Investigating the Magnetic Susceptibility of Cornish Loess as a Tool for Understanding the Palaeoclimate of SW England

Abstract: Loess is a silty material produced via glacial grinding and its deposition is usually associated with colder periods when there is a considerable increase in atmospheric dust transport. The magnetic susceptibility of loess-palaeosol sequences has been the subject of extensive research within palaeoclimatology as it has proven to be reliable climate proxy. Most research on magnetic susceptibility has been focused on thick deposits found in Europe and Asia, in particular the Chinese Loess Plateau where it is possible to discern more than 2.5 million years of climate variation in deposits several hundred meters thick. The climate development throughout the Quaternary has been characterized by glacials where there has been a significant ice growth, and interglacials where ice sheets have retreated. The Last Glacial Maximum was the most recent time of ice sheets reaching their maximum extent, occurring at some point between 26.5 and 18 ka BP. Aeolian reworking of material produced in conjunction with the Irish Sea Ice Stream (ISIS) occurred approximately 5000 years after the LGM. The ISIS limit were located just north of the Lizard Peninsula, and impinged on the Isles of Scilly. Loess deposits in SW England has largely been ignored in previous research in favour of the previously mentioned Chinese loess, but may be important climate archives in understanding the climate development of the North Atlantic. As such, the scope of this thesis is investigating the magnetic susceptibility of loess deposits in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in the far SW England. This is done by analyzing 36 samples from Lowland Point and 24 samples from Chynhalls Point, both located at the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, as well as 20 samples from Porthcressa and 14 samples from Gimble Porth, both located at the Isles of Scilly. The instruments used for analysis are the Bartington MS2B and the Agico MFK-1 FA Kappabridge, where all 96 samples were analyzed on the former while the 36 Lowland Points samples and the 20 Porthcressa samples were also analyzed on the latter. The Bartington MS2B operates at two frequencies, 465 Hz and 4650 Hz, while the Agico MFK-1 FA Kappabridge operates at three frequencies, 976 hz, 3904 Hz, and 15616 Hz. The results from this study suggest that the Lizard Peninsula sample sites exhibit signs of magnetic enhancement through pedogenic processes while the sample sites at the Isles of Scilly consist of mainly unaltered material, likely due to an overlying sollifluction unit inhibiting magnetic enhancement. As a consequence of the different frequencies, the results were lognormalized to permit a direct comparison between the instruments. While the variability in magnetic susceptibility was strikingly similar, the results of the Kappabridge were shifted to ~20% higher values than those of the Bartington which may be attributed to the Kappabridges higher precision when analyzing weakly magnetic material. A similar shift is not evident when measuring the calibration samples of each instrument. In determining the mean annual precipitation after deposition, the Lizard Peninsula samples sites suggest an exposure to an annual precipitation between 300-400 mm/yr, compared to modern rainfall between 900-1000 mm/yr. The data from the Isles of Scilly were insufficient for calculating the mean annual precipitation due to the lack of evidence for magnetic enhancement.