Abstract
The Late-glacial and Holocene environmental history of the Gordano Valley, North Somerset, UK has been reconstructed using pollen, sediment particle size and mineralogical analyses and radiocarbon dating. A Devensian sediment ridge across the valley confined the waters of a small lake, within which the initial sedimentation was minerogenic. Radiocarbon dating of overlying organic-rich deposits suggests that this began late in the Dimlington Stadial c. 18,000–15,000 Cal. BP. Petrographic analyses indicate the minerogenic sediments were partly wind-blown in origin. Climatic amelioration during the Windermere Interstadial c. 15,000 Cal. BP encouraged a shift from minerogenic to biogenic sedimentation. A brief return to minerogenic sedimentation between c. 10,400 and c. 9,520 Cal. BP was followed by uninterrupted fen peat accumulation throughout the Holocene. The later minerogenic horizon appears to represent the Loch Lomond Stadial. Few stratigraphic sequences preserving the complete Devensian Late-glacial–Holocene transition exist in southwest Britain, making the sedimentary archive of the Gordano Valley valuable regionally for reconstructing Late-glacial climate change.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
AccuSizer (2001) AccuSizer model 780: windows based software, user manual. Particle Sizing Systems, Santa Barbara
Allen JRL (2000) Sea level, salt marsh and fen: shaping the Severn Estuary Levels in the later Quaternary (Ipswichian-Holocene). Arch Sev Est 11:13–34
Allen JRL (2001) Late Quaternary stratigraphy in the Gwent Levels (southeast Wales): the subsurface evidence. Proc Geol Assoc 112:289–315
Allen JRL (2002) Interglacial high-tide coasts in the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary, southwest Britain: a comparison for the Ipswichian and the Holocene. J Quat Sci 17:69–76
Andrews JT, Bowen DQ, Kidson C (1979) Amino acid ratios and the correlation of raised beach deposits in south-west England and Wales. Nature 281:556–558
ApSimon JT, Taylor H (1961) The stratigraphy and archaeology of the Late-glacial and Post-glacial deposits at Brean Down, Somerset. Proc Univ Bristol Spel Soc 9:67–136
Barker P, Fontes J, Gasse F, Duart J (1994) Experimental dissolution of diatom silica in concentrated salt solutions and implications for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Limnol Oceanogr 39:99–110
Birks HJB (1989) Holocene isochrone maps and patterns of tree spreading in the British Isles. J Biogeogr 16:503–540
Bjorck S, Walker MJC, Cwynar LC, Johnsen S, Knudsen K, Lowe J, Wohlfarth B, INTIMATE members. (1998) An event stratigraphy for the last termination in the North Atlantic region based on the Greenland ice-core record: a proposal by the INTIMATE group. J Quat Sci 13:283–292
Bowen DQ (1977) The coast of Wales. In: Kidson C, Tooley MJ (eds) The Quaternary history of the Irish Sea. Geol J Spec Issue 7:223–256
Bowen DQ, Sykes GA, Reeves A, Millaer GH, Andrews JT, Brew JS, Hare PE (1986) Amino acid geochronology of raised beaches in South West Britain. Quat Sci Rev 4:279–318
Brown AP (1977) Late Devensian and Holocene vegetation history of Bodmin Moor, Cornwall. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B276:251–320
Brown AP (1980) Deposits at Hawks Tor, Bodmin Moor. In: Sims PC, Stephens N (eds) West Cornwall, Quaternary Research Association Field Handbook. Quaternary Research Association, London, pp 37–40
Campbell S, Davey NDW (1998) Hawks Tor. In: Campbell S, Scourse JD, Hunt CO, Keen DH, Stephens N (eds) Geological conservation review: Quaternary of South-West England, GCR Volume No. 14. Chapman and Hall, pp 110–114
Campbell S, Scourse JD, Hunt CO, Keen DH, Stephens N (1998) Geological conservation review: Quaternary of South-West England. GCR Volume No. 14. Chapman and Hall
Campbell S, Hunt CO, Scourse JD, Keen DH, Croot DG (1999) Southwest England. In: Bowen DQ (ed) A revised correlation of Quaternary deposits in the British Isles. Geol Soc Spec Rep 23:66–78
Catt JA (1985) Soil particle size distribution and mineralogy as indicators of pedogenic and geomorphic history: examples from loessial soils of England and Wales. In: Richards KS, Arnett RR, Ellis S (eds) Geomorphology and soils. Allen and Unwin, London, pp 202–218
Catt JA (2001) The agricultural importance of loess. Earth Sci Rev 54:213–229
Charman DJ (2002) Peatlands and environmental change. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester
Findlay DC, Catt JA (2006) A temporary section in head at Bourne, Burrington, Somerset. Proc Univ Bristol Spel Soc 24:5–15
Folk RL (1974) Petrology of sedimentary rocks. Hemphill, Austin
Friedman GM (1961) Distinction between dune beach and river sands from their textural characteristics. J Sediment Petrol 31:514–529
Gilbertson DD, Hawkins AB (1974) Upper Pleistocene deposits and landforms at Holly Lane, Clevedon, Somerset (ST 419727). Proc Univ Bristol Spel Soc 13:349–360
Gilbertson DD, Hawkins AB (1978) The col-gully and glacial deposits at Court Hill, Clevedon, near Bristol, England. J Glaciol 20:173–188
Gilbertson DD, Hawkins AB, Mills CM, Harkness DD, Hunt CO (1990) The Late Devensian and Holocene of industrial Severnside and the Vale of Gordano: stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating and palaeoecology. Proc Ussher Soc 7:279–284
Godwin H (1975) The History of British flora; a factual basis for Phytogeography. Cambridge University Press
Green GW (1992) British regional geology: Bristol and Gloucester Region, 3rd edn. British Geological Survey, HMSO Publications
