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The study of palaeo-glacial landforms and sediments can give insights into the nature and dynamics of ice sheets. This is particularly the case with regards to the subglacial record, which is challenging to observe in contemporary glaciated settings and hence remains only partially understood. The subglacial hydrological system is an essential component of ice dynamics, where increased water pressure enhances ice motion and sediment deformation, thus reducing ice-bed contact. Tunnel valleys are large, sinuous, steep-sided incisions that, together with smaller scale meltwater channels, indicate subglacial meltwater discharge beneath large ice sheets. Through the use of high-resolution marine geophysical data, a system of buried and exposed tunnel valleys, possible subglacial or proglacial meltwater channels and palaeo-fluvial valleys have been identified across the shelf of the Celtic Sea between Ireland and Britain. The presence of steep-sided and overdeepened tunnel valleys is indicative of a large channelized meltwater drainage system beneath the former Irish Sea Ice Stream, the most extensive ice stream to drain the last British–Irish Ice Sheet. After the rapid ice expansion across the Celtic Sea shelf around 28–26 ka, the tunnel valleys were carved into both bedrock and glacigenic sediments and are associated with rapid ice stream retreat northwards into the Irish Sea Basin between 25.6 and 24.3 ka. The presence of a major subglacial meltwater system on the relatively shallow shelf suggests that significant erosive meltwater discharge occurred during the last deglaciation and highlights the important contribution of meltwater to the retreat of the British–Irish Ice Sheet on the continental shelf.

This research was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council grant NE/J007196/1 ‘Britice‐Chrono’. The work was supported by the NERC Radiocarbon Facility (Allocation No. 1722.0613 and 1878.1014). Understanding the pace and drivers of marine‐based ice‐sheet retreat relies upon the integration of numerical ice‐sheet models with observations from contemporary polar ice sheets and well‐constrained palaeo‐glaciological reconstructions. This paper provides a reconstruction of the retreat of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) from the Atlantic shelf west of Ireland during and following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). It uses marine‐geophysical data and sediment cores dated by radiocarbon, combined with terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide and optically stimulated luminescence dating of onshore ice‐marginal landforms, to reconstruct the timing and rate of ice‐sheet retreat from the continental shelf and across the adjoining coastline of Ireland, thus including the switch from a marine‐ to a terrestrially‐based ice‐sheet margin. Seafloor bathymetric data in the form of moraines and grounding‐zone wedges on the continental shelf record an extensive ice sheet west of Ireland during the LGM which advanced to the outer shelf. This interpretation is supported by the presence of dated subglacial tills and overridden glacimarine sediments from across the Porcupine Bank, a westwards extension of the Irish continental shelf. The ice sheet was grounded on the outer shelf at ~26.8 ka cal bp with initial retreat underway by 25.9 ka cal bp. Retreat was not a continuous process but was punctuated by marginal oscillations until ~24.3 ka cal bp. The ice sheet thereafter retreated to the mid‐shelf where it formed a large grounding‐zone complex at ~23.7 ka cal bp. This retreat occurred in a glacimarine environment. The Aran Islands on the inner continental shelf were ice‐free by ~19.5 ka bp and the ice sheet had become largely terrestrially based by 17.3 ka bp. This suggests that the Aran Islands acted to stabilize and slow overall ice‐sheet retreat once the BIIS margin had reached the inner shelf. Our results constrain the timing of initial retreat of the BIIS from the outer shelf west of Ireland to the period of minimum global eustatic sea level. Initial retreat was driven, at least in part, by glacio‐isostatically induced, high relative sea level. Net rates of ice‐sheet retreat across the shelf were slow (62–19 m a−1) and reduced (8 m a−1) as the ice sheet vacated the inner shelf and moved onshore. A picture therefore emerges of an extensive BIIS on the Atlantic shelf west of Ireland, in which early, oscillatory retreat was followed by slow episodic retreat which decelerated further as the ice margin became terrestrially based. More broadly, this demonstrates the importance of localized controls, in particular bed topography, on modulating the retreat of marine‐based sectors of ice sheets. Publisher PDF Publisher PDF

