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1.
Sands and gravels underlain by silts and clays, known as the Burtle Beds, from the Somerset Levels of South West England have been examined in a specially excavated pit. The Mollusca, Foraminifera and the Ostracoda, and the sparse macroscopic plant remains included in the deposit, all indicate a prgressive marine transgression in which water temperatures obtained approximating to those of the present sea in the adjacent Bristol Channel. The deposits are shown to be estuarine/marine near shore and intertidal sediments of interglacial age. Radiometric assays and studies of palaeomagnetism have failed to indicate clearly which interglacial marine transgressive phase is involved. Geomorphological considerations supported to some extent by the Ostracoda suggest that a last interglacial (Ipswichian) age is more likely than an earlier (Hoxnian?) date. Estimates of the height of sea levels involved are, of necessity, based on evidence which cannot be regarded as wholly reliable. Having regard to the environmental conditions indicated by the included fauna, and making allowance for post depositional erosion, it is suggested that mean sea level at the height of the ‘Burtle’ transgression was between 9 and 12 m above that of the present (O. D.). Assuming a similar tidal range to that of today, a MHWST (Mean High Water of Spring Tides) level of between 15 and 18 m above O. D. is indicated  相似文献   

2.
Instrumental surveys of coastal profiles in the Cayman Islands, western Caribbean, reveal the presence of a horizontal erosional bench at +1.9 m on Grand Cayman and a deep horizontal notch at +6.4 m on Cayman Brac, but no raised erosional features on Little Cayman. Each island is surrounded by a horizontal constructional raised reef, usually below +2 m, here dated by U-series methods as 124,000 ± 8000 yr old, and hence broadly contemporary with other western Atlantic raised reefs of similar elevations. The different raised erosional features indicate independent vertical tectonic movement of the three islands, predating the formation of the raised reef. The accordance and horizontality of the raised reef indicates stability of the islands since the last interglacial times. An erosional notch at present sea level has formed since the sea reached its present level less than 2100 B.P., and algal benches on exposed coasts are also in equilibrium with present conditions.  相似文献   

3.
Organic sediments in a gravel quarry at Block Fen, Cambridgeshire, form a sheet dividing lower from upper gravels. Analyses of pollen, macroscopic plant remains and molluscs from these organic sediments are presented. They indicate the presence of temperate freshwater and slightly brackish fine floodplain sediments, which, on the basis of the palaeobotany, are correlated with the temperate Ipswichian Stage. The freshwater sediments, ascribed to Ipswichian substage IIb, occur at ca. ?3 m OD. Marine-influenced tidal sediments, ascribed to Ipswichian substage III, occur at ca. ?6 m OD. No evidence was found for the presence of more than one temperate stage in the sequence. The lower gravels are then correlated with the cold Wolstonian Stage and the upper gravels with the cold Devensian Stage. In contrast to the woodland environments indicated by the palaeobotany of the Ipswichian organic sediments, post-Ipswichian pollen diagrams and macroscopic plant remains in the upper suite of sands and gravels indicate open tree-less vegetation typical of the cold Devensian Stage. They also contain a typical cold-stage mollusc fauna. The sediments containing these floras and faunas are associated with thermal contraction cracks, indicating the presence of permafrost. The final sand and gravel aggradation in the Devensian forms the Block Fen Terrace, near 0 m OD. The evidence indicates that it is younger than the lacustrine sediments resulting from the blocking of the Fenland at the Wash by Late Devensian ice at ca. 18.5 ka BP. The sequence at Block Fen is related to nearby Ipswichian and Devensian sediments at Chatteris, March, Wimblington and Mepal, and to deposits at Wretton on the east margin of Fenland. The correlation permits an outline reconstruction of the history of the valley carrying the River Great Ouse between the Isle of Ely and the Chatteris and March ‘islands’ from the time of a gravel aggradation before the Ipswichian to the Flandrian. The reconstruction shows the time and level of the Ipswichian marine incursion into the Middle Level of Fenland and the extent of aggradation and erosion in the Devensian.  相似文献   

