middle pleistocene deposits at frog hall pit stretton on dunsmore warwickshire english midlands and their implications for the age of the type wolstonian organic sediment from frog hall pit near coventry has produced pollen plant macrofossil insect ostracod and molluscan data indicative of the early part of a temperate episode in the middle pleistocene the regional stratigraphy and clast lithological characteristics of the gravels underlying the temperate deposits show that the whole sequence at the site post dates the major glaciation the wolstonian sensu mitchell et al 1973 of the midlands amino acid d l ratios from molluscan shells give mean values of 0 24 which is consistent with an age in oxygen isotope stage 9 and comparable with those from the hoxnian interglacial of east anglia this age estimate for the frog hall organic deposit places a minimum age on the wolstonian glaciation of the midlands in oxygen isotope stage 10 and therefore close in time to the anglian oxygen isotope stage 12 cold stage 1997 john wiley sons ltd

fossils from quaternary fluvial archives sources of biostratigraphical biogeographical and palaeoclimatic evidence fluvial sedimentary archives have the potential to preserve a wide variety of palaeontological evidence ranging from robust bones and teeth found in coarse gravel aggradations to delicate insect remains and plant macrofossils from fine grained deposits over the last decade advances in quaternary biostratigraphy based on vertebrate and invertebrate fossils primarily mammals and molluscs have been made in many parts of the world resulting in improved relative chronologies for fluviatile sequences complementary fossil groups such as insects ostracods and plant macrofossils are also increasingly used in multi proxy palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions allowing direct comparison of the climates and environments that prevailed at different times across widely separated regions this paper reviews these topics on a regional basis with an emphasis on the latest published information and represents an update to the 2007 review compiled by the flag inspired igcp 449 biostratigraphy subgroup disparities in the level of detail available for different regions can largely be attributed to varying potential for preservation of fossil material which is especially poor in areas of non calcareous bedrock but to some extent also reflect research priorities in different parts of the world recognition of the value of biostratigraphical and palaeoclimatic frameworks which have been refined over many decades in the core regions for such research particularly for the late middle and late pleistocene of nw europe has focussed attention on the need to accumulate similar palaeontological datasets in areas lacking such long research histories although the emerging datasets from these understudied regions currently allow only tentative conclusions to be drawn they represent an important stage in the development of independent biostratigraphical and palaeoenvironmental schemes which can then be compared and contrasted

significance of the record provided by pleistocene fluvial deposits and their included molluscan faunas for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and stratigraphy case studies from the english midlands abstract the vast majority of pleistocene fluvial deposits in northwest europe are of cold climate origin with the most important sediment type being coarse sands and gravels formed under nival regimes less commonly sands and silts of interglacial deposition are preserved in the lower levels of major aggradations or in channels preserved beneath them molluscan faunas are common in both types of deposit although the fine grained temperate sediments show the best preservation and the most diverse assemblages this paper will discuss the types of molluscan faunas found in fluvial deposits and assess their suitability for both climatic reconstruction and stratigraphic studies while it has been clear for many years that reliable local environmental reconstructions can be made using mollusca they have been less used for regional climatic assessment work in england over the past thirty years shows that faunas obtained from fluvial sediments particularly if they contain both freshwater and terrestrial species can provide a basis for regional climatic reconstruction mollusca may also allow the separation from each other of interglacials and interstadials and permit these episodes to be more precisely defined than is allowed by other means such as palynology molluscan faunas may offer potential for the identification of temperature episodes which may have the same climatic status as interglacials but which are not recognised as such by other palaeontological evidence such as pollen the use of molluscan faunas for biostratigraphy has been firmly rejected by previous authors however recent work concentrating on sites of similar facies within single catchments has shown that both presence and absence of individual species particularly those now exotic to the british isles e g belgrandia marginata michaud and corbicula fluminalis muller can be a useful guide to relative age examples illustrating the significance of these faunas in the stratigraphic record are largely taken from the fluvial deposits of the major rivers of the english midlands warwickshire avon great ouse nene but reference is also made to other studies on the deposits of the thames the ages of the faunas described range from the cromerian interglacial to the devensian glacial stage and includes data from sites in integlacials identified in the stratigraphic record but so far not formally named

holsteinian interglacial marine isotope stage 11 abstract the problem of correllating the holsteinian interglacial with the marine isotope stage mis is still disputed generally a view persists that this interglacial should be linked with mis 11 although this approach has many adversaries palynologic and geochemical data from well preserved fossil lake deposits from the holsteinian interglacial in eastern poland have enabled their correlation with mis 11

comment on numerical 230 th u dating and a palynological review of the holsteinian hoxnian interglacial by geyh and muller

a revised model for the pleistocene development of the river avon warwickshire a re examination of the pleistocene river deposits in the valley of the midland avon indicates that the conventional post hoxnian model for their development has to be revised reinvestigation of two key localities cropthorne in the lower avon valley and ailstone on the warwickshire stour a left bank tributary of the avon shows that the deposits of at least two separate temperate episodes are represented within the sequence amino acid ratios on non marine mollusca from the temperate deposits allow these episodes to be correlated with oxygen isotope stages 5 and 7 since the stage 7 temperate deposit lies within sediments which post date the wolston glacial sequence an older age is indicated for that sequence than is proposed in the conventional stratigraphic succession of the british pleistocene

a middle pleistocene palaeovalley fill west of the malvern hills new sections and detailed mapping of the pleistocene deposits on the west side of the malvern hills show that the area occupied by ice during a pre devensian glaciation was greater than previously envisaged the deposits associated with the glaciation occur in a palaeovalley and comprise lacustrine silts and clays and till they are considered to be of anglian age as they are locally overlain non sequentially by newly described silts of probable late anglian to early hoxnian age the most westerly record of such deposits in southern britain gravels underlying the glacigenic deposits are thought to have been laid down by a southward flowing river either earlier in the anglian or during a preceding stage deposits formed during two post hoxnian episodes of gelifluction are correlated with similar deposits on the east side of the malvern hills the younger gelifluctate is probably late devensian in age and the older much dissected deposit is attributable to periglacial processes during an earlier devensian or wolstonian cold period