This research was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council consortium grant NE/J007196/1 BRITICE-CHRONO. The work was supported by the NERC Radiocarbon Facility and NERC Cosmogenic Isotope Facility Analysis. New optically stimulated luminescence dating and Bayesian models integrating all legacy and BRITICE-CHRONO geochronology facilitated exploration of the controls on the deglaciation of two former sectors of the British–Irish Ice Sheet, the Donegal Bay (DBIS) and Malin Sea ice-streams (MSIS). Shelf-edge glaciation occurred ~27 ka, before the global Last Glacial Maximum, and shelf-wide retreat began 26–26.5 ka at a rate of ~18.7–20.7 m a–1. MSIS grounding zone wedges and DBIS recessional moraines show episodic retreat punctuated by prolonged still-stands. By ~23–22 ka the outer shelf (~25 000 km2) was free of grounded ice. After this time, MSIS retreat was faster (~20 m a–1 vs. ~2–6 m a–1 of DBIS). Separation of Irish and Scottish ice sources occurred ~20–19.5 ka, leaving an autonomous Donegal ice dome. Inner Malin shelf deglaciation followed the submarine troughs reaching the Hebridean coast ~19 ka. DBIS retreat formed the extensive complex of moraines in outer Donegal Bay at 20.5–19 ka. DBIS retreated on land by ~17–16 ka. Isolated ice caps in Scotland and Ireland persisted until ~14.5 ka. Early retreat of this marine-terminating margin is best explained by local ice loading increasing water depths and promoting calving ice losses rather than by changes in global temperatures. Topographical controls governed the differences between the ice-stream retreat from mid-shelf to the coast. Publisher PDF

Predicting seabed mobility is hampered by the limited accuracy of sediment transport models when the bed is composed of mixed sediments. The hiding-exposure (HE) effect modifies the threshold of motion of individual grain classes in sediment mixtures and its strength is dependent on the grain size distribution. However, an appropriate method of predicting this effect for bimodal sediment mixtures remains to be developed. The prototypical example of a bimodal mixture is that consisting of a well-sorted sand and gravel for the fine and coarse fractions respectively. Through a comprehensive series of laboratory experiments, the HE effect has been quantified for a full range of sand-gravel mixtures from pure sand to pure gravel, the choice of which has been underpinned by an integrated study of offshore geophysical and sedimentological data found in coastal and shelf seas. In the sand–gravel mixtures used in the present study the critical shear stress needed to mobilise the sand and gravel fractions increased by up to 75% and decreased by up to 64%, respectively, compared to that needed to mobilise well-sorted sediment of similar size. The HE effect was found to be dependent on the percentage of gravel (coarse mode) present in the bimodal mixture, whereby the effect for the mixture is the weighted sum of the HE effect for the fine and coarse modes.

Marine-terminating ice stream behaviour often defines the stability of ice sheets and is driven by a complex interplay of climatic, oceanic, topographic and glaciological factors. Here, we use new integrated high resolution, extensive (2100 km2) and continuous geophysical, sedimentological and geotechnical data to reconstruct past glacial environments during the Last Glacial Maximum from a well-preserved palaeo-landscape. The data is from the axial centre of the Irish Sea Ice Stream (ISIS), which drained > 17% of the former British-Irish Ice Sheet. Recent geochronological data of the palaeo-ISIS show a build-up and advance of ice to marine-terminating maximum limits in the southern Celtic Sea 27–25 ka BP, followed by rapid ice margin retreat into the northern Irish Sea Basin (ISB) by 20.8 ± 0.7 ka BP. However, the flow dynamics in the central and axial bed of the ISIS through this timeframe are not well understood. Here, we use our new glacial landscape reconstruction to identify the spatial and temporal patterns of flow re-organisation and re-activations for the marine-terminating ISIS. From this we infer how ice streaming was driven by a variety of factors through advance, deglaciation and towards a temporary lift-off of ice from its bed and an ultimate demise. Overprinted subglacial bedforms with differing ice flow directions indicate an on/off behaviour to the ice-streaming, an increasing topographical influence and substantial realignment of ice flows. Subsurface geophysical data reveal the erosive capability of the ice stream through time, with a first erosive component in the formation of mega-scale glacial lineations leaving bedrock exposed at the ice stream bed. The depositional component of MSGL crest building occurred in the same ice-flow phase. Whilst the ice stream was laterally constricted in two locations, likely contributing to changes in ice margin retreat rates, we also propose that changes in basal drag associated with exposed bedrock at the ice‒bed interface influenced the retreat dynamics, particularly when this exposure was near the grounding zone. The wider implications of this work are that episodic and highly erosive ice streaming during ice advance and early retreat can change ice‒bed conditions radically and in turn influence glacial dynamics during later retreat episode, thus constituting a feedback process to be considered in modelling the dynamics of marine-terminating ice streams.