4.
The Pleistocene rock-stratigraphic record is accorded more or less traditional time-stratigraphic interpretation which was held widely before application of an Irish developmental model in 1960. The following sequence of events are recognised: (1) Complete glaciation, of indeterminate age, which antedated the raised beach interglacial. (2) The raised beach episode which is shown to be the last (Ipswichian) interglacial. (3) The last (Devensian/Weichselian) glaciation, followed by possible readvance in northwest and northeast Wales; prior and subsequent to glaciation periglacial conditions obtained. It is shown that the Irish model, relying heavily as it does on the equation of rock and time stratigraphy, is inapplicable in Wales.  相似文献   

5.
Gao, C. & Boreham, S. 2010: Ipswichian (Eemian) floodplain deposits and terrace stratigraphy in the lower Great Ouse and Cam valleys, southern England, UK. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00191.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Thick argillaceous deposits named the Mannings Farm Beds recently uncovered in the third terrace at Mannings Farm near Willingham, Cambridgeshire contain a pollen sequence covering the transitions from Ipswichian/Eemian substages I to II and II to III, when oak and hornbeam expanded, respectively. This is the longest record hitherto obtained in Britain, providing important insight into the major forest successions in this temperate stage. The frequent occurrence of Ipswichian deposits in the third terrace suggests the development of an extensive floodplain on the valley bottom, similar to the case for the present‐day lower Great Ouse and Cam. The Mannings Farm Beds testify to a complete interglacial sequence emplaced between cold‐climate gravels that was directly associated with the terrace development. The third terrace developed during the Ipswichian and the preceding and succeeding cold stages. Major river downcutting, which shaped the third terrace, occurred during the Early Devensian/Weichselian. Previously reported interglacial fossils from this terrace that are inconsistent with an Ipswichian affinity are probably reworked material derived from pre‐Ipswichian interglacial deposits, or their significance as biostratigraphical indicators needs to be confirmed. The second and first terraces developed from the late Early Devensian onwards. Ipswichian deposits filling flood‐scoured deep channels in bedrock are preserved locally below these low terraces.  相似文献   

6.
The raised beach sediments revealed in the cliffs at Sewerby, East Yorkshire are widely regarded as Ipswichian in age. Previously reported evidence for this dating is reviewed and new results from a range of luminescence dating techniques applied to the blown sand deposit overlying the raised beach are reported. These provide the first absolute date for the Sewerby site of 120.84 ± 11.82 ka, which places the blown sand at the boundary between oxygen isotope stages (OIS) 5e and 5d. As the underlying raised beach is little older than the blown sand, it probably formed during OIS Stage 5e as suggested by the faunal evidence.  相似文献   

7.
The Ipswichian high‐tide coast in the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary at the time of the highest sea‐levels (5–10 m OD) was wave‐dominated almost everywhere. It is defined by raised beaches and inshore sand shoals, and only in comparatively long but narrow inlets (Somerset Levels) are estuarine conditions evident. The modern Holocene seaway is wave‐dominated at high tide only up to and including the inner Bristol Channel. A muddy upper shore typifies the large, tide‐dominated Severn Estuary to the east and northeast. The larger depth and width of the Ipswichian seaway may explain its greater wave‐dominance, but it is also possible that differences in the sediment regime also contribute to the contrast observed. With water levels continuing to rise, the Holocene seaway could reach Ipswichian depths within a few thousand years and evolve toward greater wave‐dominance. A secondary effect may be the transgression and substantial removal of the Holocene estuarine sequence associated with the Severn Estuary Levels. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

