Age of Raised Beach Deposits of Southwestern Britain

Abstract

FOR many years there has been a divergence of opinion concerning the age of the raised beaches which underlie glacial and periglacial deposits on the coasts of the southern Irish Sea Basin and the Bristol Channel. After the work of George1, Zeuner2 suggested that the widespread raised beaches of south Wales and southern Ireland were formed during the last Interglacial. According to this view the beaches should be of the same age as the Eemian deposits of Continental Europe and the Ipswichian of south-east England3. On the other hand, many authors have assigned the beaches to the great interglacial (Hoxnian). Mitchell4 suggested that many beaches beneath an altitude of 100 ft O.D. were formed at this time, and this interpretation has also been put forward by Stephens5 with reference to the south-west peninsula of England; Martin6 with reference to the east coast of Ireland; and Synge7,8 with reference to the Lleyn Peninsula and west Wales. More recently, Bryant9 has applied the same dating to the raised beaches of south-west Ireland, Bowen10 to the Patella beach of Gower, and Stephens and Synge11 have re-stated their views in a more comprehensive form.