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We present a detailed 1:50,000-scale glacial geomorphological map covering ∼450 km 2 of the Wicklow Mountains, eastern Ireland. The region was glaciated at the Last Glacial Maximum, but little is known about the timing and pattern of deglaciation during the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition or the extent of glacier regrowth during the Younger Dryas. The absence of detailed glacial geomorphological mapping has been a barrier to understanding these outstanding questions before now. Mapping of the area was compiled during field campaigns supported by the assessment of remotely-sensed imagery. Ice-marginal moraines are the most prevalent landform mapped and these have been classified into three groups based on differences in morphology. Other evidence for glaciation includes glacially-transported boulders, ice-moulded bedrock, meltwater channels, terraces, talus and summit blockfields. The map forms an essential basis for future work that will investigate glacial landsystems, deglaciation patterns and timing, and the style and extent of Younger Dryas glaciation.

Rainfall has been shown to be the main cause of elevated nutrient pollution in groundwater beneath landfills. However, groundwater monitoring is often based on predetermined schedules without considering rainfall patterns. This study examined how rainfall patterns afect fluctuations in groundwater quality at the Coastal Park landfill in Cape Town, South Africa, and the relevance of current groundwater sampling schedules. Boreholes upstream and downstream of two large waste cells, one lined and the other unlined, were monitored for 15 weeks during the onset of the rainy season to detect changes in the groundwater level, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, ammonia, nitrate, and phosphate. Rainfall patterns strongly afected the groundwater parameters, with widely varying fluctuation patterns and lag times. Conductivity peaked downstream of the lined cell 10 weeks later than at the unlined cell, with widely diferent fluctuation patterns (R2 = 0.36). Ammonia peaked downstream of both the unlined and lined cells well before the early rains, with very similar fluctuation patterns ( R2 = 0.97), although it peaked 6 times higher in the unlined cell. Nitrate peaked at Weeks 2 to 4 downstream of the unlined and the lined cell, with a weak correlation (R2 = 0.56). A shorter nitrate peak and a net decrease throughout the rainy season were observed downstream of the lined cell. Phosphate showed a brief, multi-fold increase at Week 3 downstream of both the unlined and lined cells, displaying pH-induced mobilisation and a very strong correlation (R2 = 0.99) between these locations. Lag times and fluctuation patterns varied depending on the presence of liners, and rainfall patterns. Therefore, the low frequency sampling required by many South African landfill waste management permits and licences cannot identify pollutant peak concentrations or describe their trends, and high frequency sampling should be considered.

Coastal dunes represent dynamic geomorphological landforms that respond to changes in climatic regimes. Their spatial and temporal evolution as landforms is dependent on sediment supply, antecedent morphology, accommodation space, and physical forcing parameters such as wind speed and direction. Contemporary (decadal) morphological behaviour is therefore driven by changes in climate which affects precipitation, temperature and wind stress. This paper examines recent historical-scale changes in the stability of coastal dune systems on the west and north coasts of Ireland using aerial photographic evidence alongside climatic data to investigate trends in dune stability. A regional scale analysis of dune sites using image analysis indicates a widespread pattern of progressive sealing of dune fields by vegetation. Results show that dune fields have undergone a rapid reduction in bare surface areas of up to 80%. In recent decades (1985 to 2005) the growing season has seen dramatic increases which have likely driven dramatic regional increases in dune vegetation growth coinciding with particularly rapid resealing events across all dune sites studied. This work demonstrates (i) that coastal dune systems have a particularly high sensitivity to climatic shifts and the relatively fast response is manifest in dramatic re-vegetation patterns; and (ii) the pattern is evident on a regional scale. The results demonstrate the rapid response of coastal dunes to climatic shifts over a very short timescale (circa 5-10 years).

