Colin K. Ballantyne graduated in 1973 with an M.A. from theUniversity of Glasgow, where he was influenced by Robert John Price (1936–2012) to study geomorphology andQuaternary geology. Ballantyne graduated in 1975 with an M.Sc. from Ontario'sMcMaster University, where he was part of a team led by S. Brian McCann (1935–2004) studying high arctic hydrology and fluvial processes.[1][2] In 1975 Ballantyne returned to Scotland and became a graduate student at theUniversity of Edinburgh.[1][3][4] There he graduated in 1980 with a PhD thesis on the periglacial geomorphology of mountains in northwestern Scotland.[5][6] His PhD thesis was supervised by Brian Sissons (1926–2018).[1][7]
At theUniversity of St Andrews, Ballantyne was a lecturer in geography from 1980 to 1989, a senior lecturer in geography and geology from 1989 to 1994, and a professor of physical geography from 1994 to 31 January 2015, when he retired as professor emeritus. In the School of Geography and Geosciences of the University of St Andrews, he was the head from 1998 to 2000 and the director of research from 2007 and 2012. Since 2000 he is a guest professor at University Centre Svalbard inSvalbard, Norway. He was twice an Erskine Fellow at New Zealand'sUniversity of Canterbury, where he has taught summer school courses over many years. As a professor at the University of St Andrews, Ballantyne conducted annual honours field courses in Norway — on one such occasion his students included thefuture Duke of Cambridge.[1]
Colin K. Ballantyne is the author or co-author of more than 150 articles in refereed journals.[1]Much of Ballantyne's reputation is based upon his reconstruction of the extent and deglaciation chronology of the last British-Irish ice sheet and his 2002 model ofparaglacial landscape modification. He and his co-workers have done research on geomorphological mapping,glaciation, andperiglaciation, as well as many related topics such asfrost weathering,nivation,solifluction,hydrology,debris flow,rockfall,slope stability, andwind erosion.[5] He was the co-author, with Charles Harris, ofThe Periglaciation of Great Britain (Cambridge University Press, 1994), which for the next two decades was an essential reference for periglacial research in the British Isles. In theHebrides, Ballantyne single-handedly did field mapping and theoretical reconstruction of former glacier limits on all the major islands betweenOrkney andArran. In 2012 he was the co-author, with Derek Fabel and Sheng Xu, of an important article that presented convincing evidence that periglacialtrimlines, instead of representing the maximum altitude of the last ice sheet, actually represent thermal boundaries which separated wet-based ice atpressure melting point from cold-based ice on summit plateaus. The evidence consisted of establishing the dates of high-levelerratic boulders above trimlines on five mountains in northwestern Scotland and empirically demonstrating that the last ice sheet overtopped the five mountains.[1][8]
In addition to his interest in music, history, and travel, Ballantyne is a skilled mountain climber. He climbed all the ScottishMunros at least twice (and many of them three or more times). He ascendedMount Kilimanjaro (on the summit of which he proposed to his future wife Rebecca). He climbed many mountains in New Zealand and Europe, including many of Norway's peaks over 2000 meters. Accompanied byChris Bonington, he ascendedMount Elbrus.[1]
Ballantyne, Colin K. (1986). "Landslides and slope failures in Scotland: A review".Scottish Geographical Magazine.102 (3):134–150.doi:10.1080/00369228618736667.
Ballantyne, Colin K. (1989). "The Loch Lomond Readvance on the Isle of Skye, Scotland: Glacier reconstruction and palaeoclimatic implications".Journal of Quaternary Science.4 (2):95–108.Bibcode:1989JQS.....4...95B.doi:10.1002/jqs.3390040201.
Benn, Douglas I.; Ballantyne, Colin K. (1993). "The description and representation of particle shape".Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.18 (7):665–672.Bibcode:1993ESPL...18..665B.doi:10.1002/esp.3290180709.
Benn, Douglas I.; Ballantyne, Colin K. (1994). "Reconstructing the transport history of glacigenic sediments: A new approach based on the co-variance of clast form indices".Sedimentary Geology.91 (1–4):215–227.Bibcode:1994SedG...91..215B.doi:10.1016/0037-0738(94)90130-9.
