Striae and former ice-flow directions in Snowdonia, North Wales

There are two views concerning the mountains of Snowdonia and their role during former glaciations of Britain. One is that they formed a subsidiary centre for ice dispersal, while the second is that they were overrun by westward-flowing ice derived from the main Welsh ice centre in the east. In this paper striation directions are used to test the two hypotheses. The striation pattern reflects ice flow radiating from the general vicinity of Snowdon summit and the strong eastward component of flow contradicts the idea that the Welsh ice sheet overran the area. Since the striation directions are conformable with large landforms of glacial erosion, it is reasonable to suggest that Snowdonia maintained an independent ice centre during much of the last glaciation