A combination of multibeam bathymetry and backscatter, LiDAR altimetry and bathymetry, satellite images, and hydrodynamic model outputs were used to map the seafloor and coastline of Galway Bay (western Ireland). This is the first time these multiple datasets have been integrated into a single combined geomorphological and substrate map. The substrate of the bay is predominantly mud and sand with bedrock outcropping extensively around the coastline. The main depositional features are dunes, while the main erosional features are scours and outcropping bedrock. Hydrodynamic model outputs show good correlation between the direction and intensity of prevailing currents and the location and shape of the features in the bay. This indicates that although Galway Bay was shaped glacially through the passage of the British-Irish Ice Sheet across the bay and ensuing glacial and marine sediment deposition, many of the mapped seafloor landforms are modern and current-induced.

A challenge for coastal conservation over the next decades is to predict and then effectively manage the outcomes of ongoing climate change in the context of the Anthropocene. Paraglacial coasts are those on or adjacent to present or formerly glaciated terrain and which are still influenced by glacigenic processes. Ongoing response of paraglacial coasts to the influences of glaciation can give rise to diverse regional-scale coastal responses that may variously amplify or suppress any effects caused by global climate change. Here we provide insight into the richness of landforms and coastal system responses from two contrasting paraglacial environments, in Svalbard where glaciers are still present but are actively retreating, and in Ireland where late Pleistocene glaciers melted away around 14,000 years ago. Svalbard and Ireland exhibit different paraglacial coastal responses which reflect long-term variations in sediment supply from inland source areas to the coast, and variations in sediment residence times and storage areas within the coastal zone. The conservation of paraglacial coasts in the context of Anthropocene global warming requires an understanding of regional glacial history and longer term coastal responses to paraglacial relaxation.

Sediment-cored drumlins are uncommon across the glacially eroded granite bedrock of Connemara (west County alway, western reland). This paper describes the internal sediments from two significant drumlin exposures at rdmore and allyconneely. Both drumlins show a lowermost lithofacies association comprising overconsolidated subglacial diamicton with clast lithology, strong fabrics and overfolds indicative of regional east/southeast to west/northwest late eichselian ice flow. This lithofacies association is overlain at both sites by west-dipping, stratified, graded gravel and diamicton beds that downlap onto laminated silts. These beds reflect episodic debris flows into a leeside cavity developed following creation of relief by deposition and deformation of a subglacial diamicton nucleus located up-ice. Variations in substrate hydrological processes are identified in both drumlins based on the presence of clastic dikes, flame structures and debris flow-deposited gravels which are present at different locations spatially within the drumlin and at different stratigraphic levels. These features reflect the close connection between subglacial hydrological and sedimentary processes and their changes over time as the drumlin form develops.

The archaeology of caves in Ireland is a ground-breaking and unique study of the enigmatic, unseen and dark silent world of caves. People have engaged with caves for the duration of human occupation of the island, spanning 10,000 years. In prehistory, subterranean landscapes were associated with the dead and the spirit world, with evidence for burials, funerary rituals and votive deposition. The advent of Christianity saw the adaptation of caves as homes and places of storage, yet they also continued to feature in religious practice. Medieval mythology and modern folklore indicate that caves were considered places of the supernatural, being particularly associated with otherworldly women. Through a combination of archaeology, mythology and popular religion, this book takes the reader on a fascinating journey that sheds new light on a hitherto neglected area of research. It encourages us to consider what underground activities might reveal about the lives lived aboveground, and leaves us in no doubt as to the cultural significance of caves in the past. Marion Dowd is Lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology at the Institute of Technology Sligo, Ireland. Her doctoral research examined the role of caves in Irish prehistoric ritual and religion. She has directed excavations in many caves, and has published and lectured widely on the subject.

