Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T18:21:23.997Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Holocene lithostratigraphy of Fenland, eastern England: a review and suggestions for redefinition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

A. J. Wheeler  and
M. P. Waller
A. J. Wheeler
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, U.K.
M. P. Waller
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2EE, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Fenland basin is filled with unconsolidated Holocene marine and freshwater deposits. Stratigraphic studies of the basin date back to 1877. This paper reviews the various lithostratigraphic schemes which have been proposed. Particular attention is paid to the presently accepted lithostratigraphy. Examples and a case study of a newly surveyed area are used to highlight its failings. Many of the difficulties experienced in Fenland are common to problems of lithostratigraphic classification in coastal lowland environments, as is demonstrated by reference to recent debate in the southeastern North Sea. In Fenland, as a result of the shortcomings of the various schemes, it is proposed that a new lithostratigraphy with formal stratotypes is devised. Suggestions are made as to the form this new stratigraphy could take. In the meantime, an informal lithostratigraphy should be adopted which has no regional or chronostratigraphic connotations.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 132 , Issue 2 , March 1995 , pp. 223 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, J. R. L., 1987. Late Flandrian shoreline oscillations in the Severn estuary: the Rumney Formation at its typesite (Cardiff area). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B315, 157–74.Google Scholar
Allen, J. R. L., & Rae, J. E., 1987. Late Flandrian shoreline oscillations in the Severn estuary: a geomorphical and stratigraphical reconnaissance. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B315, 185–230.Google Scholar
Baeteman, C., 1981. An Alternative Classification and profile type map applied to the Holocene deposits of the Belgium coastal plain. Bulletin Sociétée Beige de Géologie 90, 257–80.Google Scholar
Baeteman, C., 1985. Development and evolution of sedimentary environments during the Holocene in the western coastal plain of Belgium. Eiszeitalter and Gegenwart 35, 23–32.Google Scholar
Baeteman, C., 1987. Mapping a coastal plain – problems concerning mapping units. Geobound 1, 3–9.Google Scholar
Baeteman, C., & Paepe, R., 1991. Planning and geology in a coastal plain. Bulletin Société Beige de Géologie 100, 195–201.Google Scholar
Barckhausen, J., Preuss, H., & Streif, H., 1977. Ein lithologisches Ordnungsprinzip für das Küstenholozän and seine Darstellung in Form von Profiltypen. Geologisches Jahrbuch A44, 45–77.Google Scholar
Barckhausen, J., & Streif, H., 1978. Erlauterungen zu Blatt Emden West 1:2500, Nr. 2608. Hannover: Geologische Kaart Niedersachen.Google Scholar
Berendsen, H. J. A., 1984 a. Problems of lithostratigraphic classification of Holocene deposits in the perimarine area of the Netherlands. Geologie en Mijnbouw 63, 351–4.Google Scholar
Berendsen, H. J. A., 1984 b. Quantitative analysis of radiocarbon dates of the perimarine area in the Netherlands. Geologie en Mijnbouw 63, 343–50.Google Scholar
Booth, S. J., 1981. The sand and gravel resources of the country between Stamford, Lincolnshire and Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: description of 1:25,000 sheets TFOO and TF10. Mineral Assessment Reports of the Institute of Geological Sciences, no. 80.Google Scholar
Booth, S. J., 1982. The sand and gravel resources of the country around Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire: description of 1:25,000 sheets TF20 and TL29. Mineral Assessment Reports of the Institute of Geological Sciences, no. 93.Google Scholar
Brouwer, A., 1976. Inflatie in de stratigrafie. Geologie en Mijnbouw 55, 227–8.Google Scholar
Churchill, D. M., 1970. Post-Neolithic to Romano–British sedimentation in the southern Fenlands of Cambridge and Norfolk. In The Fenland in Roman Times: Studies of a Major Area of Peasant Colonisation with a Gazetteer Covering all Known Sites and Finds (ed. Phillips, C. W.), pp. 132–46. Royal Geographical Society Research Series no. 5.Google Scholar
De Jong, J. D., & Hageman, B. P., 1960. De legenda voor de Holocene afzettingen op de niewe geologische Kaart van Nederland, schaal 1:50000. Geologie en Mijnbouw 39, 644–53.Google Scholar
De Jong, J. D., Hageman, B. P., & Van Rummelen, F. F. F. E., 1960. De Holocene afzettingen in het Deltagebied. Geologie en Mijnbouw 39, 654–60.Google Scholar
Gallois, R. W., 1978. Solid And Drift Geology, King’s Lynn and the Wash Sheet 145 and part of 129, 1:50,000. Southampton: Ordnance Survey.Google Scholar
Gallois, R. W., 1979. Geological investigations for the Wash Water Storage Scheme. Report, Institute of Geological Sciences, no. 78/19.Google Scholar
Godwin, H., 1950. Studies of the post-glacial history of the British vegetation. III. Fenland pollen diagrams. IV. Post-glacial changes of relative land and sea-level in the English Fenlands. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B230, 239–303.Google Scholar
Godwin, H., 1978. Fenland: Its Ancient Past and Uncertain Future. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Godwin, H., & Clifford, M. A., 1938. Studies of the postglacial history of British vegetation. I. Origin and stratigraphy of the Fenland deposits near Woodwalton, Hunts. II. Origin and stratigraphy of deposits in southern Fenland. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B229, 323–406.Google Scholar