Coarse and bimodal sediment mixtures like sand and gravel are common in palaeo-glaciated shelf seas and in coastal environments. Their presence leads to more complex sediment transport and morphodynamic processes, depending on the ratio of sand to gravel in the bed. With increased pressure on our near-and offshore sea beds, there is a growing need to more accurately model sediment transport and bedform dynamics with an increasing focus on bimodal sand-gravel sediment mixtures. Revisiting the quantification of the hiding-exposure (HE) effect highlighted how differently sized grains in a bimodal mixture modify each other’s threshold of motion. The critical shear stress needed to mobilise the sand and gravel fractions increased by up to 75% and decreased by up to 64% respectively, compared to that needed to mobilise well-sorted sediment of similar size. Implementation of this newly quantified HE correction in current-and wave-driven models illustrated that its influence on bedload transport rates and bed morphodynamics was greatest for mixtures where gravel percentage ranges between 10 and 20 %. Laboratory experiments were therefore conducted to investigate ripple formation and bed dynamics in mixtures with gravel percentage between 0 and 25%. The development of initial bedforms was quicker in sand-gravel mixtures compared to those developed in pure sand, whilst final heights and migration rates of the developed ripples decreased with increasing fraction of gravel in the bed. During this presentation, a full comparison will be made of the morphology and “down-core” sedimentary properties of ripples formed at different flow speeds. If we want to use our seabeds cost-effectively and sustainably, we need a better understanding on the influence of a decreased mobilisation of the finer fractions and an increased mobilisation of the coarser fraction on the dynamics of beds with a bimodal sediment composition.

Rising atmospheric CO2 is intensifying climate change but it is also driving global and particularly polar greening. However, most blue carbon sinks (that held by marine organisms) are shrinking, which is important as these are hotspots of genuine carbon sequestration. Polar blue carbon increases with losses of marine ice over high latitude continental shelf areas. Marine ice (sea ice, ice shelf and glacier retreat) losses generate a valuable negative feedback on climate change. Blue carbon change with sea ice and ice shelf losses has been estimated, but not how blue carbon responds to glacier retreat along fjords. We derive a testable estimate of glacier retreat driven blue carbon gains by investigating three fjords in the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). We started by multiplying ~40 year mean glacier retreat rates by the number of retreating WAP fjords and their time of exposure. We multiplied this area by regional zoobenthic carbon means from existing datasets to suggest that WAP fjords generate 3,130 tonnes of new zoobenthic carbon per year (t zC/year) and sequester >780 t zC/year. We tested this by capture and analysis of 204 high resolution seabed images along emerging WAP fjords. Biota within these images were identified to density per 13 functional groups. Mean stored carbon per individual was assigned from literature values to give a stored zoobenthic Carbon per area, which was multiplied up by area of fjord exposed over time, which increased the estimate to 4,536 t zC/year. The purpose of this study was to establish a testable estimate of blue carbon change caused by glacier retreat along Antarctic fjords and thus to establish its relative importance compared to polar and other carbon sinks., As glaciers retreat, they open up new space in fjords for life to store carbon, generating a negative feedback on climate change. This is unquantified, so we tried to derive a testable estimate of glacier retreat‐driven blue carbon gains by investigating three West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) fjords. We multiplied mean glacier retreat rate by regional zoobenthic carbon means to suggest generation of 3,130 tonnes of new zoobenthic carbon per year (t zC/year). We tested this by capture and analysis of 204 seabed images along WAP fjords, which increased the estimate to 4,536 t zC/year.

Retreating marine terminating glaciers influence the rate at which larger ice mass is lost, and thus the rate at which global sea levels rise. About 90% of the circa 240 glaciers terminating in fjords along the West-Antarctic Peninsula coastline are retreating. This happens at variable rates as these fjords have internal feedback mechanisms with e.g. the oceanographic make-up of the bay and the geology / geomorphology of the local hinterland. The NERC-CONICYT funded “ICEBERGS” project is a UK-Chile research collaboration to assess the effects of ice loss and deglaciation on benthic marine ecosystems in Antarctica. Three West-Antarctic fjords where glaciers have been consistently retreating in the last few decades were investigated: Marian Cove (King George Island), Börgen Bay (Anvers Island) and Ryder Bay (Adelaide Island). As part of this project, we monitored the changes in seabed bathymetry and backscatter intensity as a signature of past and on-going ice flow and ice retreat. Together with sediment analyses, the data provide insights in glacial landscape development and on sediment accumulation / seabed erosion rates. We also managed to insonify parts of the changing glacier ice fronts, detailing the grounding zones at the seabed. At the time of abstract submission, the third of three surveys was just underway. In this presentation we will explore the preliminary search for spatial and temporal relationships between grounded ice advance and retreat, undercutting of the grounded glacier terminus, sediment discharge, ice berg scouring, glacial landscape development and mass waste deposits. Our direct time-lapse observations of the seabed and glacier fronts of different fjord systems will help us understand how the local fjord environments define the dynamics of the retreating glaciers they host, whilst the results help elucidate the impact of that deglaciation on the newly emerged seabed and the fast-growing ecosystem it supports. Understanding the ice-filled fjord dynamics in the present-day and in the recent past will also help interpretations made from data representing these environments in the distant past.

