BOWEN, D. Q. (ed.) 1999. A Revised Correlation of Quaternary Deposits in the British Isles. Geological Society Special Report no. 23. ii+174 pp. London, Bath: Geological Society of London. Price £39.00, US $65.00 (paperback); members' price £19.00, US $32.00. ISBN 1 86239 042 8.

Abstract

Just how does one cope with the Quaternary? In terms of geological time, it’s a mere blip: two million years or so. As if it were some kind of stratigraphical Tardis, though, this slender temporal frame conceals an enormous, and growing, volume of stratigraphy. Consider just lithostratigraphy: deposits on land are plastered as almost countless smears and patches over hills and valleys, rather than forming neat layercakes. These oddly shaped deposits were once squeezed, with a little pushing and shoving, into a corset of four climatic cycles. Now, there are around a hundred major oxygen isotope stages, reflecting major climatic swings, and a yet greater number of shorter-period events such as Dansgaard–Oescher cycles and Heinrich events. All of these events influenced sedimentation yet, paradoxically, most of the terrestrial formations seem to belong to …