Palaeontology and biostratigraphy of Middle Pleistocene river sediment in the Mathon Member, at Mathon, Herefordshire, England

Coope, G. Russell; Field, Michael; Gibbard, Philip L.; Greenwood, M. T.; Richards, Andrew E.

doi:10.1016/s0016-7878(02)80027-x

Cited by 22 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Thus although these sites are not precisely contemporary, they are nevertheless likely to be close in age, possibly belonging to different substages of the same interglacial or a separate interstadial. Interestingly, several beetle species, such as Micropeplus hoogendorni (¼ M. dokuchaevi), are only known in Britain from Happisburgh 1, Waverley Wood and the Pools Farm Pit nearby (Shotton et al, 1993;Maddy et al, 1994) and Mathon in Herefordshire (Coope et al, 2002), suggesting that these sites might all be contemporary (Coope, 2006). Waverley Wood is another site that has yielded Arvicola and archaeology (Shotton et al, 1993;Keen et al, 2006) implying an age younger than sites with Mimomys, such as West Runton.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biostratigraphic and aminostratigraphic constraints on the age of the Middle Pleistocene glacial succession in north Norfolk, UK

Preece

Parfitt

Coope³

et al. 2009

J Quaternary Science

107

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Considerable debate surrounds the age of the Middle Pleistocene glacial succession in East Anglia following some recent stratigraphical reinterpretations. Resolution of the stratigraphy here is important since it not only concerns the glacial history of the region but also has a bearing on our understanding of the earliest human occupation of north-western Europe. The orthodox consensus that all the tills were emplaced during the Anglian (Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 12) has recently been challenged by a view assigning each major till to a different glacial stage, before, during and after MIS 12. Between Trimingham and Sidestrand on the north Norfolk coast, datable organic sediments occur immediately below and above the glacial succession. The oldest glacial deposit (Happisburgh Till) directly overlies the 'Sidestrand Unio-bed', here defined as the Sidestrand Hall Member of the Cromer Forest-bed Formation. Dating of these sediments therefore has a bearing on the maximum age of the glacial sequence. This paper reviews the palaeobotany and describes the faunal assemblages recovered from the Sidestrand Unio-bed, which accumulated in a fluvial environment in a fully temperate climate with regional deciduous woodland. There are indications from the ostracods for weakly brackish conditions. Significant differences are apparent between the Sidestrand assemblages and those from West Runton, the type site of the Cromerian Stage. These differences do not result from contrasting facies or taphonomy but reflect warmer palaeotemperatures at Sidestrand and a much younger age. This conclusion is suggested by the higher proportion of thermophiles at Sidestrand and the occurrence of a water vole with unrooted molars (Arvicola) rather than its ancestor Mimomys savini with rooted molars. Amino acid racemisation data also indicate that Sidestrand is significantly younger than West Runton. These data further highlight the stratigraphical complexity of the 'Cromerian Complex' and support the conventional view that the Happisburgh Till was emplaced during the Anglian rather than the recently advanced view that it dates from MIS 16. Moreover, new evidence from the Trimingham lake bed (Sidestrand Cliff Formation) above the youngest glacial outwash sediments (Briton's Lane Formation) indicates that they also accumulated during a Middle Pleistocene interglacial -probably MIS 11. All of this evidence is consistent with a short chronology placing the glacial deposits within MIS 12, rather than invoking multiple episodes of glaciation envisaged in the 'new glacial stratigraphy' during MIS 16, 12, 10 and 6.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biostratigraphic and aminostratigraphic constraints on the age of the Middle Pleistocene glacial succession in north Norfolk, UK

Preece

Parfitt

Coope³

et al. 2009

J Quaternary Science

107

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“…However, a south‐flowing pre‐Anglian river system, the Mathon, was located west of the modern lower Severn (e.g. Barclay et al 1992; Coope et al 2002) (Fig. 2); the Ingham catchment thus cannot have extended much further SW than Stratford‐upon‐Avon.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quaternary vertical crustal motion and drainage evolution in East Anglia and adjoining parts of southern England: chronology of the Ingham River terrace deposits

