Vegetational history of the Early Pleistocene of the Royal Society Borehole at Ludham, Norfolk

Abstract

Pollen analysis of 135 ft. of Early Pleistocene Crag deposits at Ludham, Norfolk, shows a succession of temperate and glacial vegetational conditions. Five stages are distinguished. They are, starting at the base: 1. The Ludhamian, with temperate mixed coniferous/deci­duous forest including Tsuga and Pterocarya ; 2. The Thurnian, a glacial stage with an oceanic heath type of vegetation; 3. The Antian, with temperate mixed coniferous/deciduous forest including Tsuga and Pterocarya ; 4. The Baventian, a glacial stage more severe than the Thurnian, with the return of oceanic heaths; 5. An unnamed stage with temperate mixed coniferous/deciduous forest lacking Pterocarya and with only a few traces of Tsuga . These five stages are provisionally correlated with the Netherlands Early Pleistocene as follows: the Ludhamian with the Tiglian, the Thurnian with the Eburonian, the Antian with the Waalian, and the Baventian with the Menapian. The stages are related to the foraminiferal horizons identified by Funnell (1961) from an older borehole 87 ft. to the west of the Royal Society Borehole. The fluctuations of climate indicated by the vegetation compare closely with those indicated by the Foraminifera. The Ludhamian is at the horizons correlated by Funnell with the Scrobicularia and Newbournian-Butleyan Red Crags of Suffolk. The Thurnian, Antian and Baventian are at the horizons correlated with the Icenian Crag. The uppermost temperate stage cannot yet be satisfactorily correlated with post-Icenian sediments, but is probably equivalent to some part of the Cromer Forest Bed Series.