river terrace systems in north west europe an archive of environmental change uplift and early human occupation abstract staircases of large scale aggradational river terraces are a notable feature of many valleys in the temperate lattitudes particularly in areas beyond the reach of the erosive activities of pleistocene ice sheets it is now recognized that the cyclic fluctuations of climate during the quaternary have driven the generation of terraces through the direct and indirect influence of both temperature and precipitation on fluviatile activity where fossiliferous deposits are preserved within terrace sequences it is often possible to date these and to correlate them with the oceanic record thus providing an important framework for the evidence of environmental change on land middle and late pleistocene terraces in different areas can commonly be seen to have formed in synchrony with glacial interglacial cycles or with longer periodicity megacycles climatic forcing alone is insufficient to cause terraces to form however uplift is also necessary so that terrace sequences can provide a useful record of crustal movement in northwest europe where some of the best known studies of river terrace sequences have been carried out the fluviatile deposits are also an important repository for palaeolithic artefacts from which a record of early human occupation can be reconstructed

new evidence for complex climate change in mis 11 from hoxne suffolk uk the climatic signal of marine isotope stage mis 11 is well documented in marine and ice sheet isotopic records and is known to comprise at least two major warm episodes with an intervening cool phase terrestrial records of mis 11 though of high resolution are often fragmentary and their chronology is poorly constrained however some notable exceptions include sequences from the maar lakes in france and tenaghi philippon in greece in the uk the hoxnian interglacial has been considered to correlate with mis 11 new investigations at hoxne suffolk provide an opportunity to re evaluate the terrestrial record of mis 11 at hoxne the type hoxnian interglacial sediments are overlain by a post hoxnian cold temperate sequence the interglacial sediments and the later temperate phase are separated by the so called arctic bed from which cold climate macroscopic plant and beetle remains have been recovered the later temperate phase was deposited during an episode of boreal woodland and is associated with the artefacts a diverse vertebrate fauna and molluscs new amino acid geochronological data and biostratigraphical considerations suggest that the post hoxnian sequence correlates with late substages of mis 11 the paper further investigates the correlation of the sequence at hoxne with the palynological sequences found elsewhere in europe and adjacent offshore areas

palaeoclimatic changes in the holsteinian interglacial middle pleistocene on the basis of indicator species method palynological and macrofossils remains from nowiny żukowskie site se poland abstract analysis of pollen and macroremains from the mazovian holsteinian interglacial in the nowiny ukowskie succession enabled the identification of numerous climatic indicators the applied indicator species method allowed for a detailed description of climatic changes i e warmings and coolings that occurred in this interglacial the determined ranges of temperatures that prevailed in particular periods provide a basis for an assumption that it was probably the warmest interglacial of the pleistocene the estimated temperature of the warmest month during the climatic optimum abies carpinus period may have been 2 4 c higher than in the warmest period of the holocene moreover numerous changes in humidity evidenced by frequent oscillations from oceanic to continental climate are particularly important the cool periods are generally marked by the presence of betula nana selaginella selaginoides and s helvetica heliophytes such as helianthemum nummularium and shrubs of ephedra and hippophae rhamnoides the warmest period is documented by the occurrence of thermophylous trees e g pterocarya fraxinifolia juglans shrubs e g buxus sempervirens and vitis sylvestris as well as hedera helix viscum and aquatic plants e g brasenia borysthenica

marine isotope stage 11 palaeoclimates palaeoenvironments and its role as an analogue for the current interglacial abstract interglacials of the quaternary period are currently the focus of a great deal of attention within the scientific community this is primarily because they play a vital role in distinguishing between natural and human climate change in the current interglacial and in understanding how the holocene would evolve in the absence of anthropogenic greenhouse warming in this respect marine isotope stage 11 mis 11 ca 410 000 yr bp is one of the key interglacial stages of the past 450 000 yr the pattern of insolation variability that occurs during mis 11 matches that which occurs in the holocene more closely than in any other warm stage of the past half a million years in addition there is now an extensive range of evidence for mis 11 palaeoclimates and palaeoenvironments from marine ice core lacustrine and terrestrial sequences the aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the current state of our understanding of mis 11 this is the first paper to provide a detailed review of mis 11 that incorporates the wide range of marine ice core long lacustrine and terrestrial records that have been generated over the last ten years since the last major overview crucially it is the first review of mis 11 that incorporates a detailed synthesis of the high resolution terrestrial sequences of western and central europe this paper therefore provides a holistic integration of a diverse range of proxies and archives to provide a detailed understanding of the expression of mis 11 in the earth system in particular the review focuses on 1 the climatic background of mis 11 2 the robustness of the identification of mis 11 in a diverse range of sequences 3 the climatic structure of mis 11 4 the magnitude of warmth that occurred in this warm stage 5 mis 11 sea level magnitude and variability 6 the duration of mis 11 7 evidence for abrupt climatic events within the interglacial of mis 11 and 8 precipitation patterns and trends during this interglacial the paper concludes by considering how useful mis 11 is as an analogue for holocene climates and compares it with other proposed analogues such as mis 19 with particular reference to the early anthropogenic hypothesis

a hoxnian interglacial doline infilling at slade oak lane denham buckinghamshire england site investigations for the m25 motorway at denham proved a maximum depth of 37 5 m of deposits filling an enclosed hollow up to 40 m across beneath a small seasonally dry valley near higher denham this previously unknown very steepsided hollow is infilled with gravel and sand partially laminated clayey silt and pebbly clay within these deposits a bed of organic clay mud up to 4 5 m in thickness is present resistivity survey of the hollow proves that it is completely enclosed palaeobotanical investigation shows that the organic sediment contains fossil pollen spores and macroscopic remains the pollen spectra indicate that the sediments accumulated during the later half of the hoxnian interglacial stage ho iii iv macroscopic remains include relict species dulichium arundinaceum and brasenia schreberi the latter being new to the hoxnian stage the evidence for waterlevel fluctuation during the interglacial at the site is discussed the origin of the hollow is considered and the conclusion reached is that it is a doline formed by solution of the underlying chalk bedrock the infilling of the basin is attributed to collapse solifluction and slope wash of local material under cold climates before and after the interglacial the interglacial sediment is a shallow water pool accumulation the hollow is thought to have been formed originally as a solution pipe beneath the thames gerrards cross gravel rapid drainage of a neighbouring glacial lake causing the major collapse in the late anglian stage subsequent infill took place during the later part of the anglian hoxnian and wolstonian stages and possibly even later heavy mineral analyses of the silt rich sediment above and beneath the interglacial deposits are appended and indicate that it is almost all of local reading beds material

