The Pleistocene deposits of the southern Worfe catchment

Abstract

The Pleistocene drifts of the southern Worfe catchment, which are more complex than previously thought, are ascribed mainly to a Late Devensian glaciation and include a thick sequence of proglacial lacustrine deposits filling a large subglacially formed channel. In places the lacustrine deposits are overlain by glaciofluvial sands and gravels, which are in turn covered by Irish Sea till and outwash. The stratigraphical and topographical evidence suggests that the Late Devensian glaciation in the Worfe catchment started with an erosive thrust of relatively clean ice and was followed by oscillations of the ice-front, culminating in the final advance of more debris-laden Irish Sea ice to the Wolverhampton line. Near Claverley, water-worn and wind-faceted quartzite gravels underlie the Late Devensian drifts. Their morphology suggests that they are the remnants of lag gravels which floored a Middle Devensian Claverley Brook valley. The gravels are thought to be derived from Late Wolstonian till-like deposits now only found capping interfluves above 91 m O.D. beyond the Wolverhampton line.