8.
Geomorphic expression of land-sea interaction is preserved in the form of abandoned cliffs, marine terraces, shore platforms and marine notches along the southern Saurashtra coast. These features have been used to ascertain the magnitude of sea level changes during late Quaternary. Notch morphology and associated biological encrustation have been used to estimate the magnitude and duration of palaeo-sea strands. Marine notches and other erosive features occurring between 12 and 15 m above the present Biological Mean Sea Level (BMSL) are attributed to the last interglacial corresponding to the Marine Isotopic Stage 5 (MIS-5). However, 6 to 9 m upliftment of the coastal fringe is attributed to this sea level. The second major high sea strand was identified during the mid-Holocene when the sea rose 2 m above the present level. Notches corresponding to this high sea level are recorded 4 to 5 m above the present BMSL.  相似文献   

9.
Coastal cliffs and stream cut sections at Langelandselv on Jameson Land show a 22 m thick sedimentary succession reflecting the development of shallow marine and fluvial environments during the last interglaciation. The shallow marine sediments were deposited in upper shoreface, back-barrier, and delta environments during a rise in the relative sea level from 0 to 18 m. The interglacial succession ends with glaciotectonically dislocated fluvial sand, and is capped by alternating beds of lodgement till and fluvial sand, deposited during the Early Weichselian. The age is determined by palacoceanographic correlation of molluse and foraminifer faunas with isotopic substage 5e in the deep sea record, supported by luminescencs and U/Th dates and amino acid analysis.  相似文献   

10.
A complete interglacial cycle, named the Fjøsangerian and correlated with the Eemian by means of its pollen stratigraphy, is found in marine sediments just above the present day sea level outside Bergen, western Norway. At the base of the section there are two basal tills of assumed Saalian ( sensu lato ) age in which the mineralogy and geochemistry indicate local provenance. Above occur beds of marine silt, sand and gravel, deposited at water depths of between 10 and 50 m. The terrestrial pollen and the marine foraminifera and molluscs indicate a cold-warm-cold sequence with parallel development of the atmospheric and sea surface temperatures. In both environments the flora/fauna indicate an interglacial climatic optimum at least as warm as that during the Holocene. The high relative sea level during the Eemian (at least 30 m above sea level) requires younger neotectonic uplift. The uppermost marine beds are partly glaciomarine silts, as indicated by their mineralogy, drop stones and fauna, and partly interstadial gravels. The pollen indicates an open vegetation throughout these upper beds, and the correlation of the described interstadial with Early Weichselian interstadials elsewhere is essentially unknown. The section is capped by an Early Weichselian basal till containing redeposited fossils, sediments, and weathering products. Several clastic dikes injected from the glacier sole penetrate the till and the interglacial sediments. Radiocarbon dates on wood and shells gave infinite ages. Amino acid epimerization ratios in molluscs support the inferred Eemian age of the deposit. The Fjøsangerian is correlated with the Eemian and deep sea oxygen isotope stage 5e; other possible correlations are also discussed.  相似文献   

11.
Modern global warming is likely to cause future melting of Earth's polar ice sheets that may result in dramatic sea-level rise. A possible collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) alone, which is considered highly vulnerable as it is mainly based below sea level, may raise global sea level by up to 5–6 m. Despite the importance of the WAIS for changes in global sea level, its response to the glacial–interglacial cycles of the Quaternary is poorly constrained. Moreover, the geological evidence for the disintegration of the WAIS at some time within the last ca. 750 kyr, possibly during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11 (424–374 ka), is ambiguous. Here we present physical properties, palaeomagnetic, geochemical and clay mineralogical data from a glaciomarine sedimentary sequence that was recovered from the West Antarctic continental margin in the Amundsen Sea and spans more than the last 1 Myr. Within the sedimentary sequence, proxies for biological productivity (such as biogenic opal and the barium/aluminum ratio) and the supply of lithogenic detritus from the West Antarctic hinterland (such as ice-rafted debris and clay minerals) exhibit cyclic fluctuations in accordance with the glacial–interglacial cycles of the Quaternary. A prominent depositional anomaly spans MIS 15–MIS 13 (621–478 ka). The proxies for biological productivity and lithogenic sediment supply indicate that this interval has the characteristics of a single, prolonged interglacial period. Even though no proxy suggests environmental conditions much different from today, we conclude that, if the WAIS collapsed during the last 800 kyr, then MIS 15–MIS 13 was the most likely time period. Apparently, the duration rather than the strength of interglacial conditions was the crucial factor for the WAIS drawdown. A comparison with various marine and terrestrial climate archives from around the world corroborates that unusual environmental conditions prevailed throughout MIS 15–MIS 13. Some of these anomalies are observed in the pelagic Southern Ocean and the South Atlantic and might originate in major ice-sheet drawdown in Antarctica, but further research is required to test this hypothesis.  相似文献   

