| Abstract: | Three groups of alluvial terraces together with the modern floodplain mark the Postglacial development of the middle part of the Dane Valley, Cheshire. These are a High terrace group of late Pleistocene age, a Middle terrace group of late Pleistocene to early Holocene age, a Low terrace of mid–late Holocene age, and a modern (post ca. 1840 AD) floodplain. A chronology of erosion, deposition, and landform development since mid-Holocene times is established in this paper on the basis of terrace morphology, stratigraphy, sedimentology, soil analysis, magnetic mineral analysis, and four radiocarbon dates. After dissection of the Middle terrace during the early to mid-Holocene, a long period of lateral activity by the river was followed by a major aggradation phase, which formed the Low terrace surface. This was followed by dissection during the last ca. 300 years and the development of the modern floodplain since ca. 1840 AD. Various explanations for the changes during the Holocene are considered; the Low terrace aggradation appears to be related to a major phase of mediaeval soil erosion. |
