David Vaughan-Hirsch

Receding ice margins leave clues as to their nature and dynamism in the Quaternary geology of the land they once occupied. In both the macro and micro-scale, features reflecting hard-rock geological phenomenon are identified and attributed to glacial behaviour which we can compare to modern analogues. By implementing sedimentological, stratigraphical, micromorphological and geophysical modelling techniques, such evidence is used to recreate quaternary glacial environments and so becomes a major record of natural history over the last 1.8My.

The aim of this Uni. Southampton & NERC co-funded research is to turn attention to the phenomenon of glacial rafting; defined as ‘dislocated slabs of bedrock or consolidated sedimentary strata, transported by glacial action from their original position’ (Ruszczynska-Szenajch, 1987; Benn and Evans, 1998; Phillips and Merritt, 2008), in order to determine the predominant controls on their formation. It is traditionally implied that subglacial pore-water pressure, the nature of underlying geology, thrust mechanics of advancing ice and deformation inconsistencies in proglacial or subglacial environments are key characteristics, but it is hoped that this research will identify the major components of rafting and explain them more fully than has been previously achieved.

I also intend to explore contemporary geophysical methods in the process, assessing the use of terrestrial laser scanning, GIS, and NEXTMAP remotely-sensed data alongside more traditional methods of geological interpretation.

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