Evidence for late Middle Pleistocene glaciation of the British margin of the southern North Sea

Abstract

The timing and extent of late Middle Pleistocene glaciations in England and the southern North Sea are controversial topics. The recent Trent Valley Palaeolithic Project uncovered evidence for a post‐Anglian, pre‐Devensian glaciation that affected much of central and eastern England; the Wragby Till of Lincolnshire is associated with this glacial event, attributed here to Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 8. Coeval glacigenic deposits in the Middle Trent suggest that both western and eastern lobes of MIS 8 ice reached the Derby area. These various deposits have been assigned previously to MIS 12, 10 or 6, although the last can be excluded for the Wragby Till, which is overlain by Trent terrace deposits assigned to MIS 7 (from biostratigraphy and amino acid dating). The disposition of these glacigenic deposits within the landscape, particularly in relation to terrace deposits of the ancestral River Trent, and the absence of MIS 11 and 9 deposits within the footprint of the glaciation also provide compelling evidence. At its maximum extent in eastern England the MIS 8 ice reached the Peterborough area; identifying its extension (or otherwise) into areas such as north‐west Norfolk and the West Midlands requires further work.

Drainage network reorganization affecting the Nene and Welland catchments of eastern England as a result of a late Middle Pleistocene glacial advance

“…Evidence from the sedimentary succession at Elton and that north of Uffington, however, does imply that ice may have advanced to within 15 km north of Peterborough during MIS 8, but the configuration of the ice margin would appear not to match those depicted by Straw (, ), White et al. (, ) and Westaway ().…”

“…This supports the proposition of MIS 8 glaciation proposed by Straw (, ), White et al. (, ) and Westaway () but places important constraints on their postulated ice margins.…”

“…Corroboration of age attribution is important because archaeological sites in the same area have been reliably dated to ages older than MIS 6 (Voinchet et al, 2015). Indeed, this same event has been attributed to MIS 8 by Straw (2000Straw ( , 2011, an age supported by Boreham, White, Bridgland, Howard, and White (2010) and White, Bridgland, Westaway, Howard, and White (2010), White, Bridgland, Westaway, and Straw (2017) where full details of the derivation of these views are provided (Figure 2a). These polemic positions arise mainly from two sources.…”

Diamicton from the Vale of Pickering and Tabular Hills, north-east Yorkshire: evidence for a Middle Pleistocene (MIS 8) glaciation?

“…This tentative age is supported by recent work on the dating of River Trent river terrace deposits and their relationship to till (Wragby Till and equivalents) in central and eastern England. The Wragby Till has been attributed to a post-Anglian, preDevensian glaciation which occupied much of central and eastern England during MIS 8 (White et al, 2016). We propose that this glaciation would have supported a plateau icesheet on the Tabular Hills and adjacent uplands.…”

Isostatic compensation of Quaternary vertical crustal motions: coupling between uplift of Britain and subsidence beneath the North Sea

“…The terrace staircase of the principal river in central England, the Trent, is more difficult to interpret than its counterparts in southern England, because much of the catchment has been overridden by glaciations, including the recently identified Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 8 Wragby Glaciation (e.g. Westaway, , White et al ., , , Bridgland et al ., , , Westaway et al ., ). By virtue of its principal tributary, the Derbyshire Derwent, which drains most of the Peak District uplands, the Trent catchment spans the transition between ‘lowland’ and ‘upland’ Britain, thus enabling comparison of the uplift histories indicated by the fluvial terraces in lowland parts of the catchment and by cave‐levels in the Carboniferous limestone in its upland part.…”