12.
Pollen, plant macrofossil, molluscan and coleopteran data from organic muds below the low terrace of the River Welland at Deeping St James, Lincolnshire indicate deposition in the mixed oak forest phase of a Late Pleistocene interglacial. Coleopteran and molluscan data suggest summer temperatures up to 4°C warmer than at present in eastern England, and plant macrofossil material suggests a climate more continental than that of Britain in the Holocene. No direct analogue of this biota, however, exists currently in Europe. Biostratigraphical indications from the pollen coleoptera and Mollusca suggest an age in the Ipswichian Interglacial. Thermoluminescence dates between 120 ka and 75 ka and amino-acid ratios with a mean of 0.11 show that deposition of the sediments took place during Oxygen Isotope Stage 5. This accurate dating of a partial Ipswichian succession allows discussion of the ages of a number of other interglacial sites in eastern England of assumed Ipswichian age. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

13.
The technique of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating applied to fluvial sediments provided a geochronological framework of river terrace formation in the middle part of the Dunajec River basin – a reference area for studies of evolution of river valleys in the northern part of the Carpathians (West Carpathians). Fluvial sediments at 18–90 m above valley bottoms were dated in the valleys of the Dunajec River and one of its tributaries. The resulting ages range from 158.9±8.3 to 12.2±1.3 ka. This indicates that some of the terrace sediments were deposited much later than previously assumed on the grounds of a combined morphostratigraphical and climatostratigraphical approach. The OSL‐based chronostratigraphy of terrace formation consists of seven separate phases of fluvial aggradation, separated by periods of incision and lateral erosion. Some of the ages determined correspond to warm stages of the Pleistocene – Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3) and MIS 5 – demonstrating that some terraces were formed during interstadial or interglacial periods. The results provide a key for evaluating rates of neotectonic uplift, allowing us to decipher the response of a fluvial system to climate change within the context of the glacial–interglacial scheme.  相似文献   

14.
Sediments exposed in the lower Mahi basin at the southern fringe of the Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India, provide evidence of three distinct depositional environments, namely marine, aeolian and fluvial. These have been used to reconstruct Late Pleistocene environmental and tectonic history of the region. Infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) chronology of the fluvial and aeolian litho‐units provides evidence of two major fluvial aggradation phases in the region corresponding to Oxygen Isotopic Stages 5 and 3. The basal marine clay is inferred to represent the last interglacial stage and its present elevation at +20 m a.s.l. is attributed to post‐depositional tectonism. Comparison of fluvial records from other regions indicates interhemispherically documented wetter phases during Oxygen Isotope Stages 5 and 3. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