Ballantyne, Colin K.; McCarroll, Danny; Nesje, Atle; Dahl, Svein Olaf; Stone, John O. (1998). "The Last Ice Sheet in North-West Scotland: Reconstruction and Implications".Quaternary Science Reviews.17 (12):1149–1184.Bibcode:1998QSRv...17.1149B.doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(98)00003-1.
Benn, Douglas I.; Ballantyne, Colin K. (2005). "Palaeoclimatic reconstruction from Loch Lomond Readvance glaciers in the West Drumochter Hills, Scotland".Journal of Quaternary Science.20 (6):577–592.Bibcode:2005JQS....20..577B.doi:10.1002/jqs.925.
Ballantyne, Colin K.; McCarroll, Danny; Stone, John O. (2007). "The Donegal ice dome, northwest Ireland: Dimensions and chronology".Journal of Quaternary Science.22 (8):773–783.Bibcode:2007JQS....22..773B.doi:10.1002/jqs.1116.
Ballantyne, Colin K. (2010). "Extent and deglacial chronology of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet: Implications of exposure dating using cosmogenic isotopes".Journal of Quaternary Science.25 (4):515–534.Bibcode:2010JQS....25..515B.doi:10.1002/jqs.1310.
Ballantyne, Colin K.; Stone, John O. (2012). "Did large ice caps persist on low ground in north-west Scotland during the Lateglacial Interstade?".Journal of Quaternary Science.27 (3):297–306.Bibcode:2012JQS....27..297B.doi:10.1002/jqs.1544.
Fabel, Derek; Ballantyne, Colin K.; Xu, Sheng (2012). "Trimlines, blockfields, mountain-top erratics and the vertical dimensions of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet in NW Scotland".Quaternary Science Reviews.55:91–102.Bibcode:2012QSRv...55...91F.doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.09.002.
Ballantyne, Colin K. (2012). "Chronology of glaciation and deglaciation during the Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stade in the Scottish Highlands: Implications of recalibrated10Be exposure ages".Boreas.41 (4):513–526.Bibcode:2012Borea..41..513B.doi:10.1111/j.1502-3885.2012.00253.x.
Chiverrell, Richard C.; Thrasher, Ian M.; Thomas, Geoffrey S. P.; Lang, Andreas; Scourse, James D.; Van Landeghem, Katrien J. J.; McCarroll, Danny; Clark, Chris D.; Cofaigh, Colm Ó.; Evans, David J. A.; Ballantyne, Colin K. (2013). "Bayesian modelling the retreat of the Irish Sea Ice Stream".Journal of Quaternary Science.28 (2):200–209.Bibcode:2013JQS....28..200C.doi:10.1002/jqs.2616.
Ballantyne, Colin K.; Wilson, Peter; Gheorghiu, Delia; Rodés, Àngel (2014). "Enhanced rock-slope failure following ice-sheet deglaciation: Timing and causes".Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.39 (7):900–913.Bibcode:2014ESPL...39..900B.doi:10.1002/esp.3495.hdl:10023/5839.
Ballantyne, Colin K.; Sandeman, Graeme F.; Stone, John O.; Wilson, Peter (2014). "Rock-slope failure following Late Pleistocene deglaciation on tectonically stable mountainous terrain".Quaternary Science Reviews.86:144–157.Bibcode:2014QSRv...86..144B.doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.12.021.hdl:10023/5169.
Ballantyne, Colin K. (2019). "After the ice: Lateglacial and Holocene landforms and landscape evolution in Scotland".Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.110 (1–2):133–171.Bibcode:2019EESTR.110..133B.doi:10.1017/S175569101800004X.hdl:10023/16465.
Blachut, S. P.; Ballantyne, C. K. (1976).Ice-dammed lakes : a critical review of their nature and behaviour. Discussion paper no. 6, Department of Geography, McMaster University. Hamilton, Ontario.LCCN79317558; vii+90 pages, illustrated{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: postscript (link)