riparian landscapes and human habitat preferences during the hoxnian mis 11 interglacial the archaeological environmental and geological data from hoxnian interglacial marine isotope stage mis 11 sites from britain are examined to elucidate the type of habitats that humans preferred during this temperate episode the conclusion is that humans avoided lacustrine situations but did make use of the full range of resources that fluvial environments provide this model is strengthened by the examination of other non archaeological hoxnian sites the problem of archaeological visibility in lacustrine sediment sequences is also discussed and methods of identifying other evidence of human presence are suggested that may offset the deficiencies in the lithic record these include presence of cut marked bone micro debitage and possibly charcoal in fine grained sediments deposited in distal settings the reasons for human selection of fluvial situations are discussed it is concluded that these environments provide a greater diversity of animal plant and lithic resources but also are major route ways through the landscape patterns of human site use are identified which seem to be triggered by local changes in hydrology and drainage themselves possibly caused by regional changes in climate finally lower palaeolithic sites on the interfluves are discussed although they lack environmental or dating evidence it is tentatively suggested that they were used during cooler episodes when more open conditions prevailed copyright 2006 john wiley sons ltd

evidence for the early onset of the ipswichian thermal optimum palaeoecology of last interglacial deposits at whittlesey eastern england fossiliferous deposits infilling a channel at whittlesey eastern england are dated by amino acid racemization to the last interglacial and pollen analysis indicates deposition in ipswichian biozones ip ib and ip iib multidisciplinary palaeoenvironmental analyses of these deposits provide a rare insight into ip ib subzone conditions specifically the ip ib deposits contain exotic thermophiles naias minor belgrandia marginata bembidion elongatum pelochares versicolor caccobius schreberi onthophagus massai and emys orbicularis usually associated with ip iib combined palaeotemperature reconstructions based on beetle ostracod and vertebrate assemblages of the ip ib deposits indicate that summers mean july range 19 to 22 c were at least 2 c warmer than at present whereas winters mean january air temperature range 0 to 7 c were probably similar to those of today these palaeotemperature ranges encompass those for ip iib deposits at trafalgar square 20 to 21 c and 1 5 to 3 c previously considered the only ipswichian site to record temperatures significantly warmer than holocene temperatures of particular significance is that thermal optimal conditions commenced in ip ib rather than being confined to ip iib this demonstrates rapid warming and biological response to early ipswichian climate amelioration which accords with the deep sea last interglacial and european eemian records supplementary material supplementary tables s1 s7 are available at http doi org 10 6084 m9 figshare c 3830221

land sea correlations in the pleistocene based on isoleucine epimerization in non marine molluscs the correlation between the oxygen isotope stratigraphy of the oceans and continental stratigraphic records is one of the main challenges for quaternary research most continental classifications however are based on techniques and hypotheses that predate recent advances nevertheless the deep sea oxygen isotope global stratigraphic framework has been extended to the continents by means of some long sequences1 but these are exceptional and regional geology is unsatisfactorily classified for correlation with the oxygen isotope signal because successive geological events produced similar evidence homotaxis geochronometric dating is essential for correlation but available methods are highly site regional or sample specific fortunately non marine molluscs are ubiquitous in time and space and here we use the time dependent epimerization of l isoleucine in these fossils to subdivide the pleistocene of the british isles and to identify more events than recognized by the existing classification2 by calibrating the relative aminostratigraphic scale with independent dating methods we have set up a geochronology which is the basis for land sea correlations back to oxygen isotope stage 15

mollusca from last interglacial fluvial deposits of the river thames at trafalgar square london an account is given of the molluscan assemblages recovered from fluvial deposits beneath the upper floodplain terrace of the river thames in the vicinity of trafalgar square central london a total of 37 aquatic and 28 terrestrial taxa have been recorded a diversity indicative of full interglacial conditions palaeobotanical and vertebrate evidence suggests that these fossiliferous sediments belong to the last ipswichian interglacial a conclusion strongly supported by molluscan evidence the combination of the presence of certain species such as belgrandia marginata potomida littoralis and margaritifera auricularia together with the absence of other taxa that no longer live in britain such as pisidium clessini corbicula fluminalis and unio crassus imparts a distinctive character to the fauna these temperate molluscs were not only present in the trafalgar square sands and silts but also in the underlying spring gardens gravel showing the latter to be an interglacial aggradation that did not accumulate during the late wolstonian contrary to previous interpretations copyright 1999 john wiley sons ltd

the margin of a middle pleistocene ice advance at tottenhill norfolk england exposures at tottenhill quarry west norfolk are described detailed sediment logs lateral sediment distribution and facies relationships are presented together with palaeocurrent measurements and pebble counts it is concluded that the sequence represents a delta like subaquatic fan accumulation that was deposited by glacier meltwater at the eastern margin of the present fenland the ice must have entered the area from the west to northwest an arctic leaf flora is associated with still water pool sediments within the fan sequence pollen assemblages appear to be largely derived by reworking from underlying in situ temperate stage sediments which are correlated with the hoxnian stage the age of the deposits is discussed and it is concluded that the glaciation concerned must date from the early part of the wolstonian stage on the basis of the previously established stratigraphical sequence in the area

late middle pleistocene sea level change in the southern north sea the record from eastern essex uk abstract litho and biostratigraphical data from a complex of buried channels in eastern essex are combined with palaeosalinity data to reconstruct the estuary of the thames during the late middle pleistocene two models of relative sea level change are proposed for the anglian elsterian ipswichian eemian interval the first invokes a complex marine incursion during a single interglacial event the second describes two marine transgressions during two separate interglacial stages the models are placed in the wider context of the shallow marine record of the southern north sea

