Scotland Surprisingly Had Glaciers 400 Years Ago

[Jamie D]

Scotland Surprisingly Had Glaciers 400 Years Ago

LiveScience | Stephanie Pappas

The last glacier in Scotland may have melted within the last 400 years, not 11,500 years ago as previously believed, new research finds.

The Cairngorm Mountains of eastern Scotland are the snowiest part of the Scottish Highlands even today. But previous studies of rocks from around the United Kingdom suggested that the last glaciers vanished from the region after about 11,500 years ago, when a cold period called the Younger Dryas ended....

The results [of cosmogenic Beryllium-10 dating] revealed a surprising spread between about 5,000 and 850 years ago, [researcher Martin] Kirkbride said. The broad range is likely because some of the boulders were exposed on cliff sides before falling and being transported by the glacier. Thus, the youngest ages point to the era of the latest glacial activity.

Next, the researchers looked at climate history in that date range to find the "coolest, most glacier-friendly" era, Kirkbride said. They found the likely candidate to be the Little Ice Age, a cooling period that extended perhaps into the 1800s, and concluded that the glacier likely formed between 1650 and 1790 and could have persisted into the mid-1800s.

During the Little Ice Age, northern Britain was racked by food shortages and the River Thames would freeze over in winter, Kirkbride said.

Full article at the link

[Cindy]

From what I have seen of the USA weather the last couple of months you have glaciers reforming!!  Brrrr

[Jamie D]

Ye hud some tough scots loads hundred years ago, wi' hee haw under thair kilts!