The Periglaciation of Great Britain

A climate of arctic severity prevailed in Britain throughout much of the last two million years, resulting in the widespread formation of a great range of periglacial landforms and deposits. Many of these features provide key evidence for understanding the evolution of the present landscape and reconstructing former climate. Appreciation of the significance of periglacial deposits and structures is also important in many engineering operations and in understanding the development of present-day soils. This book, first published in 1994, provides a synthesis of theory in periglacial geomorphology and applies this to the study of periglacial phenomena in Great Britain. The first part of the book introduces the chronological and environmental background to periglaciation in Britain. The second and third parts deal respectively with the periglaciation of lowland Britain and upland Britain. The book concludes by considering the implications of periglacial phenomena for environmental reconstruction.