The Pleistocene Epoch in England

Abstract

Summary A review of the evidence on the position of the boundary line between the Pliocene and Pleistocene is given. This leads to the acceptance of a boundary in England berween the Coralline Crag and the Waltonian division of the Red Crag. A plea is made for basing the boundary on stratigraphical rather than climatographical considerations. Since the evidence from the Midlands appears to be much more clear-cut than that in East Anglia, the former is taken as a starting point. The stratigraphy in the Thames basin is then considered in the light of the Midland deposits; the question of the succession and age of the oldest drifts raises problems clearly needing elucidation. These are further considered in connexion with the East Anglian drifts, where the importance of recent work is emphasized. The problems of the Newer Drift in the northern parts of England are reviewed. It is suggested that in the Midlands and northern England the Corbicula-Hippopotamus fauna probably occurs at only one horizon and that this lies between the Older and the Newer Drifts. It is suggested that more objective thinking would be possible if the Alpine nomenclature of Penck & Brückner were not used in Britain, and that it might help if a committee were set up, not to try to formulate correlations, but to propound an agreed nomenclature for the English divisions of the Pleistocene deposits.