Summary

Four gritstone outcrops around the summit rim of Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales, northern England, have yielded early to mid-Holocene cosmogenic ¹⁰Be surface exposure ages, ranging from 10.61 ± 0.53 ka to 6.84 ± 0.35 ka. Taken at face value, the ages indicate that the outcrops became exposed to cosmic radiation at different times and consequently were not necessarily exposed as a result of the same single process at each site. Erosion of overlying gritstone debris during periods of climatic deterioration, during construction of a stone rampart, and during rock-slope failure may have all contributed to the exposure ages of these surfaces. Some of the ages may be compound in that a component of their isotope signal was acquired prior to the complete removal of the former debris cover. Although interpretation of the data set involves some speculation, the ages and topographic context of the samples indicate that the processes and timing of mountain top erosion may vary at small spatial scales.