amino acid geochronology its impact on our understanding of the quaternary stratigraphy of the british isles this review aims to act as a brief primer to amino acid racemization and protein breakdown as well as to document the major applications and results of amino acid dating on british quaternary sediments amino acid results from fossil shells have had far reaching effects in developing our current understanding of british quaternary stratigraphy and its links to continental europe and the marine record to appreciate the potential for amino acid geochronology the technique s limitations and recent developments are discussed as well as the future of the field copyright 2009 john wiley sons ltd

differentiation of mis 9 and mis 11 in the continental record vegetational faunal aminostratigraphic and sea level evidence from coastal sites in essex uk multidisciplinary investigations of the vegetational faunal and sea level history inferred from the infills of buried channels on the coast of eastern essex have a direct bearing on the differentiation of mis 11 and mis 9 in continental records new data are presented from cudmore grove an important site on mersea island that can be linked to the terrace sequence of the river thames the vegetational history has been reconstructed from a pollen sequence covering much of the interglacial represented the temperate nature of the climate is apparent from a range of fossil groups including plant remains vertebrates especially the rich herpetofauna molluscs and beetles which all have strong thermophilous components the beetle data have been used to derive a mutual climatic range reconstruction suggesting that mean july temperatures were about 2 c warmer than modern values for southeast england whereas mean january temperatures may have been slightly colder the sea level history has been reconstructed from the molluscs ostracods and especially the diatoms which indicate that the marine transgression occurred considerably earlier in the interglacial cycle than at the neighbouring hoxnian site at clacton there are a number of palynological similarities between the sequence at cudmore grove and clacton especially the presence of abies and the occurrence of azolla filiculoides megaspores moreover both sites have yielded palaeolithic archaeology indeed the latter is the type site of the clactonian flake and core industry however the sites can be differentiated on the basis of mammalian biostratigraphy new aminostratigraphic data as well as the differences in the sea level history the combined evidence suggests that the infill of the channel at cudmore grove accumulated during mis 9 whereas the deposits at clacton formed during mis 11 the infill of a much later channel yielding non marine molluscs and vertebrates including hippopotamus appears to have formed during the ipswichian mis 5e this evidence is compared with other important sites of late middle pleistocene age in britain and elsewhere on the continent and the importance of a multidisciplinary approach is stressed

the record from british quaternary river systems within the context of global fluvial archives data amassed in the past decade on quaternary fluvial archives has allowed comparison across widely separated regions of the world meanwhile there has been a new impetus for research on british sequences as a result particularly of the aggregates levy sustainability fund alsf in this context the key british records from the thames severn avon trent wash system and solent are described briefly with emphasis on the latest information in the case of the trent sedimentary evidence discovered during alsf funded work appears to confirm the existence of a middle pleistocene trent ancaster river in the case of the solent independent projects that sought to improve the age constraint for the sequence have produced complimentary results the first used luminescence dating whereas the second made use of palaeolithic evidence to calibrate numerical incision uplift modelling the overarching message is that the british fluvial archive can be readily understood within a global context it typifies records from areas with relatively young crust that has been uplifting during the quaternary and being in the temperate latitudes and close to the atlantic margin it reflects strong climatic forcing the combination of rich faunal and palaeolithic artefact contents means that certain british records are of international significance copyright 2010 john wiley sons ltd

late middle pleistocene pollen biostratigraphy in britain pitfalls and possibilities in the separation of interglacial sequences abstract recent work on late middle pleistocene interglacials in britain has shown that sites formerly attributed to the hoxnian include representatives of two different interglacials which have been correlated with oxygen isotope stages 11 and 9 palynology has long been used to characterize and correlate temperate sequences in britain however the quality of the palynological record is considerably better in lacustrine sequences than in fluvial and estuarine sediments the former have longer sequences and higher resolution whereas more rapid deposition in fluvial and estuarine environments leads to sequences representing only fragments of interglacials the latter type of site however is more likely to have multi proxy evidence and to be readily fitted into a stratigraphical framework the problems are reviewed in the light of new work in the west midlands where some of the most complete british late middle pleistocene lacustrine sequences are preserved lacustrine sites here have a strong affinity with hoxnian sites of the type area in east anglia a critical question remains as to whether the two interglacials conflated under the term hoxnian can be separately characterized in terms of their pollen assemblages details of lacustrine sequences in the north birmingham area and east anglia show remarkable similarities perhaps suggesting that the same interglacial is recorded in all of them as many of these sites are thought to be kettle holes or glacially overdeepened basins the first interglacial following the anglian glaciation is the most likely to be represented suggesting that all the lacustrine hoxnian sites might date from ois 11 in areas not glaciated since the anglian interglacials after ois 11 are likely to be represented only by fragmentary non lacustrine sequences difficult if not impossible to separate using palynology alone

an attempt at correlation between the velay pollen sequence and the middle pleistocene stratigraphy from central europe abstract long continuous lacustrine sequences constitute on the continent a precious tool for coupling the long term continental environmental changes with deep sea and ice core records using the count from the top method moreover they can contribute to long distance correlation on the continent itself and thus help to classify discontinuous sedimentary records palynostratigraphical correlation is proposed here between the velay long sequence and the late middle pleistocene series from central europe with special attention to temperate episodes the similarities between the praclaux and the holsteinian interglacial suggest that they are both contemporaneous with marine isotopic stage mis 11 even if absolute dates are still divergent the evidence of two major warm periods with an interglacial type of vegetation between the holsteinian and the eemian is confirmed by the velay record

amino acid geochronology and the british pleistocene secure stratigraphical framework or a case of circular reasoning aminostratigraphy is central to the recently revised correlation of quaternary deposits in the british isles providing a link between terrestrial deposits and marine oxygen isotope stages the central tenet of british aminostratigraphy however that shells from the same interglacial yield very similar ratios so that the characteristic ratios from different interglacials are distinct remains uncertain the data available suggest that amino acid ratios from different interglacials do not fall into discrete groups but overlap considerably it is therefore not valid to assign individual shells to oxygen isotope stages simply on the basis of their amino acid ratios which means that filtering data to remove high or low values on the assumption that they represent reworked shells is unacceptable the range of characteristic ratios assigned to british warm stages may have been underestimated and the degree of separation between them overestimated amino acid ratios should be treated as sample data that are naturally variable copyright 2002 john wiley sons ltd

