Mid-Weichselian fossil-bearing deposits at Syston, Leicestershire

Scourse, J. D. and Furze, M. F. A. 2001. A critical review of the glaciomarine model for Irish sea deglaciation: evidence from southern Britain, the Celtic shelf and adjacent continental slope.ABSTRACT: In support of their 'glaciomarine' model for the deglaciation of the Irish Sea basin, Eyles and McCabe cited the occurrence of distal glaciomarine mud drapes onshore in the Isles of Scilly and North Devon, and of arctic beach-face gravels and sands around the shores of the Celtic Sea. Glacial and sea-level data from the southern part of the Irish Sea in the terminal zone of the ice stream and the adjacent continental slope are reviewed here to test this aspect of the model. The suggestion that the glacial sequences of both the Isles of Scilly and Fremington in North Devon are glaciomarine mud drapes is rejected. An actively calving tidewater margin only occurred early in the deglacial sequence close to the terminal zone in the south-central Celtic Sea. Relative sea-levels were lower, and therefore glacio-isostatic depression less, than envisaged in the glaciomarine model. Geochronological, sedimentological and biostratigraphical data indicate that the raised beach sequences around the shores of the Celtic Sea and English Channel were deposited at, or during regression soon after, interglacial eustatic highstands. Evidence for ice-rafting at a time of high relative sea-levels is restricted to a phase(s) earlier than the Late Devensian. These data indicate that the raised beach sequences have no bearing on the style of Irish Sea deglaciation.

Section: Isles Of Scillysupporting

confidence: 54%

A critical review of the glaciomarine model for Irish sea deglaciation: evidence from southern Britain, the Celtic shelf and adjacent continental slope

Scourse

Furze

2001

“…Within the broader West Midlands region, fossiliferous detrital peats and organic clays of broadly comparable Middle Devensian age have been recorded within cryoturbated basal terrace gravels of the River Salwarpe, a Severn tributary at Upton Warren, Worcestershire (Coope et al ., 1961), Four Ashes, Staffordshire (Morgan, 1973), Avon Terrace no. 2 at both Fladbury, Worcestershire (Coope, 1962), and Brandon, Warwickshire (Shotton, 1968), and the Syston Terrace of the River Soar in Leicestershire (Bell et al ., 1972). These examples, which date from around 42–29 ka BP, equally suggest a climate of variable continentality and severity, with evidence for intensely cold as well as warmer episodes, although the landscape remained largely treeless tundra.…”

Section: Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

A Middle Devensian woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) from Whitemoor Haye Quarry, Staffordshire (UK): palaeoenvironmental context and significance

Schreve

Howard

Currant

et al. 2012

This paper reports the discovery of a rare partial skeleton of a woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis Blumenbach, 1799) and associated fauna from a low Pleistocene terrace of the River Tame at Whitemoor Haye, Staffordshire, UK. A study of the sedimentary deposits around the rhino skeleton and associated organic‐rich clasts containing pollen, plant and arthropod remains suggests that the animal was rapidly buried on a braided river floodplain surrounded by a predominantly treeless, herb‐rich grassland. Highlights of the study include the oldest British chironomid record published to date and novel analysis of the palaeoflow regime using caddisfly remains. For the first time, comparative calculations of coleopteran and chironomid palaeotemperatures have been made on the same samples, suggesting a mean July temperature of 8–11 °C and a mean December temperature of between −22 and −16 °C. Radiocarbon age estimates on skeletal material, supported by optically stimulated luminescence ages from surrounding sediments, indicate that the rhino lived around 41–43 k cal a BP. The combined geochronological, stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental evidence places the assemblage firmly within the Middle Devensian (Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3). This would agree with other regional evidence for the timing of aggradation for the lowest terrace of the Trent and its tributary systems. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

“…Coope et al (1961) noted the presence of fossil caddis larvae in the Middle Devensian deposits at Upton Warren, however, in the following decade only brief mention of them was made in faunal lists (Gaunt et al, 1970;Bell et al, 1972). A number of published accounts of caddisfly assemblages were made throughout the 1980s (Elias and Wilkinson, 1983;Wilkinson, , 1981Wilkinson, , 1984Wilkinson, , 1987.…”

Section: Role Of Caddisflies In Palaeoecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of caddisfly fauna (Insecta: Trichoptera) to characterise the Late‐glacial River Trent, England

Greenwood

Agnew

Wood

2003

Trichoptera have been utilised infrequently in palaeoecological studies despite their value as environmental indicators of freshwater habitat structure and quality, via their aquatic larvae, and catchment macroclimate conditions, via the aerial adults. Two sites, dated ca. 11 600 14 C yr BP, in the middle reaches of the River Trent (England) supported caddisfly (Trichoptera) assemblages indicative of a dynamic braided river with extensive floodplain development. At the first, Barrowupon-Trent, the caddisfly assemblage was dominated by taxa indicative of a medium to large gravel-bed river (Lepidostoma hirtum, Micrasema setiferum and taxa from the family Hydropsychidae). At the second site, Hemington, the caddisfly fauna was dominated by taxa from the families Limnephilidae and Phryganeidae. These usually occur in slow flowing and standing waters and are indicative of cut-off channels on the floodplain. Micrasema setiferum does not occur in the contemporary UK fauna and has a modern distribution across central Europe and Fennoscandia. A gridded climatology extracted for those geographical areas where M. setiferum occurs today indicated a greater degree of continentality than currently prevailing in the Trent catchment. The value of Trichoptera in palaeoecological studies is explored and a model of channel evolution for the River Trent is presented based on caddisfly data.