A re‐examination of the evidence for a Plio‐Pleistocene marine transgression on the Chiltern Hills. III. deposits

Moffat, A. J.; Catt, J. A.

doi:10.1002/esp.3290110302

Cited by 20 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 34 publications

(34 reference statements)

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“…Indeed John (1974John ( , 1980 has shown for the Netley Heath type site on the Surrey North Downs that the bench is not a wave-cut platform but a flexured facet of the Sub-Palaeogene Surface. Similar conclusions were reached following an intensive study of the extensive platforms preserved on the Chiltern backslopes (Moffat et al 1986) which established that they are structurally controlled, although the authors added that 'it is possible that marine erosion before deposition of the Reading Beds (Palaeocene) played a small role in its formation' (p. 105), before concluding that the bench has 'no value as erosional evidence for a Plio-Pleistocene marine transgression' (p. 105). Neither study entirely dismissed the idea of the Plio-Pleistocene marine transgression extending over parts of the platform at a higher elevation.…”

Section: Criticisms Of the Wooldridge And Linton Modelmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…As this platform carries evidence for marine activity in terms of patches of sand (Headley Sands, Surrey) and solution pipe in-fills (Lenham Beds, Kent), together with fragments of fossiliferous ironstone (Netley Heath in Surrey, Rothamsted in Hertfordshire) (see Fig. 8), it was interpreted as a marine plain of Pliocene age (Wooldridge 1927; for reviews see Worssam 1963Worssam , 1973Jones 1974Jones , 1980Jones , 1981John 1980;John & Fisher 1984;Moffat & Catt 1986). …”

Section: The Wooldridge and Linton Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Apatite fission-track studies (AFT) undertaken in the Midlands and northern England have indicated that Britain was affected by two episodes of exhumation during the Tertiary, the first commencing in the mid-Palaeocene Mathers & Zalasiewicz (1988) and generalized contours on the base of the Red Crag produced by combining and modifying the contours developed by Moffat & Catt (1986) and Mathers & Zalasiewicz (1988). All areas except those below sea level may be presumed to have been uplifted in the Pleistocene.…”

Section: Lithostratigraphic Investigations Of the White Chalk (Formermentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evolving models of the Tertiary evolutionary geomorphology of southern England, with special reference to the Chalklands

Jones

1999

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This paper examines recent advances in understanding of the Tertiary evolutionary geomorphology of the southern England Chalklands, a subject of continuing controversy despite over a century of investigation. It begins by briefly outlining the classic Wooldridge and Linton model and discussing the many lines of criticism. Particular attention is paid to the explanation of discordant drainage and numerous lines of evidence are presented to explain why the 'superimposition model' has been rejected in favour of an explanation involving the development of anteconsequents. Attention is then directed to the new models of evolution advanced in the early 1980s which placed heavier emphasis on Palaeogene denudation and pulsed tectonism. These models are compared and contrasted, and attention focused on the growing recognition that the fundamental erosional surface is an etchplanated Summit Surface originating in the Palaeogene rather than a peneplanated surface developed during the Miocene and Pliocene. Significant developments of the last fifteen years are then reviewed -the establishment of inversion tectonics, lithostratigraphical division of the Chalk, apatite fission-track dating of uplift episodes and new information on the extent of the late Pliocene Red Crag incursionand combined to produce a new evolutionary sequence which differs from previous interpretations in a number of regards. First, the concept of structural compartmentalization into morphotectonic regions removes the need for uniformity of evolution and indicates that uplift could have been variable in time and space, thereby removing the problems caused by continual adherence to the concept of mid-Tertiary tectonism. Second, the growing evidence for Pleistocene differential uplift of at least 200 m is considered. Third, an explanation of the so-called Plio-Pliocene marine bench involving modified etchplanation is advanced. The paper concludes with a discussion of remaining uncertainties.

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Section: Criticisms Of the Wooldridge And Linton Modelmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: The Wooldridge and Linton Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Lithostratigraphic Investigations Of the White Chalk (Formermentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evolving models of the Tertiary evolutionary geomorphology of southern England, with special reference to the Chalklands

Jones

1999

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“…Basic rock types seem to be an insignificant component, if present (Hey, 1976;Moffat & Catt, 1986;Whiteman & Rose, 1992).…”

Section: Discussion Of Glaciological Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Geochemical provenancing of igneous glacial erratics from Southern Britain, and implications for prehistoric stone implement distributions