the late middle pleistocene biostratigraphy of the thames valley england new data from eastern essex abstract coring investigations at east hyde near tillingham essex have revealed a sequence of fluvial and estuarine deposits infilling a channel incised into london clay these deposits are of thames origin and were deposited after the river s diversion into eastern essex late in the anglian stage the detailed litho and biostratigraphy of the deposits are described ostracod and molluscan data confirm that the lower parts of the sequence accumulated in a quiet fluvial environment rich in aquatic vegetation the upper sediments accumulated in an inner estuarine environment under conditions of rising sea level pollen assemblages from both units show strong biostratigraphical affinities with the hoxnian stage particularly with the hoxnian late temperate substage ho iii the sequence has also yielded a rare assemblage of freshwater fluvial molluscs the rhenish fauna which migrated into the thames following a link with the rivers of continental europe the occurrence of theodoxus serratiliniformis is exceptionally rare representing only the second record of the species in the entire british pleistocene the molluscan assemblages show striking similarities with those at clacton in northeast essex and swanscombe kent and provide strong evidence that the three sites are contemporaneous and were connected in the same fluvial system the timing of the migration of the rhenish fauna into britain and the implications for sea level reconstruction in the southern north sea region are discussed the episode of major climatic warmth and high eustatic sea level represented at east hyde is correlated with stage 11 of the deep sea record

stable isotopes and the noncarbonaceous derivation of ureilites in common with nearly all differentiated planetary materials abstract the abundant diverse ureilite meteorites are peridotitic asteroidal mantle restites that have remarkably high bulk carbon contents average 3 wt and have long been linked to the so called carbonaceous chondrites although this term is potentially misleading because the high petrologic type carbonaceous chondrites are if anything c poor compared to ordinary chondrites ureilite oxygen isotopic compositions i e diversely negative ccam like 17o viewed in isolation have long been viewed as confirming the carbonaceous chondritic derivation hypothesis however a very different picture emerges through analysis of a compilation of recently published high precision isotopic data for chromium titanium and nickel for ureilites and various other planetary materials ureilites have lower e62ni and far lower e50ti and e54cr than any known variety of carbonaceous chondrite on a plot of e50ti vs e54cr and similarly 17o vs e54cr ureilite compositions cluster far from and in a direction approximately orthogonal to a trend internal to the carbonaceous chondrites and the carbonaceous chondrites are separated by a wide margin from all other planetary materials i conclude that notwithstanding the impressive resemblance to carbonaceous chondrites in terms of diversely negative 17o the ureilite precursors accreted from preponderantly noncarbonaceous sensu stricto materials despite total depletion of basaltic matter the ureilites retain moderate pyroxene olivine ratios which is an expected outcome from simple partial melting of moderate sio2 feo mgo noncarbonaceous chondritic material but would imply an additional process of major reduction of feo if the precursor material were carbonaceous chondritic the striking bimodality of planetary materials on the e50ti vs e54cr and 17o vs e54cr diagrams may be an extreme manifestation of the effects of episodic accretion of early solids in the protoplanetary nebula however an alternative admittedly speculative explanation is that the bimodality corresponds to a division between materials that originally accreted in the outer solar system carbonaceous and materials that accreted in the inner solar system noncarbonaceous including the ureilites

middle pleistocene interglacial thames medway deposits at clacton on sea england reconsideration of the biostratigraphical and environmental context of the type clactonian palaeolithic industry abstract in 1987 an archaeological investigation was undertaken during redevelopment of the erstwhile butlin s holiday camp at clacton on sea on the grounds that the middle pleistocene clacton channel deposits containing the type clactonian palaeolithic industry were known to extend beneath the site excavations for a storm drain allowed sampling at points along a longitudinal traverse of the main clacton channel analysis of these samples has provided new palaeontological information including data pertaining to the rise in relative sea level during the interglacial represented systematic studies of molluscs and ostracods the latter undertaken at clacton for the first time have been particularly valuable information from the butlin s site supplements evidence previously gathered from the west cliff section and from other localities at clacton the calcareous clay marl that underlies the clacton golf course extends beneath butlin s where it was found to be part of the freshwater beds not the estuarine beds as hitherto supposed the clacton estuarine beds restricted to the eastern end of the site have their base just below 2 m o d implying that their superposition upon the clacton freshwater beds occurred when relative sea level in this area was close to present ordnance datum correlation of the clacton channel deposits with the interglacial immediately following the anglian elsterian stage appears secure equivalence with oxygen isotope stage 11 of the oceanic sequence is most probable a borehole survey and subsequent excavation revealed a holocene sequence of unlithified tufa and organic sediments beneath part of the site

river terrace sequences templates for quaternary geochronology and marine terrestrial correlation fluvial sequences particularly terrace staircases represent archives of quaternary palaeoclimatic fluctuation and can serve as stratigraphical frameworks for geochronology and for correlation with other depositional environments in particular the global marine oxygen isotope record fluvial lithostratigraphical frameworks also provide contexts for records from fossils and artefacts of faunal evolution and human occupation conversely both records can be means of relative dating of riverine sequences three fluvial sequences are examined as case studies first is the severn avon system in the english midlands which has biostratgraphical evidence and an amino acid geochronology together with marker inputs from three different glaciations the somme sequence of northern france famous for its palaeolithic artefact assemblages again has biostratigraphy and an amino acid geochronology and has also been dated with reference to overlying loess palaeosols sequences the fluvial terraces of the river arun the final case study lack dating evidence but are interspersed within the sussex raised beach staircase although various lines of evidence suggest that the rivers discussed have formed terraces in response to climatic fluctuation an intriguing difference is that interglacial sediments occur at the bases of terrace formations in the severn avon whereas in the somme they occur at the tops of sequences beneath loessic overburden