During the Last Glacial Maximum, the British-Irish Ice Sheet extended across the continental shelf offshore of Galway Bay, western Ireland, and reached a maximum westward extent on the Porcupine Bank. New marine geophysical data, sediment cores and radiocarbon dates are used to constrain the style and timing of ice-sheet retreat across the mid to inner-shelf. Radiocarbon dated shell fragments in subglacial till on the mid-shelf constrains ice advance to after 26.4 ka BP. Initial retreat was underway before 24.4 ka BP, significantly earlier than previous reconstructions. Grounding-line retreat was accompanied by stillstands and/or localised readvances of the grounding-line. A large composite Mid-Shelf Grounding Zone Complex marks a major grounding-line position, with the ice grounded and the margin oscillating at this position by, and probably after, 23 ka BP. The continental shelf was ice-free by 17.1 cal. ka BP, but the ice sheet may have retained a marine margin until c. 15.3 ka BP. Retreat occurred in a glacimarine setting and the ice sheet was fringed by a floating ice-shelf. Collectively, this evidence indicates a dynamic and oscillatory marine-terminating ice sheet offshore of western Ireland during the last deglaciation.

The Wicklow Trough is one of several Irish Sea bathymetric deeps, yet unusually isolated from the main depression, the Western Trough. Its formation has been described as proglacial or subglacial, linked to the Irish Sea Ice Stream (ISIS) during the Last Glacial Maximum. The evolution of the Wicklow Trough and neighbouring deeps, therefore, help us to understand ISIS dynamics, when it was the main ice stream draining the former British–Irish Ice Sheet. The morphology and sub-seabed stratigraphy of the 18 km long and 2 km wide Wicklow Trough is described here from new multibeam echo sounder data, 60 km of sparker seismic profiles and five sediment cores. At a maximum water depth of 82 m, the deep consists of four over deepened sections. The heterogeneous glacial sediments in the Trough overlay bedrock, with indications of flank mass-wasting and subglacial bedforms on its floor. The evidence strongly suggests that the Wicklow Trough is a tunnel valley formed by time-transgressive erosional processes, with pressurised meltwater as the dominant agent during gradual or slow ice sheet retreat. Its location may be fault-controlled, and the northern end of the Wicklow Trough could mark a transition from rapid to slow grounded ice margin retreat, which could be tested with modelling.

International audience; The Celtic Sea contains the world's largest continental shelf sediment ridges. These megaridges were initially interpreted as tidal features formed during post-glacial marine transgression, but glacigenic sediments have been recovered from their flanks. We examine the stratigraphy of the megaridges using new decimetric-resolution geophysical data correlated to sediment cores to test hypothetical tidal vs glacial modes of formation. The megaridges comprise three main units, 1) a superficial fining-upward drape that extends across the shelf above an unconformity. Underlying this drape is 2), the Melville Formation (MFm) which comprises the upper bulk of the megaridges, sometimes displaying dipping internal acoustic reflections and consisting of medium to coarse sand and shell fragments; characteristics consistent with either a tidal or glacifluvial origin. The MFm unconformably overlies 3), the Upper Little Sole Formation (ULSFm), previously interpreted to be of late Pliocene to early Pleistocene age, but here shown to correlate to Late Pleistocene glacigenic sediments forming a precursor topography. The superficial drape is interpreted as a product of prolonged wave energy as tidal currents diminished during the final stages of post-glacial marine transgression. We argue that the stratigraphy constrains the age of the MFm to between 24.3 and 14 ka BP, based on published dates, coeval with deglaciation and a modelled period of megatidal conditions during post-glacial marine transgression. Stratigraphically and sedimentologically, the megaridges could represent preserved glacifluvial features, but we suggest that they comprise post-glacial tidal deposits (MFm) mantling a partially-eroded glacial topography (ULSFm). The observed stratigraphy suggests that ice extended to the continental shelf-edge.

