Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T16:39:26.677Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Pleistocene environments in lower Strathspey, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

Adrian M. Hall ,
Graeme Whittington ,
Geoffrey A. T. Duller  and
Jack Jarvis
Adrian M. Hall
Affiliation:
School of Geography, University of St. Andrews, Purdie Building, North Haugh, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9ST Department of Geography, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP
Graeme Whittington
Affiliation:
School of Geography, University of St. Andrews, Purdie Building, North Haugh, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9ST
Geoffrey A. T. Duller
Affiliation:
Institute of Earth Studies, Llandinam Building, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Dyfed SY23 3DB
Jack Jarvis
Affiliation:
School of Geography, University of St. Andrews, Purdie Building, North Haugh, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9ST
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sedimentary sequences in lower Strathspey provide a record of Late Pleistocene interglacial and glacial environments. After deposition of till and glacifiuvial sediments, probably in Oxygen Isotope Stage 6, a soil developed at Teindland and Redburn which contains downward translocated pollen. This indicates that the earliest vegetation was woodland with grassland openings, Pinus-Alnus at Teindland and Alnus-Corylus at Red Burn. Podzolisation of the soil ended with an influx of sands derived from erosion of the surrounding slopes, at Teindland perhaps a response to extensive burning during a grassland phase. The combined pollen and sedimentary evidence suggests events at the close of an interglacial. Luminescence dates of 79 ± 6 and 67 ± 5 ka for the sands over the soil suggest that the soil developed in Oxygen Isotope Stage 5e. Overlying the soil and sands at Teindland are glacigenic debris flows, perhaps reflecting glaciation during Oxygen Isotope Stage 4. Three, undated, younger till units, with interbedded gravels, also occur in the surrounding area and provide evidence of the complex glacial history of lower Strathspey since Oxygen Isotope Stage 5.

Keywords

pollen analysislast interglacialglacial stratigraphyTeindlandburied soil
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 85 , Issue 4 , 1994 , pp. 253 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1994