Recent mapping programmes in Irish territorial waters, such as the Irish National Seabed Survey and the Integrated Mapping for the Sustainable Development of Ireland's Marine Resource programme, have generated high resolution multibeam bathymetry, backscatter and sediment sample datasets at an unprecedented resolution and coverage. Building upon previous mapping of glacial landforms on the northwest Irish continental shelf, a 1:225,000 scale map identifying contemporary bedforms has been produced between 54°40′N/56°10′N and 10°2′W/6°45′W. The analysis of bathymetric derivatives and backscatter interpretation has enabled the classification of several types of depositional feature including six sediment wave assemblages. Erosional features have also been identified across the shelf in the form of surface sediment lineations, as well as more spatially confined formations such as furrows. Based on wave asymmetry, sedimentary composition and orientation, in agreement with published modelled hydrodynamic conditions, these bedforms are assumed to be contemporary features. Data interpretation, particularly of backscatter imagery reveals that these sediments mask the acoustic signatures of an underlying glacial architecture and may alter their apparent morphology due to burying.

Previous studies of clast macrofabrics in glacigenic deposits have concentrated on A-axis orientations and dips, and a variety of control samples are available based upon such measurements. Like clast A-axes, A/B planes will also tend to rotate to parallelism with the direction of shear and therefore should also provide meaningful data on the direction and cumulative impact of shear by the depositing/deforming medium (i.e. glacier ice). The measurement of A/B plane dip and orientation avoids the potential problem of the transverse orientations observed for clast A-axes and provides poles-to-plane data, thereby strengthening the modality of samples and providing clear visual impressions of stress directions. Such data also enable more significant inter-sample comparisons of fabric strength and clast dip angles, which are significant when assessing the impact of shearing in sediment genesis. We present data on clast A/B plane dip directions and angles from subglacial tills, glacitectonite continuums, subglacially lodged clasts and glacimarine/glacilacustrine deposits using traditional methods of statistical and graphical macrofabric analysis. These sample sets will serve as control data for future macrofabric analyses that utilize A/B planes. The separation of the unequivocally lodged clast component from subglacial till samples allows us to demonstrate the influence of deformation and ploughing in the relative weakening of till fabrics as proposed by some researchers. High angles of A/B plane dip in glacigenic subaqueous deposits appear to be well developed in the glacilacustrine setting investigated here, confirming previous studies based on A-axis dips, but less convincing in the glacimarine sediments of the Canadian Arctic, thereby widening the range of fabric strengths in subaqueous glacigenic deposits. Significant overlaps of A/B plane fabric shape envelopes reflect the strain history of subglacial and subaqueous depositional environments, which is unsurprising given the hybrid nature of glacigenic deposits, but the statistical isolation of the lodgement component from subglacial traction tills strongly suggests that the continuum of sample plots on modality/isotropy graphs reflects the range of strain histories in glacitectonites and subglacial traction till.

This paper summarises researchcarried out in county Roscom­mon, Ireland to characterise the workings of low-lying karst, of whichlittle is known. The researchemployed a combination of five main investigative techniques, in conjunction: geomor­phological mapping, spring chemistry and discharge analyses, dye-tracing, microgravity geophysical investigations and bed­rock core drilling. The results enabled the production of a de­tailed conceptual model for the area. Surface and subsurface karst landform mapping revealed a highlevel of karstification. Clustering and alignment of recharge landforms is found to be a significant aspect of the karst. Analyses of spring chemistry and discharge data revealed characteristics of the aquifer sys­tems in operation. It was found that a significant percentage of flow is via enlarged conduits but that the smaller fractures are important for providing base flow. Water tracing experi­ments proved that water moved from highly karstified, el­evated recharge zones to springs at the periphery. Microgravity geophysical investigations, detected and located solutionally enlarged voids in the bedrock and demonstrated the impor­tance of the shallow epikarst system as well as a deeper con­duit network. Bedrock core drilling detailed the nature of the bedrock underneathkarst landforms and showed the successes and failings of the geophysical investigations. Spring catchment boundaries were then delineated using water balance equations and a combination of the information retrieved from the other methods. Using these results in combination large amounts of information were gathered leading to the production of the first conceptual model for the karst of Roscommon, whichcan be adapted and applied to IrishLowlands in general. The use of multiple, complimentary, investigative techniques in conjunc­tion greatly enhanced the accuracy and success of this project. The aim of this paper, therefore is to highlight the benefits of using many analytical techniques together.