An ability to estimate the large-scale spatial variability of seabed sediment type in the absence of extensive observational data is valuable for many applications. In some physical (e.g., morphodynamic) models, knowledge of seabed sediment type is important for inputting spatially-varying bed roughness, and in biological studies, an ability to estimate the distribution of seabed sediment benefits habitat mapping (e.g., scallop dredging). Although shelf sea sediment motion is complex, driven by a combination of tidal currents, waves, and wind-driven currents, in many tidally energetic seas, such as the Irish Sea, long-term seabed sediment transport is dominated by tidal currents. We compare observations of seabed sediment grain size from 242 Irish Sea seabed samples with simulated tidal-induced bed shear stress from a three-dimensional tidal model (ROMS) to quantitatively define the relationship between observed grain size and simulated bed shear stress. With focus on the median grain size of well-sorted seabed sediment samples, we present predictive maps of the distribution of seabed sediment classes in the Irish Sea, ranging from mud to gravel. When compared with the distribution of well-sorted sediment classifications (mud, sand and gravel) from the British Geological Survey digital seabed sediment map of Irish Sea sediments (DigSBS250), this ‘grain size tidal current proxy’ (GSTCP) correctly estimates the observed seabed sediment classification in over 73% of the area.

Methane seeps have been shown to be a powerful agent in modifying seabed morphology amongst others by cementation processes such as the formation of methane derived authigenic carbonates (MDACs). The cements stabi lise mobile sediment particles and thereby promote the forma tion of edifices such as mounds on various scales. The release of methane from shallow subsurface sources when concen trated in seeps has proven hazardous to offshore construction activities. In this paper methane cycling and MDAC precipi tation is explored as a potential Bfinger on the pulse^ for the recognition of shallow gas pockets and active gas seepage. This would provide a valuable planning tool for seabed engi neering developments in areas of potential gas seepage. Measurements of methane concentrations in the Irish Sea are correlated with a unique record of longer term morphological evolution (up to 11 years) of MDAC structures and subsurface geological settings which would favour the build up of shal low gas. It was found that gas seepage activity associated with fault zones correlates with carbonate mound steepness. Cessation of gas seepage results in a relatively slow process of erosion and burial of the mounds eventually producing a subdued carbonate mound morphology after several decades. The Quaternary glacial legacy equally seems to define the distribution and geometry of the MDAC structures. In this case methane gas locally concentrated in sands and gravels capped by clayey glacial sediments may percolate upwards to the seafloor. A link between methane seeps and the formation of unusually large trochoidally shaped sediment waves ob served on continental shelves worldwide is deemed unlikely. However the observations suggest that gas percolating through sediment waves may be capped by muddy sediments which have deposited on the sediment waves due to anoxic conditions or eroded from a neighbouring cliff. Other sedi ment waves in the Irish Sea were found to have a step like morphology similar to that documented in the neighbouring MDAC cemented seafloor. These processes may influence sediment waves dynamics and warrant further investigation.

We present an 8000-year history spanning 650km of ice margin retreat for the largest marine- terminating ice stream draining the former British-Irish Ice Sheet. Bayesian modelling of the geochronological data shows the ISIS expanded 34.0-25.3ka, accelerating into the Celtic Sea to reach maximum limits 25.3-24.5ka before a collapse with rapid marginal retreat to the northern Irish Sea Basin (ISB). This retreat was rapid and driven by climatic warming, sea-level rise, mega-tidal amplitudes and reactivation of meridional circulation in the North Atlantic. The retreat, though rapid, is uneven, with the stepped retreat pattern possibly a function of the passage of the ice stream between normal and adverse ice bed gradients and changing ice stream geometry. Initially, wide calving margins and adverse slopes encouraged rapid retreat (! 550m a " 1 ) that slowed (! 100m a " 1 ) at the topographic constriction and bathymetric high between southern Ireland and Wales before rates increased (! 200m a " 1 ) across adverse bed slopes and wider and deeper basin configuration in the northern ISB. These data point to the importance of the ice bed slope and lateral extent in predicting the longer-term (>1000 a) patterns and rates of ice-marginal retreat during phases of rapid collapse, which has implications for the modelling of projected rapid retreat of present-day ice streams. Copyright # 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The observation and prediction of the mobility of the seabed are in high demand with rapidly expanding offshore engineering developments and the increasing urgency to start mitigation against changing coastlines. From repeatedly surveyed sediment wave fields in the Irish Sea, average sediment wave migrations have been mapped, from which broad-scale net sediment transport directions can be derived. The proximity of bathymetric highs and lows seems to redirect sediment migration pathways and increases migration rates by a factor 5 on average via current deflection and amplification. A few hundred sediment waves were analysed geometrically in this study and compared to their migration behaviour, revealing a lack of statistical correlation. Sediment wave lee slope directions, asymmetry indices and other geometrical parameters appear poorly indicative of their degree of mobility in the Irish Sea. A considerable amount of sediment waves counter-intuitively migrate in the direction of their gentle stoss slope, i.e. opposite to the expected sense of migration. Even when considering the limitations of the predominantly 2-dimensional sampling method, these results fundamentally challenge established assumptions on the indicative meaning of sediment wave geometry. They question the validity and robustness of sediment wave migratory predictions based on single geometrical readings that fail to represent the complexity of local hydrodynamics and partial sediment wave modifications. Until predictive tools for sediment wave migration are developed that can pass the test in all aquatic environments, repeat surveying with sonar systems provides the only reliable way to record true natural variability.

