Timing, forcing and onshore-offshore correlations on the western margin of the British-Irish Ice Sheet

Ice sheets grow and decay in response to climate change. When disappeared they leave a rich geological record of their former behaviour and extent (e.g. sediments, drumlins, moraines). Although the British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) has been investigated for over 100 years, little is known about its offshore ice extent. However, evidence for grounded ice masses have been discovered recently on the western Irish shelf. Understanding the dynamics of the last BIIS can provide vital information on long-term climate change and allows predicting the behaviour of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets in the future.
The aim of this study is (1) to map the spatial extent of glacigenic deposits on the shelf (using seismic data), (2) to identify glacial processes occurring during ice sheet maximum extent and retreat (by sediment cores and seismics), (3) to assess the timing of the ice sheet retreat (by 14C and CN dating) and (4) to reconstruct the pattern of ice sheet retreat from offshore to onshore.
The results of this multi-proxy approach and their implications will be of great value for future detailed reconstructions of the dynamics of the BIIS during the Quaternary period and in greater detail during the last glacial period.