Height of European glaciers in the last glacial

[Bier Keller]

I'm doing a little natural history and archaeology tour for a school group shortly and I'm going to talk a little about how glaciers in various glacials have shaped the landscape.I'm aware of the extent of the ice in the last one but the actual estimated height/thickness escapes me. I have a vague memory of a geography field trip where teacher chucked in something like "the ice was a kilometer thick"...have I remembered that correctly or was that the illicit Special Brew working wonders on a 16 year old mind?

Any ideas?

[Boxoffrogs]

Yup Bier, that's what I remember from geography lessons...but that was 40 years ago!

[kevin wooldridge]

Here is a remarkable coincidence.....I am at this moment sitting in a cabin not so far from the Jostedals glacier in western Norway. This is the largest surviving glacier in Europe and the nearby notice board tells me that it is at present some 600m thick. However the erosion effect of the glasier can be seen on the top of the nearby mountains which rise to nearly 3000 metres, so obviously at some time the glacier was close to 2 miles in thickness....

[Unitof1]

hello Kev,

whilst you are there, watchout for marauding Ice Sheets- they tend to be an ity little bit bigger than glaciers

any chance of finding me a free snow hoe?

[Bier Keller]

Thanks for your replies.
@Boxoffrogs: did ye have Spesh back then or woz it Sweetheart Stout you experimented with?
@Kevin: 3000 metres you say? That really puts Pen Y Fan and Fan Y Big in the shade.Thanks for the really helpful input,just what I wanted. Great stuff
@Uo1: Wit ye want a Snur Hur in Nigeria fowr? In my saga 'olidays book its all hot and steamy...none of this ice an kald stuff. Or have you left the fridge door open?

[Unitof1]

[SIZE=3]I need if for appearances having predicted that there will be an ice age along shortly as its well over due. Also it cant be beaten in sand.

I think that the kilomewter thick stories relate to the anglian ice sheet which was a little bit before the last ice age, this link claims 2 kilometres
http://www.rocksafoot.com/buckingham.htm

this puts the anglian more into context

http://www.essexwt.org.uk/geology/geology3.htm
[/SIZE]

[Boxoffrogs]

T'was in the days of Chelt Light Ale and Mackeson....but the drink of the day was Stella Artois (nats wiz) or just hit the shorts!

[Sparky]

At the height the Devensian, the estimated maximum glacier depth was between 1300 - 1400m deep in the Grampians. This probably covered most of the mountains in the west and the north of Britain except for the highest peaks, namely those that remain jagged and unworn such as in North Wales, Lake District and upland Scotland.

[Sparky]

Sorry. I wasn't strictly referring to Europe. As far as I can remember, at the last glacial maximum, the thickest glaciers were over the Gulf of Bothnia at about 2km thick and extened across Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany and Poland. Not sure of earlier glacial periods.

[Bier Keller]

Thank you all for helpful insights and links on both past and future glaciations and your poisons of choice. Have a great weekend all of you (I know I will - its the Fruhlings [Strong beer brewed especially for getting hammered in May] Fest xx()