New high-resolution multibeam echosounder data have been collected in the Irish Sea in the last decade. Sediment waves oriented transverse to tidal flow dominate many parts of the Irish Sea and exhibit an almost continuous spectrum of heights and spacings. Sediment wave growth remains poorly quantified and from the Irish Sea swath bathymetry data, many bedform dimensions have been measured and examined statistically. A strong positive power correlation between sediment wave height and spacing was observed: Δ s = 0.0692 λ 0.8020 ( N = 935; r = 0.853) while height and spacing only weakly vary with water depth. To assess the main factors influencing sediment wave height and spacing, deviations from the typical hydrodynamically analogue sediment wave geometry in equilibrium are qualitatively and semi-quantitatively investigated in the Irish Sea in conjunction with seabed characteristics. Coarser sediment generally forms larger sediment waves while suppressed sediment growth is found likely due to the limitations in mobile sediment supply and inefficiency of very coarse bedload transport.

High resolution swath bathymetry data reveal a previously glaciated submarine terrain 20 km offshore Anglesey, north Wales, UK. The detailed documentation of remarkably well-preserved subglacial and ice-marginal bedforms provides evidence for a grounded part of the Irish Sea Ice Stream in a phase of deglaciation. The observed ribbed moraines, drumlins, flutes and eskers indicate a converging ice flow to the west, which then turns south into the deeper central Irish Sea Basin. Using the relative position of the bedforms, their spatial distribution and the morphological resemblance with bedforms described in the literature, this subglacial terrain is interpreted as representing a transition zone of frozen to thawed bed conditions during deglaciation, with an eastwards migrating thawing front that partly altered the edge of the surveyed ribbed moraine field by drumlinization. The abundant De Geer moraines and iceberg scour marks superimposed on drumlins and flutes reveal that the final retreat of the grounded ice margin in the surveyed area terminated into a water-mass with extensive iceberg calving. As the glacial terrain is well preserved, no significant burial has taken place, either by glacially or terrestrially derived sediment. The strong tidal currents at present keep the submarine terrain swept clean of contemporary sediment cover.

Publisher Summary The Irish Sea is one of the busiest maritime regions of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and has great economic value to both countries in terms of its fisheries, aggregate resources, oil and gas reserves, and offshore power generation The sea contains a channel running along its center roughly oriented north–south and gradually shelves on both sides. Three primary sources of water movement exist through the southern Irish Sea—tidal flows, weather-related and density-driven movements. Of these, tidal flows are the most significant, with residual currents flowing in a northward direction through the area. A gradient of increasing salinity exists from north to south, and seasonal fronts are known to form to the north and south of the study area. However, tidal mixing is sufficient across much of the region to ensure that the water column remains well mixed throughout the year. The morphology and sediments of the southern Irish Sea are products of historic glacigenic processes and subsequent exposure to waves, storms, and tidal flows. The Irish Sea Ice Stream poured into the Irish Sea several times during the Quaternary period, and multiple generations of glacial incisions have been documented. Main pressures from anthropogenic activities come from fishing, dredging, shipping, and power generation, and the sea has been classified as a high impact area. Climate change impacts are also becoming evident from rising sea levels and temperature, the latter bringing about a gradual change in the biology of seabed communities in the eastern Irish Sea, and contributing to the spread of non-native species.