Late-Weichselian conditions in south eastern Britain: organic deposits at Colney Heath, Herts
Peat erratics in gravel at Colney Heath, near St Albans, have been shown to have a radio-carbon age of 13560 years ± 210. Detailed pollen analyses, identifications of macroscopic plant remains and identifications of Bryophyta are now presented and linked with reports upon Coleopteran remains already...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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1964
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1964.0039 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.1964.0039 |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.1964.0039 2024-06-02T08:01:34+00:00 Late-Weichselian conditions in south eastern Britain: organic deposits at Colney Heath, Herts 1964 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1964.0039 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.1964.0039 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences volume 160, issue 979, page 258-275 ISSN 0080-4649 2053-9193 journal-article 1964 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1964.0039 2024-05-07T14:16:08Z Peat erratics in gravel at Colney Heath, near St Albans, have been shown to have a radio-carbon age of 13560 years ± 210. Detailed pollen analyses, identifications of macroscopic plant remains and identifications of Bryophyta are now presented and linked with reports upon Coleopteran remains already published. These results are shown to be closely similar to those of other river terrace deposits of the region including the Lea Valley Arctic Plant Bed, the Barnwell Station Plant Bed, and stages of the Nazeing (Lea Valley) deposits. Radiocarbon dates place all these within the late Weichselian and it appears that all were formed and preserved by temporary and local changes in the valleys, rather than as a result of general climatic shift. They may be taken to reflect the general late-Weichselian fauna and flora that persisted south of the ice-sheets in Britain during the later part of the last glaciation, and they are the antecedent stage to the now well-known late-Glacial Period. The late-Weichselian vegetation of this region was apparently without woodland, although dwarf shrubs including arctic birch and dwarf willows were abundant, there was a considerable variety of dry-land plants, including many heliophytes and plants of open ground, and aquatic and marsh plants were present in abundance and variety. The plant lists include many of strongly northern or arctic alpine range, but there are already present a few species with decidedly southern range, as well as many widely ranging species. A few species of both oceanic and continental range are also present. The plant evidence accords with that from the animal remains. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic The Royal Society Arctic Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences 160 979 258 275 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
The Royal Society |
op_collection_id |
crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Peat erratics in gravel at Colney Heath, near St Albans, have been shown to have a radio-carbon age of 13560 years ± 210. Detailed pollen analyses, identifications of macroscopic plant remains and identifications of Bryophyta are now presented and linked with reports upon Coleopteran remains already published. These results are shown to be closely similar to those of other river terrace deposits of the region including the Lea Valley Arctic Plant Bed, the Barnwell Station Plant Bed, and stages of the Nazeing (Lea Valley) deposits. Radiocarbon dates place all these within the late Weichselian and it appears that all were formed and preserved by temporary and local changes in the valleys, rather than as a result of general climatic shift. They may be taken to reflect the general late-Weichselian fauna and flora that persisted south of the ice-sheets in Britain during the later part of the last glaciation, and they are the antecedent stage to the now well-known late-Glacial Period. The late-Weichselian vegetation of this region was apparently without woodland, although dwarf shrubs including arctic birch and dwarf willows were abundant, there was a considerable variety of dry-land plants, including many heliophytes and plants of open ground, and aquatic and marsh plants were present in abundance and variety. The plant lists include many of strongly northern or arctic alpine range, but there are already present a few species with decidedly southern range, as well as many widely ranging species. A few species of both oceanic and continental range are also present. The plant evidence accords with that from the animal remains. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
title |
Late-Weichselian conditions in south eastern Britain: organic deposits at Colney Heath, Herts |
spellingShingle |
Late-Weichselian conditions in south eastern Britain: organic deposits at Colney Heath, Herts |
title_short |
Late-Weichselian conditions in south eastern Britain: organic deposits at Colney Heath, Herts |
title_full |
Late-Weichselian conditions in south eastern Britain: organic deposits at Colney Heath, Herts |
title_fullStr |
Late-Weichselian conditions in south eastern Britain: organic deposits at Colney Heath, Herts |
title_full_unstemmed |
Late-Weichselian conditions in south eastern Britain: organic deposits at Colney Heath, Herts |
title_sort |
late-weichselian conditions in south eastern britain: organic deposits at colney heath, herts |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
1964 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1964.0039 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.1964.0039 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences volume 160, issue 979, page 258-275 ISSN 0080-4649 2053-9193 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1964.0039 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
160 |
container_issue |
979 |
container_start_page |
258 |
op_container_end_page |
275 |
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1800745956959846400 |