Dating the earliest lowland glaciation of eastern England: a pre-MIS 12 early Middle Pleistocene Happisburgh glaciation

Age limits on Middle Pleistocene glacial sediments from OSL dating, north Norfolk, UK

“…The tills associated with these advances are from oldest to youngest, locally known as the Happisburgh, Walcott, Bacton Green, and Weybourne Town tills Lee et al, 2004b). The earliest of these glaciations is represented by the Happisburgh Formation which is correlated with MIS 16 (Lee et al, 2004a). This is not subject of this paper because deposits associated with this ice advance do not outcrop within the study area.…”

“…These consist of: (1) a two-stage scheme with glaciation occurring during the Anglian and Wolstonian stages (Baden-Powell, 1948;West and Donner, 1956;Mitchell et al, 1973;Gibbard et al, 1992;Banham et al, 2001); (2) a single-stage scheme with extensive glaciation occurring during the Anglian Stage (MIS 12) (Perrin et al, 1979;Banham, 1988;Hart and Boulton, 1991;Lunkka, 1994); and (3) a multiple-stage scheme with glacial advances occurring in several Middle Pleistocene cold stages Clark et al, 2004;Lee et al, 2004a). The last of these schemes (Table 1) is based upon recognition of several lithologically distinct till sheets in northeast Norfolk, separated by glacial retreat sediments and which are interpreted to reflect glacier advances during eccentricityforced climate cooling.…”

“…1c), both the North Sea Drift and Lowestoft formations have previously been attributed to a single glacial event reflecting ice lobe movements over differing bed materials (Perrin et al, 1979;Banham, 1988;Hart and Boulton, 1991;Lunkka, 1994). Recent investigations have recognised a more complex stratigraphy for the glacial deposits of the region Lee, 2003, Lee et al, 2004a, which is the basis of a more complex glacial history involving ice sheet advances over several Middle Pleistocene glacial cycles (MIS 16,12,10,and 6) Clark et al, 2004). The local names for these units are detailed in Table 1.…”

“…1b) Lee et al, 2004a;Clark et al, 2004). These cold stages include evidence for an early-Middle Pleistocene glaciation during MIS 16 (Lee et al, 2004a), extensive glaciation of eastern and central England during the Anglian Stage (MIS 12), as well as post-Anglian incursions of ice correlated with MIS 10 and MIS 6 Clark et al, 2004).…”

“…Based on new lithostratigraphical and mapping-based evidence tied-in with fluvial terrace sequences, high sea level deposits, and existing absolute age estimates, it has been proposed that north Norfolk was glaciated during at least four separate cold stages prior to the LGM (Fig. 1b) Lee et al, 2004a;Clark et al, 2004). These cold stages include evidence for an early-Middle Pleistocene glaciation during MIS 16 (Lee et al, 2004a), extensive glaciation of eastern and central England during the Anglian Stage (MIS 12), as well as post-Anglian incursions of ice correlated with MIS 10 and MIS 6 Clark et al, 2004).…”