Westaway¹

2009

Boreas

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Quaternary vertical crustal motion and drainage evolution in East Anglia and adjoining parts of southern England: chronology of the Ingham River terrace deposits ROB WESTAWAY BOREAS Westaway, R.: Quaternary vertical crustal motion and drainage evolution in East Anglia and adjoining parts of southern England: chronology of the Ingham River terrace deposits.Prior to its disruption during the Anglian glaciation (MIS 12), the Ingham or Bytham River used to flow eastwards across central England and East Anglia into the southern North Sea. It thus had a much larger catchment than any extant river system in Britain; its headwaters may well have been as far away as North Wales and/or NW England. Terrace deposits of this former river system crop out across East Anglia and, as for any other river, can be used to investigate uplift, landscape evolution and the physical properties of the underlying continental crust. However, such an investigation has hitherto been hampered by inconsistencies between different authors' terrace schemes; furthermore, and controversially, one such scheme has formed the basis for the inference that the region was affected by a pre-Anglian (MIS 16) glaciation. By re-examining the raw data, the Ingham River deposits are shown to be disposed in three terraces, inferred to date from MIS 16, 14 and 12. The evidence previously attributed to preAnglian glaciation is associated with the youngest of these terraces, and thus marks the MIS 12 (i.e. Anglian) glaciation; the argument for glaciation of the region in MIS 16 is thus an artefact of previous miscorrelation of the terrace deposits. It is inferred that development of the very large Ingham River was synchronous with decapitation of the former 'Greater Thames', or 'High-level Kesgrave Thames' river, some time between MIS 18 and MIS 16. Uplift histories at representative localities across East Anglia have been modelled using composite data sets, combining the terrace deposits of the Ingham River and of the post-Anglian rivers Lark and Waveney. The sites modelled are typefied by much faster uplift in the early Middle Pleistocene than in the late Middle Pleistocene; this effect is shown to be a consequence of the relative thinness (no more than $7-8 km thick) of the mobile lowercrustal layer, itself a consequence of the low surface heat flow in the London Platform crustal province. The postEarly Pleistocene uplift tapers eastward, consistent with the observed downstream convergence of the Ingham and Waveney terraces, and is close to zero near the modern coastline around Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth. Stratigraphic relationships between the Ingham terrace deposits and temperate-stage marine and terrestrial deposits in this coastal area allow sites to be dated; thus, Pakefield and Corton date from MIS 15, whereas Norton Subcourse dates from MIS 17. The oldest known Lower Palaeolithic sites in the region, characterized by flake artefacts, are Pakefield (MIS 15) and Hengrave (?MIS 14); younger pre-Anglian sites that have yielded handaxes and/or fossil materi...

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“…These are essentially of type 1(c). In recent years, they have been viewed predominantly as recording MIS stages and uplift (Bridgland and Westaway, 2008), whilst there have been numerous studies of site stratigraphy (e.g., Collins et al, 1996;Coope et al, 1997Coope et al, , 2002Maddy et al, 1998;Lewis et al, 2001;Gao et al, 1998Gao et al, , 2007Briant et al, 2004Briant et al, , 2005Briant et al, , 2008Langford et al, 2007;Rose et al, 2000).…”

Section: Terraces and Their Depositsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quaternary river terraces in England: Forms, sediments and processes

Lewin

Gibbard

2010

Geomorphology

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Palaeontology and biostratigraphy of Middle Pleistocene river sediment in the Mathon Member, at Mathon, Herefordshire, England

Cited by 22 publications

References 18 publications

Biostratigraphic and aminostratigraphic constraints on the age of the Middle Pleistocene glacial succession in north Norfolk, UK

Biostratigraphic and aminostratigraphic constraints on the age of the Middle Pleistocene glacial succession in north Norfolk, UK

Quaternary vertical crustal motion and drainage evolution in East Anglia and adjoining parts of southern England: chronology of the Ingham River terrace deposits

Quaternary river terraces in England: Forms, sediments and processes

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