Godwin, H., & Godwin, M. E., 1933. Pollen analyses of Fenland peats at St. Germans, near King’s Lynn. Geological Magazine 70, 168–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godwin, H., & Vishnu-Mittre, . 1975. Studies of the postglacial history of British vegetation. XVI. Flandrian deposits of the Fenland margin at Holme Fen and Whittlesey Mere, Hunts. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B270, 561–604.Google Scholar
Green, C., 1961. East Anglian coastline levels since the Roman times. Antiquity 35, 21–8 and 155–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hageman, B. P., 1969. Development of the western part of the Netherlands during the Holocene. Geologie en Mijnbouw 48, 373–88.Google Scholar
Hallam, S. J., 1970. Settlement around the Wash. In The Fenland in Roman Times: Studies of a Major Area of Peasant Colonisation with a Gazetteer Covering all Known Sites and Finds (ed. Phillips, C. W.), pp. 22–88. Royal Geographical Research Series, no. 5.Google Scholar
Hedberg, H. D., 1976. International Stratigraphic Guide: A Guide to Stratigraphic Classification, Terminology, and Procedure. New York: Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Holland, C. H., Audley-Charles, M. G., Bassett, M. G., Cowie, J. W., Curry, D., Fitch, F. J., Hancock, J. M., House, M. R., Ingham, J. K., Kent, P. E., Morton, N., Ramsbottom, W. H. C., Rawson, P. F., Smith, D. B., Stubblefield, C. J., Torrens, H. S., Wallace, P., & Woodland, A. W., 1978. A guide to stratigraphic procedure. Royal Geological Society of London Special Report 11, 1–18.Google Scholar
Holmes, S. C. A., 1970. Outline geology of the Roman Fenland and stratigraphy of the Holocene deposits near the Old West River, Cambridgeshire. In The Fenland in Roman Times: Studies of a Major Area of Peasant Colonisation with a Gazetteer Covering all Known Sites and Finds (ed. Phillips, C. W.), pp. 127–31. Royal Geographical Society Research Series, no. 5.Google Scholar
Horton, A., 1989. Geology of the Peterborough District. Memoir of the Geological Survey, England and Wales, Sheet 158.Google Scholar
Horton, A., & Aldiss, D. T., 1992. Solid and Drift Geology, Spalding Sheet 144, 1:50,000. Southampton: Ordnance Survey.Google Scholar
Seale, R. S., 1974. Geology of the Ely District. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Norfolk 25, 21–36.Google Scholar
Seale, R. S., 1975 a. Soils of the Ely district. Memoir of the Soil Survey of England and Wales, Harpenden.Google Scholar
Seale, R. S., 1975 b. Soils of the Chatteris district of Cambridgeshire. Soil Survey Special Survey no. 9, Harpenden.Google Scholar
Seale, R. S., & Hodge, C. A. H., 1976. Soils of the Cambridge and Ely district. Soil Survey Special Survey no. 10, Harpenden.Google Scholar
Shennan, I., 1986 a. Flandrian sea-level changes in the Fenland. I: The geographical setting and evidence of relative sea-level changes. Journal of Quaternary Science 1, 119–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shennan, I., 1986 b. Flandrian sea-level changes in the Fenland. II: Tendencies of sea-level movement, altitudinal changes, and local and regional factors. Journal of Quaternary Science 1, 155–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skertchly, S. B. J., 1877. The Geology of Fenland. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain.Google Scholar
Smith, A. G., 1970. The stratigraphy of the northern Fenland. In The Fenland in Roman Times: Studies of a Major Area of Peasant Colonisation with a Gazetteer Covering all Known Sites and Finds (ed. Phillips, C. W.), pp. 147–64. Royal Geographical Society Research Series, no. 5.Google Scholar
Streif, H., 1978. A new method for the representation of sedimentary sequences in coastal zones. Proceedings of the 16th Coastal Engineering Conference,ASCE/Hamburg W., Germany(Aug 28–Sept 1, 1978), 1245–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Loon, A. J., 1981. Problems of Holocene lithostratigraphy. In Quaternary Geology: a Farewell to A. J. Wiggers (ed. van Loon, A. J.), pp. 353–61. Geologie en Mijnbouw 60.Google Scholar
Van Loon, A. J., 1985. Problems of lithostratigraphic classification of Holocene deposits in the perimarine area of the Netherlands. Geologie en Mijnbouw 64, 211–15.Google Scholar
Waller, M. P., 1994. Fenland Project No. 9, Flandrian Environmental Change in Fenland. East Anglian Archaeology Monograph no. 70.Google Scholar
Wheeler, A. J., 1992. Vegetational succession, acidification and allogenic events as recorded in Flandrian peat deposits from an isolated Fenland embayment. New Phytologist 111, 745–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, A. J., 1995. Saltmarsh development from fen: analysis of late Holocene deposits from the northcentral Fenland, UK. Quaternary International (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittaker, A., Cope, J. C. W., Cowie, J. W., Gibbons, W., Hailwood, E. A., House, M. R., Jenkins, D. G., Rawson, P. F., Rushton, A. W. A., Smith, D. G., Thomas, A. T., & Wimbledon, W. A., 1991. A guide to stratigraphical procedure. Journal of the Geological Society, London 148, 813–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willis, E. H., 1961. Marine transgression sequences in the English Fenland. Annals of the New York Academy of Science 95, 368–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wyatt, R. J., 1984. Solid and Drift Geology, Peterborough Sheet 158, 1:50,000. Southampton: Ordnance Survey.Google Scholar
Zagwijn, W. H., & Van Staalduinen, C. J., 1975. Toelichting bij Geologische Overzichtskaarten van Nederland. Haarlem: Rijks Geologische Dienst.Google Scholar