15.
In the present paper the effects of rapid, high‐amplitude base‐level changes during the last glacial‐interglacial transition were studied for the Ain River in eastern France. During the Würm glacial maximum (MIS 2) rapid aggradation by deep‐water Gilbert‐type deltas and shallow‐water fan deltas occurred at the margins of a 20 to 50 m deep proglacial lake. A temporal high‐amplitude lake‐level fall of 60 m resulted in gravel deposition by forced‐regressive deltas, followed by rapid lake‐level rise and fine‐grained glaciolacustrine deposition. During the final deglaciation, a rapid base‐level fall of 40 m resulted in a complex fluvial response. Knickpoint formation and headward incision of the highstand deltas and concomitant deposition of gravel sheets by forced‐regressive deltas and braided systems occurred in several depocentres on the former glacial lake floor. Preservation of highstand and falling‐stage deposits and terrace formation in the incised valley depended on vertical incision and lateral channel migration. Terraces are well developed in the former lake‐floor depressions, whereas vertical incision was dominant in the higher lake‐floor areas. The Ain terrace staircase was likely formed by autogenic processes during a single allogenic base‐level fall. This case study possibly offers an analogue for the preservation of interglacial highstand coastal deltas during sea‐level fall at warm‐to‐cold climate transitions, although the rates of base‐level fall are different.  相似文献   

16.
Constraining the speed of sea level rise at the start of an interglacial is important to understanding the size of the ‘window of opportunity’ available for hominin migration. This is particularly important during the last interglacial when there is no evidence for significant hominin occupation anywhere in Britain. There are very few finer grained fossiliferous sequences in the Channel region that can be used to constrain sea level rise and they are preserved only to the north of the Channel, in England. Of these, the sequence at Stone Point SSSI is by far the most complete. Data from this sequence has been previously reported, and discussed at a Quaternary Research Association Field Meeting, where a number of further questions were raised that necessitated further data generation. In this paper, we report new data from this sequence – thin section analysis, isotopic determinations on ostracod shells, new Optical Stimulated Luminescence ages and Amino Acid Recem analyses. These show early sea level rise in this sequence, starting during the pre-temperate vegetation zone IpI, but no early warming. The implications of this almost certainly last interglacial sequence for the human colonisation of Britain and our understanding of the stratigraphic relationship of interglacial estuarine deposits with their related fluvial terrace sequences is explored.  相似文献   

17.
Synoptically mapped faunal abundance and faunal composition data, derived from a suite of 24 Norwegian Sea cores, were used to derive sea-surface temperatures for the last glacial maximum (18,000 B.P.), the last interglacial (120,000 B.P.), and isotope stage 5a (82,000 B.P.). Surface circulation and ice cover reconstructions for these three times, deduced from the sea-surface temperatures, suggest the following conclusions: (1) During glacial periods, Norwegian Sea surface circulation formed a single, sluggish, counterclockwise gyre that was caused by wind drag on the ubiquitous sea ice cover; (2) the last interglacial was characterized by a circulation pattern similar to that of today except that the two counterclockwise gyres were displaced toward the east and were more vigorous than they are today. This circulation pattern forced the Norwegian Current into a position close to the coast of Norway and permitted formation of a strong east-west temperature gradient close to the Scandinavian landmass; (3) interglacial periods prior to 120,000 B.P. had similar climatic conditions to the 82,000 B.P. level and were characterized by a weak two-gyre circulation pattern. The southern gyre, driven by wind stress in summer months, was ice covered in winters. The northern gyre had little open water even in summers and was primarily formed by wind drag on sea ice. Atmospheric modifications resulting from these circulation patterns and sea ice conditions produced varying climatic conditions in Scandinavia during interglacials prior to the Holocene. The climate was probably warmer and moister during the last interglacial (Eemian) than it is today. Other interglacials during the last 450,000 years, but prior to the Eemian, were probably colder and drier as the Norwegian Sea was not an important source of heat and moisture.  相似文献   