Williams-Thorpe¹,

Aldiss²,

Rigby³

et al. 1999

Geoarchaeology

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Sixteen basic and intermediate composition igneous glacial erratics from Anglian (pre‐423,000 years) deposits in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, southern Britain, were selected for chemical and petrographic analysis in order to determine their original source outcrops. Major and trace element compositions suggest that seven samples (plus two uncertain) originated in the Lower Carboniferous volcanics of the Scottish Midland Valley (SMV), four came from the Upper Carboniferous quartz dolerite association which crops out in Scotland, northern England (Whin Sill) and extends to Norway, and one came from the northern England Cleveland Dyke. One sample of altered dolerite is ambiguous but has some similarity to the Old Red Sandstone (Devonian) age lavas of the SMV, and one meta‐basalt sample may be from southwest Scotland or Scandinavia. These results identify specific outcrops which provided glacial erratics within currently accepted ice trails in the United Kingdom, and provide the first supporting evidence based on geochemistry, rather than petrography, for these ice movements. The distribution and provenance of glacial erratics are of importance in archaeological studies, because erratics provided a potential source of raw material for stone implement production. There is a marked geographical correlation between the distribution of prehistoric stone implements of quartz dolerite in the United Kingdom, and directions of ice movements from quartz dolerite outcrops within Britain. This correlation lends support to the hypothesis that prehistoric man made extensive use of glacial erratics for implement manufacture, as an alternative to quarrying at outcrops and subsequent long‐distance trade. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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“…Later research was able to involve a greater concentration on, and technical knowledge of, residual deposits and weathering products associated with particular surfaces (Clark et al 1967;Summerfield & Goudie 1980;Catt 1983;Green 1985;Moffat & Catt 1986;Ulyott et al 1998). In general, these studies have thrown considerable doubt on the earlier Wooldridge & Linton model, as weathering products, like the widespread Clay-withflints on the Chalk, have not proved to be what they initially seemed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

The history of the major rivers of southern Britain during the Tertiary

Gibbard

Lewin

2003

JGS

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The evolution of the drainage system of lowland Britain is discussed on the basis of available geological evidence, including that from terrestrial sites and that which has more recently become available from offshore exploration of the North Sea, the English and Bristol Channels, and the Irish Sea. Tertiary stratigraphy throws considerable light on landform and river development. Paleocene destruction of a chalk cover, which seems to have been incomplete in western Britain, was accompanied by basin sedimentation under a tropical climate. The major elements, the Thames, Solent, Hampshire (?proto-Avon) river, Irish Sea river and possibly an early Trent river, existed almost throughout the Cenozoic. The influence of Atlantic rifting and thermal doming in NW Britain appears to have been stronger and more temporally focused than the persistent flexuring that determined and maintained Tertiary drainage lines in the SE. Here also the folded Mesozoic terrains on the surface contrast with the more dominant block-faulted relief of the Palaeozoic 'oldlands'. The rivers of the SE can be shown to have extended or reduced their lengths in response to relative sea-level change and gentle warping. Drainage antecedence, the destruction of the Solent system and the breaching of the English Channel are also evident. By contrast, the major river systems of the west are now entirely submerged. Long-term stability of the drainage pattern reflects a persistent tectonic regime in the south, with a subdued low-relief landscape having a weathered regolith and dense vegetation cover. Meandering river channels and alluvial styles predominated, although channel forms varied according to sediment load, slope and discharge variability. Coarse gravel-dominated accumulations are rare and localized. Chemically stable lithologies dominate the clastic component throughout. It is apparent that the deeply incised river valleys seen today are related to high, predominantly coarse sediment yields, encouraged by substantial, rapid climate changes in the Pleistocene. This emphasizes the significance of mechanical compared with chemical weathering for the rate and nature of landscape dissection, and the modifications that have arisen as a result of glaciation, frost-climate weathering, rapidly changing climates and sea levels. The stratigraphical evidence here reviewed is at variance with older, largely geomorphologically based landform evolution models ('denudational chronology'), but gives considerable support to the recent proposals emphasizing the significance of Paleocene erosion, and enduring low-relief landscapes and drainage systems evolving alongside fold development during the Paleogene. Given the depobasin evidence now available, postulated fluvially active episodes can, and must, be linked to contemporaneous deposition. Some at least of the many controversies involving the identity of erosion surfaces, the dating of them using only residual deposits and weathering mantles, and the selection of particular Tertiary episodes as ones of landscape...

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A re‐examination of the evidence for a Plio‐Pleistocene marine transgression on the Chiltern Hills. III. deposits

Cited by 20 publications

References 34 publications

Evolving models of the Tertiary evolutionary geomorphology of southern England, with special reference to the Chalklands

Evolving models of the Tertiary evolutionary geomorphology of southern England, with special reference to the Chalklands

Geochemical provenancing of igneous glacial erratics from Southern Britain, and implications for prehistoric stone implement distributions

The history of the major rivers of southern Britain during the Tertiary

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