June 15, 2012

Glaciers spread much further across UK during the last Ice Age than expected


Ice may have spread much further across the UK than previously thought - even sculpting the rocky landscape of Dartmoor during the last Ice Age.

A study of the National Park area of Dartmoor, in south west England, shows for the first time that an ice cap and valley glaciers were present in its centre and that the naturally castellated stone outcrops, known as tors, were survivors.

The new research by the Universities of Durham and Exeter, and Stockton Riverside College, is published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews.

Researchers, who carried out detailed observations on the ground and using aerial photography, say the evidence includes glacial features such as elongated rounded mounds and hummocky landforms.