An ash fall within the Loch Lomond stadial

Cores recovered from the Witch Ground Basin (central North Sea) and the northern Rockall Trough, near the Wyville-Thomson Ridge have been found to contain volcanic glass shards. These have been correlated with the Vedde Ash Bed of western Norway, which has an age of 10600 ± 60 yr BP, and with North Atlantic ash zone 1. This is the first time that this important chronostratigraphic marker has been identified on the UK continental shelf and it is suggested that it might also be present in northern Scotland. If so, it would be a useful tool in the correlation of terrestrial, lacustrine and marine sequences of the Loch Lomond Stadial.