progress in faunal correlation of late cenozoic fluvial sequences 2000 4 the report of the igcp 449 biostratigraphy subgroup abstract vertebrate and invertebrate faunal biostratigraphy is a well tested method for establishing relative chronologies for fluviatile sequences that has proved useful in many parts of the world the robust bones and teeth of large mammals are commonly found in fluviatile deposits whereas small vertebrates can be readily recovered through systematic sieving of calcareous sediments as can molluscs the other major faunal group that has been used for biostratigraphical analysis of fluvial sequences because of their rapid and quantifiable rates of evolution extinction body mass change and dispersal during the late cenozoic mammals are especially useful for ordering the fragmentary terrestrial sequence of interglacials and glacials and proposing correlation with the global marine climatostratigraphic record other groups e g reptiles and amphibians ostracods are as yet only in the initial stages of development as a dating tool whereas some e g fish birds still require substantial development in order to fully explore their utility as part of igcp 449 vertebrate and molluscan assemblages have made important contributions to datasets from a number of areas notably northern france central germany the czech republic and the ukraine further south mammalian assemblages have proved useful in separating discrete periods of climatic change in iberia and syria at greater distances from the core area of fluvial biostratigraphical archives significant contributions have come from south america uruguay river south africa vaal and australia riverine plain and lake eyre drainage basin

differentiation of the british late middle pleistocene interglacials the evidence from mammalian biostratigraphy abstract acknowledgement of the climatic complexities of the marine oxygen isotope 18o record has inspired fresh investigations into methods of identifying and separating interglacial deposits on land biostratigraphical analysis of fossil mammalian assemblages particularly those from long fluvial sequences has proved to be a uniquely valuable technique in the differentiation of the various temperate episodes of the late middle pleistocene in britain thereby enabling a sequence of diagnostic mammalian assemblage zones to be established the scheme has provided an important means of correlation between geographically distant localities and between different types of depositional environment using mammalian biostratigraphical information this paper explores the evidence for three post anglian interglacials prior to the last ipswichian interglacial correlated with stages 11 9 and 7 of the oxygen isotope record and presents the case for the recognition of much smaller scale environmental and climatic oscillations within these interglacials possibly corresponding to marine isotopic substages

evidence for late middle pleistocene glaciation of the british margin of the southern north sea the timing and extent of late middle pleistocene glaciations in england and the southern north sea are controversial topics the recent trent valley palaeolithic project uncovered evidence for a post anglian pre devensian glaciation that affected much of central and eastern england the wragby till of lincolnshire is associated with this glacial event attributed here to marine oxygen isotope stage mis 8 coeval glacigenic deposits in the middle trent suggest that both western and eastern lobes of mis 8 ice reached the derby area these various deposits have been assigned previously to mis 12 10 or 6 although the last can be excluded for the wragby till which is overlain by trent terrace deposits assigned to mis 7 from biostratigraphy and amino acid dating the disposition of these glacigenic deposits within the landscape particularly in relation to terrace deposits of the ancestral river trent and the absence of mis 11 and 9 deposits within the footprint of the glaciation also provide compelling evidence at its maximum extent in eastern england the mis 8 ice reached the peterborough area identifying its extension or otherwise into areas such as north west norfolk and the west midlands requires further work

climate and environments during marine isotope stage 11 in the central iberian peninsula the herpetofaunal assemblage from the acheulean site of aridos 1 madrid abstract the interglacial episodes of the quaternary period are currently the focus of a great deal of attention within the scientific community primarily because they can help us to understand how the climate of the current interglacial may have evolved without human intervention and to assess the impact of these climate changes on ecological systems in the central iberian peninsula the archaeological site of aridos 1 arganda madrid with numeric dates of 379 7 45 ka obtained by aar for the upper part of the sedimentological unit of arganda i in combination with the evolved state of the small mammals has been chronologically attributed to marine isotope stage mis 11 given the diversified faunal assemblages delivered by the 1976 excavations aridos 1 is probably one of the best terrestrial candidates for an understanding of the climatic and environmental conditions that prevailed in central spain during the mis 11 interglacial in consequence the fossil amphibians and squamate reptiles stored in the collections of the museo arqueologico nacional of madrid have been newly described and quantified in order to apply the mutual climatic range and habitat weighting methods for estimating quantitative data the mediterranean climate is shown to have been warmer and wetter than today in central spain during mis 11 with the mean annual temperature 1 7 c higher and mean annual precipitation 223 9 mm higher than at present the monthly climatic reconstruction shows differences in the distribution of precipitation over the course of the year with more abundant precipitation during the winter months at the beginning of spring and at the end of fall from october to march and less precipitation than today during the summer months and at the end of spring from may to august suggesting stronger rainfall seasonality between winter and summer than currently occurs such climate reconstruction is consistent with other european mis 11 paleoclimatic records the paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on the herpetofaunal assemblage suggests a patchy landscape with a large representation of dry meadows scrubland and rocky habitats together with well evidenced aquatic habitats such open environments during a warm and humid forestal period are seen to be connected with the location of the site in a large river valley where open vegetation would have been partly initiated and certainly maintained by the grazing browsing trampling and tree felling activities of large mammals

towards a late middle pleistocene non marine molluscan biostratigraphy for the british isles abstract the fossils of non marine mollusca are among the most prominent in pleistocene deposits they were one of the first fossil groups to be noted in the literature as early as the beginning of the 18th century with the stabilisation of taxonomies in the 19th century numerous publications appeared with faunal lists of interglacial taxa but few attempts were made to use the data for interpretation work from 1950 onwards especially by sparks and kerney in britain puissegur in france and by lo ek in central europe used a quantitative approach to sorting counting and interpreting assemblages despite the adoption of this rigorous methodology to molluscan studies interglacial faunas were used primarily to reconstruct past environments and although faunal changes through the pleistocene were recognised it was thought that non marine mollusca were inherently badly fitted for use as tools for dating in the classic geological sense recent work coupled with the re evaluation of sites described in the literature has allowed non marine molluscan faunas to be used as biostratigraphic indicators biostratigraphic schemes evolved from this work are comparable with parallel investigations using mammalia coleoptera and lithostratigraphy calibrated by a number of geochronometric methods but may be at variance with pollen biostratigraphies

