Evidence for Middle Pleistocene temperate-climate high sea-level and lowland-scale glaciation, Chapel Hill, Norwich, UK

Abstract

This paper reports a succession of Middle Pleistocene deposits from Chapel Hill south of Norwich in central Norfolk, eastern England. From the base upwards, sands and gravels with interbedded silts and clays, laminated clays and sandy diamicton, well-sorted sands with marine shells and foraminifera, and chalky diamicton are recorded overlying Chalk bedrock within a height range of c . 18–29 m OD. These units are interpreted on the basis of sedimentary, structural and lithological analysis as shallow-marine Wroxham Crag, Corton Till Member of the Happisburgh Formation, a newly defined shallow-marine Chapel Hill sands, and till of the Lowestoft Formation. The Chapel Hill sands contain foraminiferal assemblages that suggest temperate-water, then cold-water climate conditions and the high level of the deposits indicates small global ice volumes. The elevation of these deposits in terms of known global sea-level for the time also indicates uplift of the region since the period of deposition. The presence of these shallow-marine deposits between the tills of the Happisburgh and Lowestoft formations provides evidence that the Happisburgh Glaciation and the Anglian Glaciation were separated by non-glacial conditions.