Post-glacial relative sea-level observations from Ireland and their role in glacial rebound modelling

Abstract

The British Isles have been the focus of a number of recent modelling studies owing to the existence of a high-quality sea-level dataset for this region and the suitability of these data for constraining shallow earth viscosity structure, local to regional ice sheet histories and the magnitude/ timing of global meltwater signals. Until recently, the paucity of both glaciological and relative sea-level (RSL) data from Ireland has meant that the majority of these glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) modelling studies of the British Isles region have tended to concentrate on reconstructing ice cover over Britain. However, the recent development of a sea-level database for Ireland along with emergence of new glaciological data on the spatial extent, thickness and deglacial chronology of the Irish Ice Sheet means it is now possible to revisit this region of the British Isles. Here, we employ these new data to constrain the evolution of the Irish Ice Sheet. We find that in order to reconcile differences between model predictions and RSL evidence, a thick, spatially extensive ice sheet of 600?700m over much of north and central Ireland is required at the LGM with very rapid deglaciation after 21 k cal. yr BP.