The Pleistocene of Northern France

Results are presented from a multidisciplinary study of fossiliferous interglacial deposits on the northern side of the Thames estuary. These fill a channel cut into London Clay bedrock and overlain by the Barling Gravel, a Thames-Medway deposit equivalent to the Lynch Hill and Corbets Tey Gravels of the Middle and Lower Thames, respectively. The channel sediments yielded diverse molluscan and ostracod assemblages, both implying fully interglacial conditions and a slight brackish influence. Pollen analysis has shown that the deposits accumulated during the early part of an interglacial. Plant macrofossils, particularly the abundance of Trapa natans, reinforce the interglacial character of the palaeontological evidence. A beetle fauna, which includes four taxa unknown in Britain at present, has allowed quantification of palaeotemperature using the mutual climatic range method (T max 17 to 26°C; T min −11 to 13°C). A few vertebrate remains have been recovered from the interglacial deposits, but a much larger fauna, as well as Palaeolithic artefacts, is known from the overlying Barling Gravel.The age of the interglacial deposits is inferential. The geological context suggests a late Middle Pleistocene interglacial, part of the post-diversion Thames system and therefore clearly post-Anglian. This conclusion is supported by amino acid ratios from the shells of freshwater molluscs. The correlation of the overlying Barling Gravel with the Lynch Hill/Corbets Tey aggradation of the Thames valley constrains the age of the Barling interglacial to marine oxygen isotope stages 11 or 9. The presence of Corbicula fluminalis and Pisidium clessini confirms a pre-Ipswichian (marine oxygen isotope substage 5e) age and their occurrence in the early part of the interglacial cycle at Barling precludes correlation with marine oxygen isotope stage 11, as these taxa occur only later in that interglacial at sites such as Swanscombe and Clacton. Thus by process of elimination a marine oxygen isotope stage 9 age would appear probable.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Middle Pleistocene interglacial deposits at Barling, Essex, England: evidence for a longer chronology for the Thames terrace sequence

Bridgland

Preece

Roe

et al. 2001

“…During the 1970s the research on French loess sequences was mainly focused on stratigraphical correlations between Normandy, northern France, southern Belgium, and the Netherlands (Paepe and Sommé, 1970;Lautridou and Sommé, 1974;Sommé et al, 1980;Lautridou et al, 1986), and on the significance of the periglacial features Lautridou, 1985;Van Vliet-Lanoë, 1987). In the past 10 yr, new field data, mainly from archaeological excavations, and TL-IRSL dating and geochemical analyses, has led to a more detailed interpretation of the pedosedimentary sequences, especially for the Upper Pleistocene (Antoine, 1990, 1998a.…”

Section: Pedostratigraphy and Chronostratigraphymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the past 10 yr, new field data, mainly from archaeological excavations, and TL-IRSL dating and geochemical analyses, has led to a more detailed interpretation of the pedosedimentary sequences, especially for the Upper Pleistocene (Antoine, 1990, 1998a. The correlation tables of the various formations from Brittany to northern France published by Lautridou et al (1986) recently have been supplemented by new data from northern France (Antoine et al, 1998a(Antoine et al, ,b, 1999Antoine, 2002).…”

Section: Pedostratigraphy and Chronostratigraphymentioning

confidence: 99%

The loess and coversands of northern France and southern England

Antoine

Catt

Lautridou

et al. 2003

114

Loess and coversands are widespread on either side of the English Channel. In southern England, loess is generally thin and discontinuous, but locally reaches thickness of about 4 m in east Kent. Coversands occur mainly in areas well north of the Channel, such as parts of East Anglia and the southern side of the Bristol Channel. Most of the loess and coversand deposits in southern England date from the Late Devensian cold stage (marine oxygen isotope stage (MOIS) 2), but there are also a few localised patches of older (mainly MOIS 6 and 12) loess, which are the dissected remnants of originally more extensive covers. In France loess is widespread and locally very thick (up to 12 m), especially in northern and northeastern France. In Normandy and in the Somme basin some long records indicate that accumulation began at the end of the Lower Pleistocene, at about 900 ka. Nevertheless the main accumulations of typical calcareous loess are related to the Upper Weichselian and Upper Saalian stages (MOIS 2 and end of MOIS 3 and MOIS 6). Indeed, before about 160-170 ka, loess deposition was generally restricted to special sediment traps such as fluvial and marine terraces exposed to the east or northeast. These older deposits are characterised by more sandy facies derived from local fluvial sources (mainly by northwest to north-northwest winds). Coversands occur locally along the coast of the Mont Saint-Michel bay, and over the northern part of the Seine estuary near Le Havre. The main differences in thickness and extent of the loess deposits between southern England and northern France are linked to their location in relation to the source areas (Channel and North Sea), to ice sheets, and to the main wind directions (northwest to north-northwest in France and western England but northeast in eastern England).

“…This was reinforced by the recognition of an additional interglacial, based on biostratigraphy and geochronology and recognised in the terraces of the Lower and Upper Thames and the Warwickshire/Worcestershire Avon, in Pontnewydd Cave, Clywd, and in the caves of South Wales (Shotton, 1983;Green, 1984;Campbell and Bowen, 1989). In Normandy (Lautridou et al, 1983(Lautridou et al, , 1986 and elsewhere on the continent (Sarnthein et al, 1986;S Sibrava, 1986), schemes envisaging four post-Elsterian (¼ post-Anglian) interglacials were promoted. This model was reinforced by Bowen et al (1989), on the basis of amino acid geochronology (including data from the Lower Thames terraces), and by the description of terrace sequences in other European valleys in which four post-Elsterian interglacials can be recognised, such as the Wipper, in central Germany (Mania, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

River terrace sequences: templates for Quaternary geochronology and marine–terrestrial correlation

Bridgland

Maddy

Bates

2004

121

Fluvial sequences, particularly terrace staircases, represent archives of Quaternary palaeoclimatic fluctuation and can serve as stratigraphical frameworks for geochronology and for correlation with other depositional environments, in particular, the global marine oxygen isotope record. Fluvial lithostratigraphical frameworks also provide contexts for records, from fossils and artefacts, of faunal evolution and human occupation; conversely, both records can be means of relative dating of riverine sequences.Three fluvial sequences are examined as case studies. First is the Severn-Avon system in the English Midlands, which has biostratgraphical evidence and an amino acid geochronology, together with marker inputs from three different glaciations. The Somme sequence of northern France, famous for its Palaeolithic artefact assemblages, again has biostratigraphy and an amino acid geochronology and has also been dated with reference to overlying loess/palaeosols sequences. The fluvial terraces of the River Arun, the final case study, lack dating evidence but are interspersed within the Sussex raised beach staircase. Although various lines of evidence suggest that the rivers discussed have formed terraces in response to climatic fluctuation, an intriguing difference is that interglacial sediments occur at the bases of terrace formations in the Severn-Avon, whereas in the Somme they occur at the tops of sequences, beneath loessic overburden.