Dynamics and development of the last North Sea ice sheet

The last decade there has been an increasing attention on the dynamics and history of the marine based parts of the large Pleistocene ice sheets. This interest has grown both from the potential influence the stability of these features could have on ocean circulation through rapid meltwater delivery and from the understanding of the critical role these parts have in terms of the dynamics of the large ice sheets. During the last glacial stage the northern North Sea has experienced a number of glacial advances of ice from UK and Fennoscandia. Acoustic data and core data from two contrasting areas are presented. The Norwegian Channel represents the highly dynamic ice stream system draining large parts of the southern Fennoscandian ice sheet. The adjacent Witch Ground basin shows in contrast evidence of smaller scale tidewater glaciers active in a shallow environment, which constituted the eastern limit of the north-eastern British Ice sheet during the deglaciation. Seabed imagery (Olex data) reveals fresh glacial morphology inside (west of) the interpreted ice limits, while the seabed outside (east of) the interpreted ice limits shows very few features, due to a thick cover of glacimarine sediments. The seabed imprint of these systems as well as geometry, genesis and chronology of the sediments from this region will be discussed and their implications for our understanding of the glacial development of the region will be explored.