Sugden was amongst those who've in the past proposed that glaciers were active on CairnGorm and Braeriach during the little ice age, possibly as late as the 1800s.
Previous attempts at dating the 'moraines' in question since Sugden's work in the 1970s has generally agreed on a figure of older than 6000years, though certainly Sugden's work suggests the long lying semi permanent snowfields were much more extensive than in the past century.
That apparently glacial features have been dated to a much more recent period of time is certainly interesting, but the question is are they genuine moraines or is it more likely that they are protalus ramparts?
Dr Adam Watson's 2012 book 'A Snow Book, Northern Scotland' looks at the issue of whether glaciers existed in the Cairngorms in the 18th and 19th centuries in chapter 6 - but concludes that it's highly unlikely.
Some of this Chapter is available on google: [
books.google.co.uk]
Perhaps it comes back in part to the previously discussed issue of when does a persistent neve patch progress from snow patch to glacier?
The full book is available on Amazon:
A Snow Book, Northern Scotland
Edited 2 times. Last edit at 13.35hrs Tue 21 Jan 14 by alan.