Late Middle Pleistocene deposits at Norton Farm on the West Sussex coastal plain, southern England

Bates, Martin; Bates, C. Richard; Gibbard, Philip L.; Macphail, Richard I.; Owen, Frederick; Parfitt, Simon A.; Preece, Richard C.; Roberts, Mark; Robinson, J.; Whittaker, John E.; Wilkinson, Keith

doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-1417(200001)15:1<61::aid-jqs463>3.0.co;2-k

Cited by 38 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Cool and cold stage mollusc faunas are poor biostratigraphic indicators because their limited number of tolerant species appear to recolonise with each cold episode (Keen, 1987). However, similar cool climate faunas with P. obtusale lapponicum have been recorded recently from Norton Farm, Sussex (Bates et al, 2000) in a lithostratigraphic context and with amino acid ratios, which indicate an age either late in MIS 7 or early MIS 6. While no correlation with Norton Farm on this basis can reasonably be made, the occurrence of such a fauna in a dated context indicates that an age in the late Middle Pleistocene is possible for Association B at Latton.…”

Section: Association Bsupporting

confidence: 76%

Pleistocene fluvial sediments, palaeontology and archaeology of the upper River Thames at Latton, Wiltshire, England

Lewis

Maddy

Buckingham

et al. 2006

J Quaternary Science

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Pleistocene fluvial sediments of the Northmoor Member of the Upper Thames Formation exposed at Latton, Wiltshire, record episodic deposition close to the Churn-Thames confluence possibly spanning the interval from Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 7 to 2. The sequence is dominated by gravel facies, indicating deposition by a high-energy, gravel-bed river. A number of finegrained organic sediment bodies within the sequence have yielded palaeoenvironmental and biostratigraphical data from Mollusca, Coleoptera, vertebrates, pollen and plant macrofossils. The basal deposit (Facies Association A) contains faunal material indicating temperate conditions. Most of the palaeontological evidence including a distinctive small form of mammoth (Mammuthus cf. trogontherii), together with the U-series age estimate of >147.4 AE 20 kyr suggest correlation with MIS 7. The overlying deposits (Facies Associations B and C) represent deposition under a range of climatic conditions. Two fine-grained organic deposits occurred within Association B; one (Association Ba) in the northern part of the pit as a channel fill and the other (Association Bb) in its southern part as a scour-fill deposit. The coleopteran assemblages from Ba, indicate that it accumulated under temperate oceanic conditions, while Bb, which also yielded a radiocarbon age estimate of 39 560 AE 780 14 C yr BP, was formed under much colder and more continental climatic conditions. The sequence is considered to represent deposition within an alluvial fan formed at the Churn-Thames confluence; a depositional scenario which may account for the juxtaposition of sediments and fossils of widely differing age within the same altitudinal range.

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Section: Association Bsupporting

confidence: 76%

Pleistocene fluvial sediments, palaeontology and archaeology of the upper River Thames at Latton, Wiltshire, England

Lewis

Maddy

Buckingham

et al. 2006

J Quaternary Science

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“…Guthrie (2003) suggested the Pleistocene-Holocene climatic warming to be the cause of the size decrease, but as Forstén (1993) notes, the diminishing trend in the body size of the caballine horses started long before the beginning of Holocene, with small-sized animals in cold and open environmental conditions during the glacial phases of the Late Pleistocene. Moreover, horses from previous cold stages (such as MIS 6) have been noted to be small in size (Bates et al, 2000;van Asperen, 2010). Correlation of small body size with open environments seems to be a more general phenomenon among horses, as it can be observed in Miocene equids, especially hipparionines, as well (Saarinen, 2009).…”

Section: Body Size and Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of diet and body mass of large ungulates from the Pleistocene of Western Europe, and their relation to vegetation

Saarinen

Eronen

Seppä

et al. 2016

Palaeontologia Electronica

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Ungulate diets may vary following differences in vegetation, and their body size is affected by a complex set of ecological and physiological variables. Here we analyse Middle and Late Pleistocene British and German ungulate palaeocommunities to test whether there are significant correlations of diet and body size of ungulate species with vegetation openness. We also evaluate the role of interspecific interactions on the diet and body mass of the ungulate species. We use mesowear for dietary analyses and regression equations for estimating body mass from skeletal measures. The results show a correlation between ungulate mesowear and non-arboreal pollen percentages of the localities, but there are marked differences between species. Body masses of rhinoceroses (Rhinocerotidae) and deer (Cervidae) are on average higher in open environments, whereas aurochs (Bos primigenius) does not show clear connection of body size with vegetational conditions, and bison (Bison spp.) and wild horses (Equus ferus) have on average smaller mean size in more open ecosystems, possibly because of high population densities and resulting resource limitations. It is evident that the correlation of body size and vegetation openness is not straightforward and is likely to reflect the varying effects of population density, ecological adaptations and environmental conditions on body size in different species.

