.Google Scholar
Moore, R. C. 1950. Late Paleozoic cyclic sedimentation in central United States. Rep. 18th Int. Geol. Congr. pp. 516.Google Scholar
Robin, G. de Q. 1955. Ice movement and temperature distribution in glaciersand ice-sheets. J. Glaciol. 2, 523–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stephens, N., Creighton, J. R. & Hannon, M. A. 1975. The Late-Pleistocene period in north-eastern Ireland: an assessment 1975. Ir. Geogr. 8, 123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stephens, N. & McCabe, A. M. 1977. Late-Pleistocene ice movements and patterns of Late- and Post-Glacial shorelines on the coast of Ulster, Ireland. In The Quaternary History of the Irish Sea (eds. Kidson, C. & Tooley, M. J.). Liverpool: Seel House Press.Google Scholar
Synge, F. M. 1963. A correlation between the drifts of south-east Ireland and those of west Wales. Ir. Geogr. 4, 360–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Synge, F. M. 1964. Some problems concerned with the glacial succession in south-east Ireland. Ir. Geogr. 5, 7382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Synge, F. M. 1971. The glacial deposits of Glenasmole, County Dublin, and the neighbouring uplands. Bull. geol. Surv. Irel. 1, 8797.Google Scholar
Synge, F. M. 1977(a). The coasts of Leinster (Ireland). In The Quaternary History of the Irish Sea (eds. Kidson, C. & Tooley, M. J.). Liverpool: Seel House Press.Google Scholar
Synge, F. M. 1977(b). West Wicklow: Moanaspick. In South East Ireland (ed. Huddart, D.). Norwich: Geo Abstracts.Google Scholar
Synge, F. M. & McCabe, A. M. (in preparation). The Drumlin Readvance inCounty Louth.Google Scholar
Synge, F. M. & Stephens, N. 1960. The Quaternary Period in Ireland - anassessment, 1960. Ir. Geogr. 4, 121–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Hammen, T., Maarleveld, G. C., Vogel, J. C. & Zagwijn, W. H. 1967. Stratigraphy, climatic succession and radiocarbon dating of the last glacial in the Netherlands. Geologie Mijnb. 46, 7995.Google Scholar