THE EARLY PLEISTOCENE OF EASTON BAVENTS, SUFFOLK

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Analyses have been made of pollen and Foraminifera of Early Pleistocene sands and clays in the cliff-section at Easton Bavents, Suffolk. The pollen diagram shows a cool-temperate forest period with Tsuga, followed by a period with oceanic heaths when the climate became very cold. Previous records of marine molluscs from the Easton Bavents section are related as far as possible to the sequence described. Environments of deposition indicated by the Foraminifera and the molluscs are discussed. The lower shelly sands of the section are considered to be inner sub-littoral in origin; the main clay horizon probably accumulated in a glacial sea. A heavy-mineral analysis from this clay is reported in the Appendix. Correlations are made between the Easton Bavents section and the Early Pleistocene deposits at Bramerton Common and in the Ludham borehole. The lower sands are correlated with a level towards the top of the upper division of the Norwich Crag and partly with the temperate Antian stage (pollen zone L3) of the Ludham borehole, and the clay is correlated with the clay of the glacial Baventian Stage (pollen zone L4) at Ludham.