Bridgland, D. R., Schreve, D. C., Keen, D. H., Meyrick, R. and Westaway, R. (2004) Biostratigraphical correlation between the late Quaternary sequence of the Thames and key fluvial localities in central Germany. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 115 (2).
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The shared characteristics of limestone bedrock geology and resultant calcareous groundwater have allowed excellent preservation of mammalian and molluscan faunas within the terrace sequences of the Lower Thames and the rivers of the Muschelkalk region of Thuringia, central Germany. The mammalian and molluscan assemblages from the Lower Thames have underpinned the dating of one of the most important late Middle Pleistocene sequences in Britain and probably also Europe; one that is the repository of a highly significant Lower and Middle Palaeolithic archive. The most complete terrace records in Thuringia are those from the River Wipper, and the region of Bilzingsleben, and the Ilm, around Weimar. Both here and in the Lower Thames, interglacial deposits representing the four major post-Elsterian temperate-climate complexes (=oxygen isotope stages (OIS) 11, 9, 7 and 5 of the oceanic record) have been identified. In the Thames, the interglacials are represented by fluvially deposited sediments, whereas in Thuringia they are frequently represented by travertines that formed around calcareous springs, often containing exquisitely preserved fossils. Evidence from the Lower Thames interglacial deposits within four different terrace formations (Boyn Hill/Orsett Heath, Lynch Hill/Corbets Tey, Taplow/Mucking and Kempton Park/East Tilbury Marshes) is reviewed, in addition to which new evidence from a site at Hackney Downs, East London, is summarized. The deposits at the last-mentioned site are part of the Lynch Hill/Corbets Tey Formation and include interglacial sediments attributed to OIS 9. As well as the record of travertine sequence at Weimar-Ehringsdorf, on Terrace 4 of the Ilm, is described. The biostratigraphical and palaeoenvironmental evidence from the Ehringsdorf travertines compares closely wih that from interglacial desposits at Aveley, in the Mucking Formation of Lower Thames; both are attributed to OIS 7, with comparison possible at the oxygen isotope substage level.
This is a Published version This version's date is: 31/03/2004 This item is peer reviewed
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This material has been published in Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 2, 31 March 2004, 125-140, the only definitive repository of the content that has been certified and accepted after peer review. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by The Geological Society of London. (Copyright © 2000 The Geological Society of London