hoxnian interglacial freshwater and marine deposits in northwest norfolk england and their implications for sea level reconstruction abstract an interglacial site is described from tottenhill in the nar valley in northwest norfolk a transgressive surface is recorded at this site with marine nar valley clay overlying lacustrine nar valley freshwater beds biostratigraphical analyses indicate that these units span the latest part of the anglian elsterian glacial stage and the first half of the hoxnian holsteinian stage several other sites in the valley contain evidence for sea level changes during the hoxnian and the relevant information from these sites is briefly discussed this gives an estimate of the timing of the hoxnian maximum flooding surface the maximum extent of the marine incursion and possible water depths attained evidence for hoxnian sea level changes at other sites in eastern england are briefly discussed although a regional sea level highstand during the hoxnian seems very likely the details of the extent and timing of salt water penetration are conflicting it is suggested that post depositional effects particularly isostatic re adjustment may account for some of these differences and that the modern height of interglacial sediments can be misleading when depositional sea levels are reconstructed

terrestrial environments during mis 11 evidence from the palaeolithic site at west stow suffolk uk abstract multidisciplinary investigations of the sequence at beeches pit west stow suffolk uk have a direct bearing the age of the hoxnian interglacial and its correlation with the continental holsteinian and with the global marine record at this site glacial deposits till and outwash gravels referable to the anglian lowestoft formation fill a subglacial channel cut in chalk bedrock above these glacial deposits a series of interglacial sediments occurs consisting of limnic tufaceous and colluvial silts lacking pollen but rich in shells ostracods and vertebrates lower palaeolithic flint artefacts of acheulian character have also been recovered including refitting examples charred material is abundant at certain horizons and many of the bones have been burned several discrete areas of burnt sediment are interpreted as hearths the molluscan fauna comprises some 78 taxa and includes species of considerable zoogeographical and biostratigraphical importance the land snail assemblage from the tufa consists of woodland taxa with no modern analogue including species that are either extinct e g zonitoides sepultus or which no longer live in britain e g platyla polita p similis neniatlanta pauli this is also the type locality of retinella lyrodiscus skertchlyi which belongs to a subgenus of zonitid land snail now living only on the canary islands there are indications from this fauna the lyrodiscus biome that the climate was wetter and perhaps warmer than the present day the vertebrate fauna is also noteworthy with species of open habitats such as rabbit oryctolagus cf cuniculus and of closed forest such as squirrel sciurus sp and garden dormouse eliomys quercinus present at different times the occurrence of southern thermophiles such as aesculapian snake zamenis longissimus indicates temperatures warmer than those of eastern england today the upper levels include much material reworked from the interglacial sediments although there is clear faunal evidence for climatic deterioration both the molluscan and vertebrate faunas suggest correlation of the interglacial sediments with the hoxnian uranium series dates from the tufa 455 ka bp tl dates from burnt flints 414 30 ka bp and a range of amino acid racemization data all support correlation of this interglacial with mis 11 however four osl dates from sand beneath the interglacial sequence yield a mean age of 261 31 ka bp far younger than all other age determinations and far younger than implied by the biostratigraphy archaeologically the site is unusual in showing prolonged human occupation within closed deciduous forest and evidence for controlled use of fire in a lower palaeolithic context biostratigraphical correlations with other lower palaeolithic sites support the suggestion that acheulian and clactonian industries both occurred in southern britain during the same substage of the hoxnian although not necessarily at precisely the same time the characteristics of the mis 11 interglacial in britain are discussed in the light of evidence from beeches pit and elsewhere

pleistocene geology of the lower severn valley u k abstract the lower severn valley contains a sequence of fluvial glaciofluvial and glaciogenic deposits of pleistocene age which is divided into two formations glaciogenic sediments are correlated with members of the wolston formation anglian a new formation the severn valley formation which consists of fluvial deposits is defined it is sub divided into six members the four oldest of which are considered in this paper the oldest deposits in the lower severn basin are the till and glaciofluvial outwash gravels of the woolridge member the till is correlated with the thrussington member of the wolston formation which is correlated with the lowestoft formation of the anglian stage oxygen isotope stage 12 the oldest member of the severn valley formation the spring hill member is provisionally correlated with oi stage 10 the bushley green member represents deposition during oi stages 9 and 8 the basal fossiliferous sediments bushley green fossil bed are correlated with oi stage 9 by amino acid geochronology the kidderminster station member records a significant input of lithologies not seen in quantity in the higher members and evidence is presented which suggests that this is a response to renewed glaciation in the upper basin this glaciation was responsible for the deposition of the ridgacre formation of the birmingham area amino acid geochronology and chlorine 36 ages from erratic boulders show that the kidderminster station member and ridgacre formation are of oi stage 6 warthe age the basal deposits of the holt heath member include the stourbridge fossil bed with a temperate fauna believed to be ipswichian last interglacial oi substage 5e and the upton warren fossil bed oi substage 5a most of the holt heath member consists of outwash from an irish sea ice sheet which entered the severn basin during the late devensian oi stage 2

missing evidence for two holstein like interglacials reply to the comments by j d scourse on numerical 230 th u dating and a palynological review of the holsteinian hoxnian interglacial

sedimentology palaeontology and archaeology of late middle pleistocene river thames terrace deposits at purfleet essex uk middle pleistocene fluvial deposits of the corbets tey formation at purfleet essex provide evidence of an un named and previously poorly recognized interglacial thought to corrrelate with oxygen isotope stage ois 9 previous attributions of the sediments to the ipswichian last interglacial stage are refuted new investigations have yielded rich molluscan mammalian and ostracod assemblages that indicate fully temperate conditions and the distal influence of marine transgression pollen analyses suggest a previously unrecorded phase of interglacial vegetational development clast composition geomorphological evidence and the occurrence of molluscs that favour large rivers all point to deposition by the thames rather than in a minor tributary as suggested previously three separate palaeolithic industries in stratigraphical superposition are recognized at purfleet these being clactonian acheulean and levallois purfleet is therefore a key locality in the understanding of the early human occupation and exploitation of southern britain as well as for the interpretation and correlation of the terrace sequence in the thames valley