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“…This apparent enigma may be reconcilable by comparison with evidence from elsewhere: Lefebvre (1993) noted cooling at the MIS 7-6 transition in the River Seine estuary prior to sea-level fall; Bates et al (2000) noted cooling at Norton Farm (Fig. 1b) on the Sussex coast during the same transition, and similarly this was prior to glacially driven sea-level fall -the foraminifera faunas of Norton Farm and unit 3a are almost identical (Jones and Whittaker, 2010); on the Norfolk coast the Morton (Fig.…”

Section: Palaeoecological Synthesismentioning

confidence: 70%

Middle to Late Pleistocene palaeoecological reconstructions and palaeotemperature estimates for cold/cool stage deposits at Whittlesey, eastern England

Langford¹,

Boreham²,

Briant³

et al. 2014

Quaternary International

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Fossiliferous beds in a complex sequence of late Middle to Late Pleistocene deposits at Whittlesey, eastern England, provided a rare opportunity for a multidisciplinary study of the palaeoecology of cool/cold stage deposits from different glacial stages. The fossiliferous sediments investigated form part of the River Nene 1st Terrace. Three of the four fossil assemblages investigated pre-date the last interglacial stage (Ipswichian/Eemian/marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 5e), whereas the other dates to part of the MIS 3 interstadial complex (Middle Devensian/Weichselian). Pollen, plant macrofossil, molluscan, coleopteran, ostracod, foraminifera and vertebrate data are available to a greater or lesser extent for each cool/cold stage assemblage, and they broadly present the same ecological picture for each one: a continuum from lowenergy permanent to non-permanent aquatic habitats through marshland with associated waterside taxa, together with flood influxes of fluvial, riparian and ruderal taxa. Although each fossil assemblage records cool/cold climatic conditions, to a greater or lesser extent, these conditions are more apparent in the insect and ostracod faunas. In comparision with results published for the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) stadial in The Netherlands, palaeotemperature estimates based on ranges of mutual agreement between independent coleopteran and ostracod methods for the three preIpswichian/Eemian assemblages indicate minimum mean July air temperatures that are from +1° to +3°C warmer, but January values that embrace the −8°C estimate for the LGM. There is, however, a disparity between the coleopteran and ostracod palaeotemperature estimates for the Middle Devensian/Weichselian fossil assemblage, which are based on two different sample stratigraphic levels; the lower, coleopteran assemblage is indicative of very cool, continental climates, whereas the stratigraphically slightly higher ostracod assemblage suggests a climatic amelioration. Lack of numerical age-estimates prevents a robust stratigraphical interpretation, but the youngest pre-Ipswichian/Eemian fossil assemblage could date to the marine oxygen isotope stage 7-6 transition, at a time when cooling possibly preceded glacially driven sea-level fall. It is apparent from the rich coleopteran data that some continental cold-indicator taxa also appeared in pre-Ipswichian/Eemian cold stages and therefore assignment of continental cold-indicator taxa to particular Devensian/Weichselian intervals should be undertaken with care.

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Late Middle Pleistocene deposits at Norton Farm on the West Sussex coastal plain, southern England

Cited by 38 publications

References 53 publications

Pleistocene fluvial sediments, palaeontology and archaeology of the upper River Thames at Latton, Wiltshire, England

Pleistocene fluvial sediments, palaeontology and archaeology of the upper River Thames at Latton, Wiltshire, England

Patterns of diet and body mass of large ungulates from the Pleistocene of Western Europe, and their relation to vegetation

Middle to Late Pleistocene palaeoecological reconstructions and palaeotemperature estimates for cold/cool stage deposits at Whittlesey, eastern England

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