18.
Results are presented from a multidisciplinary study of fossiliferous interglacial deposits on the northern side of the Thames estuary. These fill a channel cut into London Clay bedrock and overlain by the Barling Gravel, a Thames–Medway deposit equivalent to the Lynch Hill and Corbets Tey Gravels of the Middle and Lower Thames, respectively. The channel sediments yielded diverse molluscan and ostracod assemblages, both implying fully interglacial conditions and a slight brackish influence. Pollen analysis has shown that the deposits accumulated during the early part of an interglacial. Plant macrofossils, particularly the abundance of Trapa natans, reinforce the interglacial character of the palaeontological evidence. A beetle fauna, which includes four taxa unknown in Britain at present, has allowed quantification of palaeotemperature using the mutual climatic range method (Tmax 17 to 26 °C; Tmin ?11 to 13 °C). A few vertebrate remains have been recovered from the interglacial deposits, but a much larger fauna, as well as Palaeolithic artefacts, is known from the overlying Barling Gravel. The age of the interglacial deposits is inferential. The geological context suggests a late Middle Pleistocene interglacial, part of the post‐diversion Thames system and therefore clearly post‐Anglian. This conclusion is supported by amino acid ratios from the shells of freshwater molluscs. The correlation of the overlying Barling Gravel with the Lynch Hill/Corbets Tey aggradation of the Thames valley constrains the age of the Barling interglacial to marine oxygen isotope stages 11 or 9. The presence of Corbicula fluminalis and Pisidium clessini confirms a pre‐Ipswichian (marine oxygen isotope substage 5e) age and their occurrence in the early part of the interglacial cycle at Barling precludes correlation with marine oxygen isotope stage 11, as these taxa occur only later in that interglacial at sites such as Swanscombe and Clacton. Thus by process of elimination a marine oxygen isotope stage 9 age would appear probable. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.  相似文献   

19.
From new data on coastal and continental shelf morphology, sediments, stratigraphy and chronology, it is possible to formulate a general model of late Quaternary marine sedimentation, for New South Wales and southern Queensland. This model integrates various factors influencing deposition in coastal and shelf environments, in relation to glacio‐eustatic sea level oscillations.

The model involves several components, including (i) very slow to negligible continental margin subsidence during the Quaternary, (ii) an inherited geomorphic framework; (iii) oscillations of sea level of c 100 m amplitude every 100 000 years, with interglacial high sea levels being close to present and only the Last Interglacial being significantly higher; and (iv) a wave climate that induces a potential south to north littoral sand transport at all sea level positions.

Terrigenous sediment that is moved from the hinterland through embayments to the shelf is either stored as barrier, estuarine or inner shelf deposits, or lost to depositional sinks on the continental slope or into coastal dune fields. Over many glacial‐interglacial cycles, sand has been progressively moved northward and has accumulated in vast aeolian sand deposits in southern Queensland. Littoral sand transport was especially effective during sea levels lower than present. The relatively shallow and lower gradient shelf north of Newcastle (33°S) has encouraged preservation at the coast of a wide range of depositional morphologies, including Pleistocene barriers, whereas the steeper southern shelf has induced net sediment loss seawards and shoreline erosion, excpt in the Holocene. To account for Holocene barrier development in the southern region, the model invokes reworking of sand deposits stranded high on the inner shelf at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch. These were in disequilibrium with Postglacial marine processes that operated at a lower level of the sea than did those during the Last Interglacial maximum.  相似文献   

20.
The timing of eustatic sea level fluctuations over the vertical range + 15 to ?11 m has been deduced from 230Th234U dating of Bermudan corals and speleothems. On this tectonically stable carbonate island, interglacial periods are characterized by platform submergence, development of patch reefs, and the deposition of littoral and eolian carbonates, whereas glacial periods are times of platform emergence, carbonate diagenesis, soil development, and the deposition of speleothems in caves extending below present sea level. Interglacial periods are observed at about 200,000, 130,000 to 90,000, and 10,000 yr BP to present. The sea level history of the last interglacial period (130,000 to 90,000 yr BP) is complex, consisting of at least two short, distinct episodes of high sea stand (at 125,000 and 97,000 yr BP) superimposed on a longer period of general platform submergence. The sea level data derived from this study are compatible with those from other stable areas such as the Bahamas, but in addition suggest that eustatic sea level changes can be rapid, on the order of 5 to 10 m/1000 yr.  相似文献   

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