Late Middle Pleistocene glaciation in East Anglia, England

Abstract

Investigation of a group of landforms and their underlying deposits on the eastern margin of the Fenland in East Anglia has demonstrated that they represent a series of glaciofluvial delta-fan and related sediments. Section logging, borehole records and previous descriptions combine to indicate that the sediments were deposited in icemarginal deltaic settings in an ice-marginal lake. The internal structure and form of the fan-like deltas has been demonstrated using extensive ground-penetrating radar investigation. The lake formed by the ice damming westward-aligned river valleys. Together, this evidence confirms historical descriptions of a glaciation of the Fenland, and clarifies the interpretation of gravels of the eastern Fenland margin. Recent reinterpretations of the latter as of fluvial rather than glacial meltwater origin are shown to be incorrect. It is concluded, on the basis of regional correlation, supported by optically stimulated luminescence dating, that the glaciation occurred at c. 160 kyr, i.e. in the Wolstonian (= Saalian) Stage (broadly equivalent to MIS ?11b-6). Comparison with The Netherlands' sequence shows a similarity of glacial marginal morphology, and the dates confirm the time equivalence with that during the late Saalian Drenthe Substage, Amersfoort ice-pushed ridge complex. The implications include that the c. 200 kyr interval, between the Hoxnian (Holsteinian) temperate Stage and the Wolstonian glaciation, was a period during which fluvial and periglacial activity modified the landscape under cold climates, with organic sediments laid down during warmer events. Palaeolithic humans were periodically present during this interval, their artefacts having been reworked by the subsequent glaciation.

The use of uplift modelling in the reconstruction of drainage development and landscape evolution in the repeatedly glaciated Trent catchment, English Midlands, UK

“…Another area where evidence for a post-Anglian-pre-Devensian glaciation has received support is in the Nar Valley of north-west Norfolk, at Tottenhill (Gibbard et al, 1991(Gibbard et al, , 1992(Gibbard et al, , 2009Lewis and Rose, 1991). The evidence there takes the form of progradational gravels, attributed to a glacial outwash delta, overlying interglacial freshwater and estuarine deposits that have been suggested to date from MIS 11 (e.g., Bowen et al, 1989;Westaway, 2009b;cf.…”

“…Rowe et al, 1997;Scourse et al, 1999). The Tottenhill gravels have been attributed to MIS 6 (Lewis, 1999), an interpretation seemingly corroborated by an OSL date of ~160 ka (Gibbard et al, 2009), although the numerical data supporting this date were not published, making its reliability impossible to assess. Inset into the Tottenhill gravels are the three terraces of the River Nar; in order of decreasing age, these are the Wormegay, Pentney and Marham terraces, the latter ~1 m above the modern floodplain, the vertical separations being 2-3 m (Ventris, 1986).…”

The Glacial History of the British Isles during the Early and Middle Pleistocene: Implications for the long-term development of the British Ice Sheet

“…Second, an inferred correlation with MIS 6 deposits at Tottenhill (i.e. Gibbard et al, 1991bGibbard et al, , 1992Gibbard et al, , 2009Lewis and Rose, 1991), and pre-Ipswichian tills in East Yorkshire (Basement Till) and County Durham (Warren House Till) that contain similar reported elevations of Scandinavian lithologies.…”

“…Evidence from the Holderness and County Durham areas also suggests a later minor extension of ice along the North Sea coast of England believed to be equivalent to the Late Saalian (MIS 6) glaciation (Catt and Penny, 1966;Bateman and Catt, 1996) which is equated to the 'Wolstonian'. Ice is believed to have extended to the margins of the Wash Basin depositing a complex sequence of outwash (Gibbard et al, 1991b(Gibbard et al, , 1992(Gibbard et al, , 2009Lewis and Rose, 1991). Recently, the glacial model for East Anglia and the Midlands has been challenged by new work that challenges: (1) the regional glacial succession; (2) the provenance of some of the deposits; (3) the number of Middle Pleistocene glaciations and their ages.…”

Middle and Late Pleistocene environmental history of the Marsworth area, south-central England

“…No glacial limits for MIS 10 and 6 have been suggested in the area. Jones and Keen (1993) hypothesised that what is now generally regarded as the Anglian limit in the Vale of Aylesbury dates from MIS 6, but the nearest reasonable evidence for an MIS 6 limit is around the margins of the Fenland Basin, c. 100 km NE of Marsworth (Gibbard et al, 1992(Gibbard et al, , 2009(Gibbard et al, , 2012.…”