A new Quaternary and Neogene Lithostratigraphical Framework for Great Britain and the Isle of Man

McMillan, Andrew; Merritt, J.W.

doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2012.05.007

Cited by 26 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…In the south‐east, chalk is overstepped by Palaeogene rocks including the Lambeth (clay, gravel, sand) and Thames (mudstone, gravel, sand) groups. To the east of Weybourne, bedrock units are unconformably overlain by Late Pliocene to early Middle Pleistocene deposits, comprising sands and gravels, muds and peats of the Crag (shallow marine and coastal) and Dunwich groups (fluvial) (McMillan and Merritt, ).…”

Section: East Anglia: Geology and Glacial Legacymentioning

confidence: 98%

The Middle Pleistocene glacial evolution of northern East Anglia, UK: a dynamic tectonostratigraphic–parasequence approach

Lee

Phillips

Rose

et al. 2016

J Quaternary Science

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The Middle Pleistocene glacial history of northern East Anglia is a controversial topic with differing opinions surrounding chronology, provenance and the relative stratigraphic framework. Reconciling the stratigraphic framework of the region is an essential first step to developing onshore-offshore geological models and a robust eventdriven chronological framework. Within this study a dynamic tectonostratigraphic-parasequence methodology is applied to deposits traditionally attributed to the Anglian Glaciation (Marine Isotope Stage 12). This approach offers an insight into ice-bed coupling during glaciation and how evolving boundary conditions influenced glacier dynamics. Six major tectonostratigraphic-parasequence assemblages (A1-A6) are recognized in northern East Anglia and correlate with successive advances into the region of North Sea or Pennine lobes of the British Ice Sheet. Individual tectonostratigraphic-parasequence assemblages are bound at their base by a sedimentary contact or, more commonly, a glacitectonic zone. The geometry and structural characteristics of these glacitectonic zones reflect temporal and spatial variations in ice-bed coupling (traction), a function of substrate rheology and, in turn, variations in lithology, porewater availability and thermo-mechanical properties. The role of permafrost may also be significant, promoting proglacial/ice-marginal thrust stacking in front of advancing ice and enhanced ice-bed decoupling during subsequent overriding and subglacial till accretion. #

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Section: East Anglia: Geology and Glacial Legacymentioning

confidence: 98%

The Middle Pleistocene glacial evolution of northern East Anglia, UK: a dynamic tectonostratigraphic–parasequence approach

Lee

Phillips

Rose

et al. 2016

J Quaternary Science

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“…By definition, HHA incorporates anthropogenic processes and identifies their importance within the areas concerned. McMillan and Merritt () provided a scheme, again appropriate for the Quaternary (and hence an Anthropocene), in which the lithological properties of surface rocks are given priority, with time taking a secondary role. As geomorphology determines the distribution of different lithologies, say through ice‐flow direction or sediment transport in drainage networks, it is a prime factor in the differentiation of the various stratigraphic units, but human impact is not traditionally considered.…”

Section: Geomorphology and Stratigraphymentioning

confidence: 99%

The geomorphology of the Anthropocene: emergence, status and implications

Brown

Tooth

Bullard

et al. 2016

Earth Surf Processes Landf

209

121

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The Anthropocene is proposed as a new interval of geological time in which human influence on Earth and its geological record dominates over natural processes. A major challenge in demarcating the Anthropocene is that the balance between human-influenced and natural processes varies over spatial and temporal scales owing to the inherent variability of both human activities (as associated with culture and modes of development) and natural drivers (e.g. tectonic activity and sea level variation). Against this backdrop, we consider how geomorphology might contribute towards the Anthropocene debate by focusing on human impact on aeolian, fluvial, cryospheric and coastal process domains, and how evidence of this impact is preserved in landforms and sedimentary records. We also consider the evidence for an explicitly anthropogenic geomorphology that includes artificial slopes and other human-created landforms. This provides the basis for discussing the theoretical and practical contributions that geomorphology can make to defining an Anthropocene stratigraphy. It is clear that the relevance of the Anthropocene concept varies considerably amongst different branches of geomorphology, depending on the history of human actions in different process domains. For example, evidence of human dominance is more widespread in fluvial and coastal records than in aeolian and cryospheric records, so geomorphologically the Anthropocene would inevitably comprise a highly diachronous lower boundary. Even to identify this lower boundary, research would need to focus on the disambiguation of human effects on geomorphological and sedimentological signatures. This would require robust data, derived from a combination of modelling and new empirical work rather than an arbitrary ?war of possible boundaries' associated with convenient, but disputed, ?golden? spikes. Rather than being drawn into stratigraphical debates, the primary concern of geomorphology should be with the investigation of processes and landform development, so providing the underpinning science for the study of this time of critical geological transition. Copyright ? 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.authorsversionPeer reviewe

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“…The unit is synonymous with the 'Irish Sea till' (Greenly, 1919;Campbell & Bowen, 1989;Williams, 2003;Thomas & Chiverrell, 2007;Phillips et al, 2010. The till was deposited extensively within and around the margins of the Irish Sea Basin by the Irish Sea Ice Stream during the Late Weichselian (Devensian; MIS 2) glaciation (Thomas & Chiverrell, 2010;Phillips et al, 2010;McMillan & Merritt, 2012). Collectively, the basal and upper diamictons, together with the sands and gravels (Lithofacies A-C) contain a similar suite of local and far-travelled lithologies indicating a singular source for all of the deposits at Lleiniog.…”

Section: Stratigraphic Framework Of the Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentary and structural evolution of a relict subglacial to subaerial drainage system and its hydrogeological implications: an example from Anglesey, north Wales, UK

Lee

Wakefield

Phillips

et al. 2015

Quaternary Science Reviews

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Subglacial drainage systems exert a major control on basal-sliding rates and glacier dynamics. However, comparatively few studies have examined the sedimentary record of subglacial drainage. This is due to the paucity of modern analogues, the limited recognition and preservation of upper flow regime deposits within the geological record, and the difficulty of distinguishing subglacial meltwater deposits from other meltwater sediments (e.g. glacier outburst flood deposits). Within this study, the sedimentological and structural evolution of a subglacial to subaerial (ice-marginal / proglacial) drainage system is examined. Particular emphasis is placed upon the genetic development and preservation of upper flow regime bedforms and specifically recognising them within a subglacial meltwater context. Facies attributed to subglacial meltwater activity record sedimentation within a confined, but progressively enlargening, subglacial channel system produced under dune to upper flow regime conditions. Bedforms include rare large-scale sinusoidal bedding with syn-depositional deformation produced by current-induced traction and shearing within the channel margins. Subglacial sedimentation culminated with the abrupt change to a more ephemeral drainage regime indicating channel-abandonment or a seasonal drainage regime. Retreat of the ice margin, led to the establishment of subaerial drainage with phases of sheet-flow punctuated by channel incision and anastomosing channel development under diurnal, ablation-related, seasonal discharge. The presence of extensive hydrofracture networks demonstrate that proglacial groundwater-levels fluctuated markedly and this may have influenced later overriding of the site by an ice stream.

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A new Quaternary and Neogene Lithostratigraphical Framework for Great Britain and the Isle of Man

Cited by 26 publications

References 19 publications

The Middle Pleistocene glacial evolution of northern East Anglia, UK: a dynamic tectonostratigraphic–parasequence approach

The Middle Pleistocene glacial evolution of northern East Anglia, UK: a dynamic tectonostratigraphic–parasequence approach

The geomorphology of the Anthropocene: emergence, status and implications

Sedimentary and structural evolution of a relict subglacial to subaerial drainage system and its hydrogeological implications: an example from Anglesey, north Wales, UK

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