Wolstonian glaciation

9.9

A long cold period before the last ice age when glaciers covered parts of Britain

noun

: glaciación wolstoniana

The landscape was shaped during the Wolstonian glaciation, leaving behind moraines and outwash plains.

Examples

Research into the Wolstonian glaciation has provided insight into prehistoric climate change.
Geologists have identified sediments from the Wolstonian glaciation in several regions of Britain.
The Wolstonian glaciation significantly shaped the landscape of Britain.
Many fossils from the Wolstonian glaciation have been discovered in England.
Geologists have identified sediments from the Wolstonian glaciation in several regions of Britain.
Research into the Wolstonian glaciation has provided insight into prehistoric climate change.
The landscape was shaped during the Wolstonian glaciation, leaving behind moraines and outwash plains.

Synonyms

Saale glaciation

vsWolstonian glaciation

Specialized

9.9

A large ice age in northern Europe before the last one that leaves layers of soil and rock

is the same stage but confined mainly to Britain and marked by local deposits

Surface Forms

Wolstonian glaciation singular

Wolstonian glaciations plural

Morphology

Wolstonian + glaciation

The noun 'glaciation' transparently signals ice coverage or an ice age, but 'Wolstonian' is a proper/technical label with no independent lexical meaning for learners. A B1 learner who knows both words can infer this refers to a particular named glaciation, but cannot derive the specific chronological or regional detail from the parts alone, so the phrase is only partially predictable.

Etymology

Wolstonian glaciation comes from the village of Wolston, where scientists found thick gravel and ridges left by a big ice sheet. Imagine huge rivers of ice moving across Britain and leaving those marks, and you can see why the name means the 'second-to-last ice age' in Britain.