When were the Walls of Jerusalem last glaciated?

Abstract

There is evidence to indicate that parts of the Walls of Jerusalem National Park have been glaciated on two occasions. No evidence of earlier glaciations has been found, although at least two older periods of glaciation have been demonstrated in adjacent areas. During the last glaciation, the Rowallan Glaciation, there was an incomplete ice cover and a large ice window, centred on the West Wall-Solomons Jewels area, extended from Mt Jerusalem to Howells Bluff. Rowallan-age end moraines trace the limits of this glaciation and the main erosional effects are extensive knock and lochan landscapes, The previous glaciation, the Arm Glaciation, probably covered the entire region except for the higher parts of the West Wall. The Rowallan Glaciation reached its maximum in the Mersey Valley before 13 400 ±600 years BP, Deglaciation of the upper Mersey Valley was complete before 9760 ± 720 years BP. The Arm Glaciation is likely to be older than 130 000 years.