A striated, far travelled clast of rhyolitic tuff from Thames River deposits at Ardleigh, Essex, England: Evidence for early Middle Pleistocene glaciation in the Thames catchment

4Citations
Citations of this article
7Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

This paper reports the discovery of an in-situ striated, far-travelled, oversized clast in the Ardleigh Gravels of the Kesgrave Sands and Gravels of the River Thames at Ardleigh, east of Colchester in Essex, eastern England. The morphology, petrography and geochemistry of the clast, and the sedimentology of the host deposit are described. The striations are interpreted, on the basis of their sub-parallelism and the shape and sub-roundedness of the clast, as glacial and the clast is provenanced to Ordovician rocks of the Llyn and Snowdonia regions of North Wales. On the basis of clast frequency within the Colchester Formation gravels of the Kesgrave Sands and Gravels it is inferred that glaciers reached the Cotswold region of the Thames catchment. Floe-ice transport during spring flood is invoked for movement from the glaciated region to eastern England. The paper discusses the possible age of the glaciation and recognises that it is difficult to be more precise than a cold stage in the early Middle Pleistocene (MIS 18,16 or 14). Attention is drawn to the possibility of glaciation associated with a diamicton in the region of the Cotswold Hills known as the Bruern Till but stresses the need for new work on this deposit.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Rose, J., Carney, J. N., Silva, B. N., & Booth, S. J. (2010). A striated, far travelled clast of rhyolitic tuff from Thames River deposits at Ardleigh, Essex, England: Evidence for early Middle Pleistocene glaciation in the Thames catchment. Geologie En Mijnbouw/Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, 89(2), 137–146. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016774600000743

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free