Relict sand wedges in soliflucted London Clay at Wimbledon, London, UK

Abstract

Exposures on Wimbledon Hill, SW London, in the Palaeogene London Clay Formation, are described. The 3° slopes are mantled by clayey solifluction (head) deposits, comprising two superimposed sheets, each around 1.2 m thick. The lower sheet exhibits relict sand wedges forming polygons 1.0–1.5 m across, up to 50 mm wide and 1.25 m deep. These have no surface expression. The wedges are sand-filled and modify significantly the hydrogeology and properties of the solifluction mantle. There are no sand wedges in the upper solifluction sheet. The mechanics of emplacement of the lower solifluction sheet are explored and the high initial water content estimated. Subsequent desiccation and consolidation have reduced the thickness of this sheet by at least 35%, thus distorting contained features such as the wedges. An active layer about 0.4 m thick is inferred to have formed in the top of the lower solifluction sheet. No direct dating was undertaken but, by analogy with relevant dated sites in southern Britain and the Netherlands it is inferred that the lower solifluction sheet was emplaced during the first part of the Loch Lomond Stadial and frost-cracked during a subsequent, colder and more arid part. On this basis, following filling of the cracks by sand, emplacement of the upper solifluction sheet would have occurred in the later part of the Loch Lomond Stadial.