Soils and geomorphology of the chalk in south‐east England

Abstract

SUMMARYSoil mapping and soil profile studies on the Chalk of south-east England outline the distribution and origin of superficial deposits more clearly than hitherto, and do not support the widely accepted history of landscape development proposed by Wooldridge and Linton (1955). Deposits formed by weathering and periglacial disturbance of a thin cover of basal Tertiary deposits occur on all parts of the dip-slope interfluves, suggesting that the exhumed sub-Tertiary surface, somewhat lowered by dissolution of the Chalk, is much more extensive than supposed by Wooldridge and Linton. The evidence for high Plio-Pleistocene sea levels is reviewed, with particular reference to their limited effect on soils and superficial deposits and on the morphology of the dip-slope. Alternative explanations for the so-called Calabrian marine platform and cliff are considered. Emphasis is placed on periglacial processes in the later Pleistocene denudation of the Chalk, and on the protective role played by the cover of disturbed basal Tertiary sediment.KEY WORDS Soils and geomorphology Chalk South-east England Sub-tertiary surface Clay-with-flints Calabrian Dissolution.

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

“…Mineralogical studies demonstrated that most of the 4 2 mm material is derived from basal Tertiary deposits (Reading Beds) rather than the Chalk, and it is unlikely that 'true residual Clay-with-flints' exists anywhere in southern England (Catt and Hodgson, 1976). Jarvis et at.…”

Responses of soil clay mineralogy in the Rothamsted Classical Experiments in relation to management practice and changing land use

“…The 100 effects of the addition of ammonium fertilisers has been studied by Barak et al (1997) (Catt & Hodgson, 1976). The mineralogy of the sand fraction of the Batcombe series soils 131 found at Rothamsted is similar to that of the Reading Beds (Catt & Hodgson, 1976 that is now the wilderness was sown with wheat from 1843 to 1882 from which it was allowed 181 to revert to woodland (Poulton et al, 2003). It consists of three sections, the woodland which is …”

Early-Middle Pleistocene Beheading of the River Thames

“…But, in both his Thames work and in his wider analysis of landscape development in southeast England (Wooldridge andLinton, 1939, 1955) Wooldridge has been shown to be in error by later workers (e.g. Hey, 1965;Hodgson etal, 1974;Catt and Hodgson, 1976;Gibbard, 1977;Green and McGregor, 1978;Rose, 1983;Allen etal., 1991), who addressed the problems largely from a sedimentological and lithological standpoint.…”