Some Glacial Deposits and their Relation to the Hippopotamus-bearing Beds at Barrington, cambridgeshire

Abstract

Till fabrics on the ridge above Barrington show a variety of preferred orientations and their origins are discussed. Not all the fabrics can be attributed to ice transport. Lowestoft and Gipping Tills are differentiated on their lithologies, fabrics, and erratics, and the contained heavy minerals and microfossils are also considered. Correlation of the associated solifluxion deposits with the sequence in Barrington Village has shown that the Hippopotamus-bearing Barrington Beds are not younger than the Hoxnian Interglacial (Elster/Saale) and may be considerably older.

Flora and vertebrate fauna of the Barrington Beds

“…Sparks (1952), on the basis of lithology and molluscan faunas, equated the shattered and soliflucted chalk, which appeared to pre-date the till at Eastwood's Cement Works (TL 394512), with a similar deposit overlying the Barrington Beds. Norris (1962) distinguished two tills in the area which he assigned to the Lowestoft (Anglian) and Gipping (Wolstonian) glaciations. He considered that the soliflucted chalk was post-Lowestoft and pre-Gipping, and arrived at a probable Hoxnian age for the Barrington Beds.…”

The Geology of the Middle Cam Valley, Cambridgeshire, UK

“…Although there has been debate about the stratigraphic position of the Barrington Beds, it is clear that most authors believe they represent the Eemian (MIS 5e) followed by an episode of cooler climatic conditions (MIS 5a-d) [31,39]. Evidence from amino acid racemization analyses suggest that locally, there is a basal Corbicula-bearing deposit dating from the end of the Saalian complex (MIS 7), overlain by Eemian (MIS 5e) and Early Weichselian deposits.…”

“…The clay with gravel unit and underlying pellet chalk were thought to have entirely different origins. In the past, exposures of dry valley in-fillings and the chalky diamicton were more extensive [39]. Newer exposures of chalky diamicton were attributed the Elsterian glaciation, and demonstrated that the dry valley deposits clearly post-dated the chalky diamicton, with reworked material giving the impression of stratigraphic complexity in the dry valley systems [42].…”

The Pleistocene Drift Succession at Porth-Clais, Pembrokeshire

“…Next the marked section was cut back until fifty pebbles of size 20-50 mm had been collected, and their orientations measured with a hand-held prismatic compass. Only rodshaped pebbles with a length-breadth ratio of at least 2:1 were collected; all pebbles whose long axes were difficult to estimate visually were rejected (see Holmes, 1941;Karlstrom, 1952;Norris, 1962;Saunders, 1968a). Pebble orientations were recorded to the nearest 5° in the direction of long-axis plunge.…”