foraminiferal isoleucine epimerization determinations from the nar valley clay norfolk uk implications for quaternary correlations in the southern north sea basin fully temperate freshwater brackish and marine sediments overlying anglian till and glacilacustrine sediments in the nar valley area of northwest norfolk uk have been attributed to the middle pleistocene hoxnian temperate stage on palynological grounds and basal peats associated with this sequence have been recently correlated with oxygen isotope stage 9 on the basis of a series of 230 th 238 u dates mean 317 14 ka at tottenhill these sediments nar valley freshwater beds nar valley clay underlie a deltaic complex attributed to the wolstonian ice margin the lithostratigraphical relations between the major formations in the nar valley and the pollen stratigraphy of the fully temperate sequence are very similar to the pleistocene sequence in the inner silver pit area of the southern north sea and correlation has been proposed between the successions described from these two localities however the inner silver pit sequence has yielded aminostratigraphic data consistent with isotopic stage 11 benthic foraminiferal assemblages and foraminiferal amino acid determinations have been investigated from the nar valley clay in order to test further the palaeoenvironmental setting of the sequence and to help resolve the age of the sequence and correlation with the inner silver pit interglacial the foraminiferal assemblages support previous sedimentological and palaeontological evidence for a transgressive tendency within this sequence multiple isoleucine epimerization determinations on ammonia beccarii and aubignyna perlucida from five levels within the nar valley clay give mean aile ile ratios of 0 135 and 0 111 respectively the a beccarii ratios are much lower than mean aile ile ratios on equivalent species from the interglacial sequence in the inner silver pit upper sand hole formation which are close to 0 2 and the two datasets fail to overlap at the 1 level the new aminostratigraphic ratios indicate correlation of the nar valley clay with oxygen isotope stage 9 and therefore support the pre existing 230 th 238 u data these results suggest that two temperate stages of hoxnian palynological affinity are present in the quaternary record of east anglia and the southern north sea basin a conclusion consistent with independent new u series data from other hoxnian sites in east anglia an alternative model in which the amino acid ratios are explained as a function of different post depositional thermal histories related to length of cover by ice and water is discussed but considered unlikely the conclusions have important implications for the timing and number of glacial events in and around the southern north sea basin and help to resolve discrepancies in relative sea level histories and biogeography in temperate sequences hitherto accommodated within a single stage

middle pleistocene interglacial deposits at barling essex england evidence for a longer chronology for the thames terrace sequence 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

u series dating of hoxnian interglacial deposits at marks tey essex england a u th dating study was carried out on the authigenic carbonate component of interglacial lake sediments at marks tey essex england isochron methods were necessary because of the presence of non carbonate detritus calculated dates around the limit of the u th method were obtained for two horizons error limits were determined by monte carlo sampling from the normal distributions of errors in the isotope ratios comparison of the resulting empirical distribution functions with the marine oxygen isotope time scale indicates with 87 confidence that the marks tey sediments correlate with ois 11 or some older stage as the marks tey deposits rest without stratigraphical break on anglian till and can be firmly correlated with the hoxnian interglacial type site at hoxne suffolk england this result implies that the anglian glaciation took place in ois 12 acid the hoxnian stage of the british chronostratigraphy commenced in ois 11 copyright c 1999 john wiley sons ltd

relative sea level variability during the late middle pleistocene new evidence from eastern england unravelling patterns of relative sea level change during previous interglacials enhances our understanding of ice sheet response to changing climate temperate latitude estuarine environments have the potential to preserve continuous records of relative sea level from previous interglacial warm periods this is important because currently we typically only have snapshots of sea level highstands from low latitude corals and raised palaeoshoreline indicators while the continuous deep sea oxygen isotope record only provides indirect evidence of sea level changes here we focus on the nar valley in eastern england in which is preserved evidence of a late middle pleistocene marine transgression more than 20 vertical metres in extent by applying a model of coastal succession and sea level tendencies as used in holocene sea level studies we assess the mode abrupt versus gradual of sea level change recorded by the interglacial nar valley sequences compiled palaeo stratigraphic evidence comprising foraminifera pollen and amino acid racemization dating suggests that the mode of sea level change in the nar valley interglacial sequence was gradual with potentially two phases of regional transgression and relative sea level rise occurring at two separate times the first phase occurred during the latter part of marine oxygen isotope stage mis 11 from 8 to 18 m od and the second phase potentially occurred during early mis 9 from 3 to 3 m od with long term tectonic uplift included in these estimates we cannot conclusively preclude an alternative mis 11 age for these lower sediments the lack of indicators for rapid sea level oscillations in the nar valley adds weight to an argument for steady melt of the ice sheets during both mis 11 and 9

an osl dated middle and late quaternary sedimentary record in the roer valley graben southeastern netherlands abstract well dated terrestrial sedimentary sequences are important to evaluate the influence of quaternary climate change on continental landscape evolution the roer valley graben southeastern netherlands contains a 35 m thick sedimentary record of middle and late quaternary fluvial aeolian and organic deposits sediment provenance depositional processes and the continuity and timing of deposition were reconstructed sedimentary and geochemical data reveal a change from a fluvial depositional environment to a dominance of aeolian deposits this change may be related to increased tectonic uplift and the onset of large scale volcanism in the ardennes eifel region between 800 and 500 ka the main source of aeolian sediments are quaternary rhine deposits that crop out to the northwest of the study area sedimentation and preservation in the roer valley graben took place under humid surface conditions these conditions occurred 1 in a periglacial climate with permafrost 2 at the transition from a warm temperate to a cool climate dates from two internally consistent quartz optically stimulated luminescence osl age series in the roer valley graben correspond well with the ages of related terrace deposits in the orbitally tuned meuse river terrace flight the osl dates confirm the presence of organic deposits reflecting marine oxygen isotope stage mis 9 or 11 and mis 5e this long terrestrial sequence thus provides input for the fragmentary middle pleistocene record of northwestern europe and forms a possible link between the glacial history of northern europe and the long lake and loess records of eastern and southern europe