The Quaternary deposits at Hoxne, Suffolk

• Published in: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 1956
• Subjects: Tundra
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1956.0001; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.1956.0001

The geology and palaeobotany of Quaternary deposits at Hoxne, Suffolk, have been investigated. It is shown that immediately after the ice which laid down the Lowestoft Till had retreated a lake basin was formed in the till. In the basin a series of interglacial lacustrine sediments was deposited, first clay-mud and later detritus mud. Reworking of these sediments under a periglacial climate with a fluctuating lake water level resulted in the deposition of alternating layers of silt, drift mud and brecciated clay-mud. After this, clay, sand and gravel were deposited in the lake by solifluxion under periglacial conditions. The lake basin as a topographical feature was then entirely obliterated, and clay, sand and till were deposited unconformably on the lake sediments. This till was formed during the Gipping Glaciation. After the retreat of the ice of this glaciation, the present valleys were excavated, and later to a small extent filled by fluvial deposits. Finally, aeolian sand, which now forms the surface deposit in the area, was deposited under periglacial conditions and, probably at the same time, a cryoturbation phase occurred. Macroscopic plant remains and pollen diagrams from the lacustrine interglacial sediments are described. They give evidence of the vegetational and climatic history of the interglacial period between the Lowestoft and Gipping Glaciations. Four major vegetational stages are distinguished; they are named the Late-Glacial, Early-Temperate, Late-Temperate and Early-Glacial stages. The Late-Glacial stage was characterized by Hippophaë scrub, the Early-Temperate stage by the development and persistence of mixed-oak forest, the Late-Temperate stage by the beginning of the replacement of the mixed-oak forest species by Carpinus and conifers, including Picea and Abies , and the Early-Glacial stage by the presence of park-tundra with scattered forest. There was a rapid climatic amelioration at the very beginning of the interglacial period, which led to a climatic optimum in the middle of the ...