Premium
A dated cave sediment record of Pleistocene transgressions on Berry Head, Southwest England
Author(s) -
Proctor Christopher J.,
Smart Peter L.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of quaternary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.142
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-1417
pISSN - 0267-8179
DOI - 10.1002/jqs.3390060306
Subject(s) - marine transgression , cave , geology , headland , subaerial , pleistocene , stage (stratigraphy) , paleontology , glacial period , head (geology) , interglacial , sea level , oceanography , geomorphology , archaeology , geography , shore , structural basin
Berry Head, a limestone headland in Torbay, southwest England, exhibits a series of subaerial marine erosion platforms and raised beaches spanning an altitude range of 97 m. Solution caves on the headland show preferred horizontal development at elevations that are correlated with the marine erosion platforms, and developed in a marine/freshwater mixing zone whose position was controlled by high sea‐level still‐stands. Corbridge Cave in Berry Head Quarry lies below the raised beaches in Torbay, and contains evidence of three marine transgressions in the form of fine‐grained marine ponding deposits with a marine microfauna. Uranium‐series dating of intercalated speleothems indicates that a transgression during oxygen isotope stage 5e reached an elevation of 5.8 m OD, while an earlier transgression (probably during stage 7) reached at least 7.2 m OD. These findings are used to constrain possible interpretations of the aminostratigraphy of raised beaches in Southwest Britain, and a correlation of the Unnamed Stage of Bowen, Sykes, Reeves, Miller, Andrews, Brew and Hare with oxygen isotope stage 5e is proposed.