Review of tufa deposition and palaeohydrological conditions in the White Peak, Derbyshire, UK: implications for Quaternary landscape evolution

Abstract

Abstract.This review considers the geological and geomorphological context of tufa barrages that occupy buried valley settings in the Wye catchment, Derbyshire. It describes the potential relationship of the tufa with locations of hypothesised river captures and inception horizon-guided groundwater flow paths. Tufa barrage development is associated with steps in the bedrock, which may be related to knick-point recession during river capture. Broad estimates of valley incision have been calculated from previously dated deposits. These support current interpretations of particularly significant effective base-level lowering during the Anglian and Devensian stages of the Quaternary and have the potential to add to the knowledge of regional uplift histories.

The use of uplift modelling in the reconstruction of drainage development and landscape evolution in the repeatedly glaciated Trent catchment, English Midlands, UK

“…This would imply that rates of fluvial incision in the upper reaches of the Derwent have been negligible during the Pleistocene, which is at odds with the disposition of karstic levels beneath the Carboniferous Limestone uplands flanking this valley; these are well documented (e.g., Ford et al, 1983;Waltham et al, 1997) and, as noted previously (Westaway, 2009cBridgland et al, 2014), indicate valley floor lowering (i.e., fluvial entrenchment) at rates of ~0.1 mm a -1 or more in reaches of the Derwent where Waters and Johnson (1958) predict no measureable fluvial incision (cf. Banks et al, 2012). A second reason for calling into question the Waters and Johnson (1958) interpretation is that some of it is based on heights of glacial, rather than fluvial, sediments.…”

STOP 3: Late-glacial and early postglacial environmental processes and the history of the River Triečupīte valley and surroundings, in the foreland of the Vidzeme Upland

“…Even though the current section is 2.9 m shorter, the pollen data show approximately the same characteristics of pollen spectra. Many studies of freshwater tufa in Central Europe using radiocarbon datings and pollen analysis show that a peak of tufa precipitation occurred during the Atlantic and Subboreal climatic periods (5000-2500 BP) of the Holocene, when climatic conditions were warmer and wetter (Goudie et al 1993;Banks et al 2012). Freshwater tufa deposits in Latvia have not been dated by radiometric dating methods.…”

Reply to comment by Rob Westaway on “Review of tufa deposition and palaeohydrological conditions in the White Peak, Derbyshire, UK: implications for Quaternary landscape evolution.”

“…His comments highlight the tentative nature of geological approaches to determining rates of glacio-isostatic and tectonic uplift. In particular, Westaway (2012) questions the validity of the uplift rates that were presented within our original paper (Banks et al, 2012) and we welcome the opportunity to clarify this further. We also welcome the opportunity to comment on the practicalities of determining uplift measurements from karst environments within the wider, long-term, tectonic evolution of the Peak District.…”