The Glacial Drifts of the Southern Part of the Shropshire-Cheshire Basin

Abstract

Official work on the Nantwich district (Sheet 122) showed t h a t the sequence of two boulder-clays with associated fluvioglacial deposits, previously recognized only in the northern part of the Shropshire–Cheshire basin, also extended into its centre. Subsequent private research has shown that this sequence may be distinguished throughout the whole basin and in a critical region beyond its south-eastern margin—in total an area exceeding 3000 square miles. The recognition of glacial lake features cut into the Upper Boulder-clay in the Nantwich district and elsewhere necessitates a revision of current ideas about the origin of Lake Lapworth and the age of the Severn terraces above Ironbridge. Accepted correlations relating to the basin and its adjacent areas, the status of the “Little Welsh Glaciation” and the Newport–Wolverhampton esker chain are discussed. A new interpretation of the Pleistocene and Recent history of the region is presented.

The last British Ice Sheet: A review of the evidence utilised in the compilation of the Glacial Map of Britain

“…Peake argued that the Wrexham terrace was fed by meltwater draining down the Alyn Valley from the north. Poole and Whiteman (1961) suggested that the terrace was not a delta but part of an end moraine system extending from Wrexham to Ellesmere. Specifically, they suggested that the Middle Sands record the recession of the ice responsible for the deposition of the Lower Boulder Clay and that the Upper Boulder Clay recorded a later advance by the Irish Sea ice right up to the base of the Welsh upland massif.…”

“…8) variously named the "Wrexham-Ellesmere-Wem-Whitchurch-Woore Moraine" (e.g. Lewis, 1894;Pocock and Wray, 1925;Peake, 1961;Poole and Whiteman, 1961;Yates and Moseley, 1967), the "Middle Sands Moraine" by Poole and Whiteman (1961) and "Bar Hill-Whitchurch-Wrexham Moraine" by Boulton and Worsley (1965). Thomas (1989) (Thomas, 1985; see above) with those to the south of Ellesmere.…”

“…Throughout the recession of the Irish Sea ice, proglacial outwash tracts were developed by way of the partial erosion and burying of earlier moraines and outwash fans. Rees and Wilson (1998) provide a map of the major moraines on the east side of the Cheshire Plain including: the Woore moraine (Lewis, 1894;Wedd, in Gibson, 1925;Jowett and Charlesworth, 1929;Poole and Whiteman, 1961;Boulton and Worsley, 1965;Yates and Moseley, 1967;Gemmell and George, 1972), thought by some researchers to be a readvance moraine; the Wrinehill moraine (Yates and Moseley, 1958), a hummocky moraine thought to represent ice stagnation; the Foxley moraine (Wedd, in Gibson, 1925), comprising glacitectonically disturbed stratified sediments and therefore interpreted as a readvance limit; and the Sheepwash moraine near Caverswall.…”

“…Earp and Taylor (1986) report terminal moraines in the Burwardsley-Peckforton-Beeston area, marked on geology maps as an area of morainic drift. The moraines (originally identified by Poole and Whiteman, 1961) are named the Burwardsley Hill, the Burwardsley-Peckforton Castle, the Peckforton Hall and the Beeston Castle moraines. Earp and Taylor (1986) also refer to a major stillstand limit from Kingsley through Norley to Cuddington, although the landforms/ sediments used in the identification of this line are not specified.…”

A morphological, sedimentological and geophysical investigation of the Woore Moraine, Shropshire, England

“…Comparison with other terminal moraine complexes within the U.K. such as the Escrick (Cooper and Gibson, 2003); Cromer (Hart, 1990) and Bride (Thomas, 1984) have shown that it is one of the largest. A series of conflicting models have been proposed for the origin of the BHWWMC including: 1) ice stagnation during retreat (Jowett and Charlesworth, 1929;Worsley, 1970); 2) formation during a re-advance (Boulton and Worsley, 1965;Shotton, 1966;Yates and Moseley, 1967); 3) overriding of a pre-existing moraine ridge (Poole and Whiteman, 1961) and, 4) draping of glacial material over a bedrock ridge (McQuillin, 1964). However the mode of origin has remained uncertain, as the moraine's key characteristics have not been examined in detail, due to a lack of significant exposures from which the moraine's internal structure can be constrained.…”