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

Aitken, A. M. Merritt, J. W. & Shaw, A. J. 1979. The sand and gravel resources of the country around Garmouth, Grampian Region. MINER ASSESS REP INST GEOL SCI 41Google Scholar
Ambrosiani, K. G. & Robertsson, A-M. 1992. Early Weichselian interstadial sediments at Harnosand, Sweden. BOREAS 21, 305–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behre, K.-E. 1989. Biostratigraphy of the last glacial period in Europe. QUATERN SCI REV 8, 25–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, K. D. 1994. Annotated catalogue of pollen and pteridophyte spore types of the British Isles. Cambridge: Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Bennett, K. D., Whittington, G. & Edwards, K. J. 1994. Recent plant nomenclatural changes in the British Isles. QUATERN NEWSL 73, 1–6.Google Scholar
Bremner, A. 1934. The glaciation of Moray and ice movements in the north of Scotland. TRANS EDINBURGH GEOL SOC 13, 17–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caseldine, C. J. & Edwards, K. J. 1982. Interstadial and last interglacial deposits covered by till in Scotland: comments and new evidence. BOREAS 11, 119–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, R. L. 1982. Point count estimation of charcoal in pollen preparations and in thin sections of sediments. POLLEN SPORES 24, 525–35.Google Scholar
Connell, E. R.. Hall, A. M. & Romans, J. C. C. 1984. Kirkhill Quarry. In Hall, A. M. (ed.) Buchan field guide. 57–81. Cambridge: Quaternary Research Association.Google Scholar
Connell, E. R. & others, In preparation. Crossbrae.Google Scholar
Dimbleby, G. W. 1985. The palynology of archaeological sites. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Duller, G. A. T. 1991. Equivalent dose determination using single aliquots. NUCL TRACKS & RADIAT MEAS 18, 371–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duller, G. A. T. (In press a). Luminescence dating of poorly bleached sediments from Scotland. QUATERN GEOCHRONOL.Google Scholar
Duller, G. A. T. (In press b). Luminescence dating using single aliquots: new procedures. QUATERN GEOCHRONOL.Google Scholar
Edwards, K. J. 1981. The separation of Corylus and Myrica pollen in modern and fossil samples. POLLEN SPORES 23, 205–18.Google Scholar
Edwards, K. J., Caseldine, C. J. & Chester, D. K. 1976. Possible interstadial and interglacial pollen floras from Teindland, Scotland. NATURE 264, 742–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faegri, K. & Iversen, J. 1989. A textbook of pollen analysis. 4th edn by Faegri, K., Kaland, P. E. & Krzywinski, K.Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
FitzPatrick, E. A. 1965. An interglacial soil at Teindland, Morayshire. NATURE 207, 621–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gimingham, C. H. 1971. Ecology of heathlands. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Grimm, E. C. 1987. CONISS: A fortran 77 program for stratigraphically constrained cluster analysis by the method of incremental sum of squares. COMPUT & GEOSCIE 13, 13–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grimm, E. C. 1991. TILIA and TILIA.GRAPH. Springfield: Illinois State Museum.Google Scholar
Hall, A. M. & Connell, E. R. 1991. The glacial deposits of Buchan. north-east Scotland. In Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P. L. & Rose, J. (eds) Glacial deposits in Great Britain and Ireland, 129–36. Rotterdam: Balkema.Google Scholar
Hall, A. M. & Jarvis, J. (In press). A multiple till sequence near Ellon, Grampian Region: T. F. Jamieson's Indigo Boulder Clay re-examined.Google Scholar
Hall, A. M., Gordon, J. E. & Whittington, G. 1993a. Early Devensian interstadial peat at Sel Ayre, Shetland. In Birnie, J. F., Gordon, J. E.. Bennett, K. D. & Hall, A. M. (eds) The Quaternary of Shetland, 104–18. Cambridge: Quaternary Research Association.Google Scholar
Hall, A. M., Gordon, J. E. & Whittington, G. (1993b). Interglacial peat at Fugla Ness, Shetland. In Birnie, J. F.. Gordon, J. E.. Bennett, K. D. & Hall, A. M. (eds) The Quaternary of Shetland. 62–76. Cambridge: Quaternary Research Association.Google Scholar
Hall, A. M.. Jarvis, J. & Duller, G. A. T. (In press). Middle Devensian ice-proximal gravels at Howe of Byth, Grampian Region. SCOT J GEOL.Google Scholar
Hinxman, L. W. & Wilson, J. S. G. 1902. The Geology of Lower Strathspey. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Huntley, D. J. & Wintle, A. G. 1981. The use of alpha scintillation counting for measuring Th-230 and Pa-231 contents of ocean sediments. CAN J EARTH SCI 18, 419–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jamieson, T. F. 1906. The glacial period in Aberdeenshire and the southern border of the Moray Firth. Q J GEOL SOC 62, 13–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolstrup, E. 1992. Danish pollen records radiocarbon-dated to between 50 000 and 57 000yr BP. J QUATERN SCI 7, 163–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowe, J. J. 1984. A critical evaluation of pollen-stratigraphic investigations of pre-Late Devensian sites in Scotland. QUATERN SCI REV 3, 405–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mangerud, J. S., Sønstegard, E., Sejrup, H. P. & Haldorsen, S. 1981. A continuous Eemian-Early Weichselian sequence containing pollen and marine fossils at Fjosanger, western Norway. BOREAS 10, 137–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merritt, J. W. 1992. The high-level marine shell-bearing deposits of Clava. Inverness-shire, and their origin as glacial rafts. QUATERN SCI REV 7, 759–779.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Påsse, T., Robertsson, A-M., Miller, U. & Klingberg, F. 1988. A late Pleistocene sequence at Margreteberg, south western Sweden. BOREAS 17, 141–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peacock, J. D., Berridge, N. G., Harris, A. L. & May, F. 1968. The Geology of the Elgin District. MEM GEOL SURV.Google Scholar
Pohl, F. 1937. Die Pollenerzeugung der Windbluter. BOT CENTRALBL 56A, 365–470.Google Scholar
Prescott, J. R. & Hutton, J. T. 1988. Cosmic and gamma ray dosimetry for TL and ESR. NUCL TRACKS & RADIAT MEAS 14, 223–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romans, J. C. C. 1977. Stratigraphy of buried soil at Teindland Forest, Scotland. NATURE 268, 622–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romans, J. C. C., Stevens, J. H. & Robertson, L. 1966. Alpine soils of northeast Scotland. J SOIL SCI 17, 184–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanderson, D. C. W. 1988. Thick source beta counting (TSBC): A rapid method for measuring beta dose rates. NUCL TRACKS & RADIAT MEAS 14, 203–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singhvi, A. K., Sharma, Y. P. & Agrawal, D. P. 1982. Thermoluminescence dating of sand dunes in Rajastan, India. NATURE 295, 313–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sissons, J. B. 1981. The last Scottish ice-sheet: facts and speculative discussion. BOREAS 10, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sissons, J. B. 1982. Interstadial and last interglacial deposits covered by till in Scotland: a reply. BOREAS 11, 123–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutherland, D. G. 1984. The Quaternary deposits and landforms of Scotland and the neighbouring shelves: a review. QUATERN SCI REV 3, 157–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutherland, D. G. 1993. Teindland Quarry. In Gordon, J. E. & Sutherland, D. G. (eds) Quaternary of Scotland, 239–40. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Turner, C. 1970. The Middle Pleistocene Deposits at Marks Tey, Essex. PHIL TRANS R SOC LONDON B. 257, 374–435.Google Scholar
Walker, M. J. C., Merritt, J. W., Auton, C. A., Coope, G. R., Field, M. H., Heijnis, H. & Taylor, B. J. 1992. Allt Odhar and Dalcharn: two pre-Late Devensian/Late Weichselian sites in northern Scotland. J QUATERN SCI 7, 69–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Washburn, A. L., Smith, D. D. & Goddard, R. H. 1963. Frost cracking in a middle latitude climate. BIUL PERYGLACALNY 12, 175–89.Google Scholar
Whittington, G., Hall, A. M. & Jarvis, J. 1993. A pre-Late Devensian pollen site from Camp Fauld, Buchan, north-east Scotland. NEW PHYTOLOGIST 125, 867–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whittington, G. & McManus, J. (In press). Dark Ages agricultural practices and environmental change. In Coles, G. and Mills, C. (eds) On the edge: human settlement and marginality. Oxford: Oxbow Books.Google Scholar