Grimm E (1991) Tilia and TILIA.GRAPH. Illinois State Museum, Illinois (unpublished)
Harrod TR, Catt JA, Weir AH (1973) Loess in Devon. Proc Ussher Soc 2:554–564
Haslett SK (1997) An Ipswichian foraminiferal assemblage from the Gwent Levels (Severn Estuary, UK). J Micropal 16:136
Hill TCB (2006) The Quaternary evolution of the Gordano Valley, North Somerset, UK. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of the West of England, Bristol, 370pp
Hill TCB, Woodland W, Spencer C, Case D, Marriott S, Bridle A, Brown H (2006) Late Quaternary environmental change in the Gordano Valley. In: Hunt CO, Haslett SK (eds) Somerset. Quaternary Research Association Field Guide, Somerset Field Meeting. Lothian Print, Edinburgh, pp 115–143
Hunt CO (1998) The Quaternary history of the Avon Valley and Bristol District. In: Campbell S, Scourse JD, Hunt CO, Keen DH, Stephens N (eds) Geological conservation review: Quaternary of South-West England. GCR Volume No. 14. Chapman and Hall, pp 361–363
Jacobson GL, Bradshaw RHW (1981) The selection of sites for palaeovegetational studies. Quat Res 16:80–96
Jefferies RL, Willis AJ, Yemm EW (1968) The Late and Post-glacial history of the Gordano Valley, North Somerset. New Phytol 67:335–348
Johnson DA (1983) Cenozoic radiolarians from the Brazil basin and Rio Grande Rise. Initial Report of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 72:783–791. US Government Printing Office
Lario J, Spencer C, Plater AJ, Zazo C, Goy JL, Dabrio CJ (2002) Particle size characterisation of Holocene back-barrier sequences from North Atlantic coasts (SW Spain and SE England). Geomorphology 42:25–42
Litt T, Brauer A, Goslar T, Merkt J, Balala K, Muller H, Ralska-Jesiewiczowa M, Stebich M, Negendank JFW (2001) Correlation and synchronisation of Late glacial continental sequences in northern central Europe based on annually laminated lacustrine sediments. Quat Sci Rev 20:1233–1249
Lowe JJ, Walker MJC (1997) Reconstructing Quaternary environments, 2nd edn. Addison Wesley Longman Ltd, Essex
McManus J (1995) Grain size determination and interpretation. In: Tucker M (ed) Techniques in sedimentology. Blackwell Science
Mills C (1984) The environmental history of the Gordano Valley, Avon: a palynological investigation. Unpublished MA dissertation, University of Sheffield
Moore PD, Webb JA, Collinson ME (1991) Pollen analysis, 2nd edn. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford
Rippon S (1997) The Severn Estuary: landscape evolution and wetland reclamation. Leicester University Press
Ryves DB, Juggins S, Fritz SC, Battarbee RW (2001) Experimental diatom dissolution and the quantification of microfossil preservation in sediments. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 172:99–113
Scourse JD (1991) Late Pleistocene stratigraphy and paleobotany of the Isles of Scilly. Philos Trans R Soc Lond Ser B 334:405–448
Shotton FW (1977) British Quaternary studies: recent advances. Clarendon Press, Oxford
Sly PG (1994) Sedimentary processes in lakes. In: Pye E (ed) Sediment transport and depositional processes. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford
Spencer CD (1996) The Holocene evolution of Romney Marsh: a record of sea-level change in a back-barrier environment. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Liverpool, 398 pp
Stewart HB Jr (1958) Sedimentary reflections on depositional environments in San Migue Lagoon, Baha California, Mexico. Bull Am Assoc Petrol Geol 42:2567–2618
Stuiver M, Reimer PJ, Bard E, Beck JW, Burr GS, Hughen KA, Kromer B, McCormac FG, van der Plicht J, Spurk M (1998) Intcal98 radiocarbon age calibration. Radiocarbon 40:1041–1083
Tanner WF (1997) Suite statistics: the hydrodynamic evolution of the sediment pool. In: Syvitski JPM (ed) Principles, methods, and applications of particle size analysis. Cambridge University Press
Tansley AG (1939) The British Islands and their vegetation. Cambridge University Press
Walker MJC, Bjork S, Lowe JJ, Cwynar LC, Johnsen S, Knudsen K-L, Wohlfarth B, INTIMATE group (1999) Isotopic ‘events’ in the GRIP ice core: a stratotype for the Late Pleistocene. Quat Sci Rev 18:1143–1150
Walker MJC, Coope GR, Sheldrick C, Turney CSM, Lowe JJ, Blockley SPE, Harkness DD (2003) Devensian Lateglacial environmental change in Britain: a multi-proxy environmental record from Llanilid, South Wales, UK. Quat Sci Rev 22:475–520
Acknowledgments
This research was conducted while Tom Hill was in receipt of a PhD bursary from the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE). The Faculty financed radiocarbon dating through the provision of a small research grant. Radiocarbon date Beta-218337 was also funded through a School of Geography and Environmental Management staff development fund. Access permission to field sites was granted by the Avon Wildlife Trust and English Nature. Thanks are also extended to the delegates of the QRA Somerset Field Meeting (April 2006) for their encouraging comments regarding the research, and to the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the original manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hill, T.C.B., Woodland, W.A., Spencer, C.D. et al. Devensian Late-glacial environmental change in the Gordano Valley, North Somerset, England: a rare archive for southwest Britain. J Paleolimnol 40, 431–444 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-007-9171-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-007-9171-5