Sea‐level changes,river activity,soil development and glaciation around the western margins of the southern North Sea Basin during the Early and early Middle Pleistocene: evidence from Pakefield,Suffolk, UK

This paper outlines evidence from Pakefield (northern Suffolk), eastern England, for sea‐level changes, river activity, soil development and glaciation during the late Early and early Middle Pleistocene (MIS 20–12) within the western margins of the southern North Sea Basin. During this time period, the area consisted of a low‐lying coastal plain and a shallow offshore shelf. The area was drained by major river systems including the Thames and Bytham. Changes in sea‐level caused several major transgressive–regressive cycles across this low‐relief region, and these changes are identified by the stratigraphic relationship between shallow marine (Wroxham Crag Formation), fluvial (Cromer Forest‐bed and Bytham formations) and glacial (Happisburgh and Lowestoft formations) sediments. Two separate glaciations are recognised—the Happisburgh (MIS 16) and Anglian (MIS 12) glaciations, and these are separated by a high sea level represented by a new member of the Wroxham Crag Formation, and several phases of river aggradation and incision. The principal driving mechanism behind sea‐level changes and river terrace development within the region during this time period is solar insolation operating over 100‐kyr eccentricity cycles. This effect is achieved by the impact of cold climate processes upon coastal, river and glacial systems and these climatically forced processes obscure the neotectonic drivers that operated over this period of time. © British Geological Survey/Natural Environment Research Council copyright 2005. Reproduced with the permission of BGS/NERC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Alterations in guano phosphates and mio-pliocene carbonates of table mountain Santa Barbara,Curacao

The Table Mountain Santa Barbara, consisting of the Mio-Pliocene Seroe Domi Limestone Formation, was probably covered with a guano layer in the Pleistocene (?). Solutions, carrying guano-derived phosphate, percolated downwards, resulting in partial phosphatization of the underlying limestones. Only two phosphate minerals are present in the Table Mountain: apatite, and whitlockite.Phosphatization includes both replacement of the original carbonate or (pre-phosphate) dolomite, and cementation in primary- as well as secondary porosity (cryptocrystalline, isotropic phosphate cement, (micro)crystalline apatite, isopachous apatite fringe cement, multiple-zoned apatite crusts, rhombic whitlockite cements). Two factors controlled the final distribution of the phosphate within the Table Mountain. Firstly, changing positions of the sea level (and, therefore, of the diagenetic environments) determined the overall distribution of the phosphatized interval, a horizontal layer (98–128 m above sea level) sandwiched between two non-phosphatized limestone units.Original carbonate facies and -mineralogy was the second controlling factor causing the final variations in degree of phosphatization. The limestones comprise two lithofacies: (a) coralliferous limestone lenses erratically distributed amidst; and (b) micritic limestones. These coralliferous limestones are phosphatized preferentially forming so-called “phosphate pockets”, sharply outlined within a non-phosphatized micritic limestone “host”. These pockets are characteristically organized into five zones which are described in detail. Higher original porosity/permeability of the coralliferous limestone lenses as compared to the micrites, additionally enhanced by a phase of pre-phosphate dolomitization, determined preferential phosphatization of this facies type.A second controlling factor was the original carbonate mineralogy and resulting dia-     

Carbonate petrography as an indicator of climate and sea-level changes: new data from Bahamian Quaternary units

Coeval stratigraphic units of similar petrology occur throughout the northern Bahamas islands. The petrographic composition of these limestones provides clues about regional sea level and climate changes during the late Quaternary. At least eight fossil shoreline units, which are linked to transgressive episodes between the middle Pleistocene and the late Holocene, are recognized in the Bahamas. The petrographic composition of these units is either dominated by ooids and peloids or by bioclasts. Sedimentological observations demonstrate that oolitic-peloidal units were formed when sea level was higher than today, whereas skeletal units were deposited at or below modern ordnance datum. Skeletal units may reflect times of partial, or modest platform flooding, when the bulk of sediments brought to islands originates from bank-margin reefs. In contrast, oolitic-peloidal units correspond to major flooding events and active water circulation on the bank top. Cement fabrics further show that the early diagenesis of oolitic units took place during warm and humid climatic conditions, whereas skeletal rock bodies underwent subaerial diagenesis during drier climatic conditions characterized by marked seasonal changes. This example from the Bahamas suggests that compositional analysis of limestone from fossil carbonate platforms could be used for resolving ancient climate and sea-level changes.     

Subaerial disconformities,microkarst and paleosols in Ordovician limestones at Bowan Park and Cliefden Caves,New South Wales,and their geoheritage significance

The Ordovician Daylesford Limestone at Bowan Park and the Fossil Hill Limestone at Cliefden Caves have diagenetic and pedogenic features of microkarst, paleosols and calcrete associated with subaerial disconformities in their stratigraphic sequences, all of which, as an ensemble, have global geoheritage significance. The original shelly limestones, lime mudstones, and coralline limestones have selectively dissolved to form vugular limestone whose cavities have filled with sparry calcite and/or crystal silt. The limestones also have been calcretised to develop massive and laminar calcrete and calcrete ooids. Below disconformity surfaces are bleached limestone, crystal-silt and spar-filled fossil moulds and enlarged moulds, micro-breccia-filled moulds and fissures filled with crystal silt, calcrete pellets and calcrete ooids. The disconformity surfaces are irregular or undulating interfaces between lithologies, fissures and fissure-fills, and calcrete. Above disconformities there are limestone lithoclasts, remanié fossils, calcreted limestone, veined limestone, calcrete ooids, laminated calcrete, lithoclast grainstone, or calcrete-ooid grainstone, and lithoclasts with fossils moulds filled with crystal silt and/or spar. The lithological, stratigraphic and possibly landscape differences, make the subaerial diagenesis/pedogenesis in the Daylesford Limestone subtly different to that of the Fossil Hill Limestone. Subaerial disconformities and associated diagenesis/pedogenesis, as recorded in these formations, are not widely reported globally nor well represented in Ordovician limestones. The microkarst features provide insights into the types of subaerial diagenesis/pedogenesis during the Ordovician and into climate, landscape setting, paleohydrology, and groundwater/rainwater alkalinity. Consequently, the story of the Ordovician microkarst, paleosols and calcrete ooids is unique and globally of geoheritage significance as examples of subaerial alteration in an ancient high-rainfall, tropical climate volcanic island environment in a tectonically active region.     

Late Pleistocene lithostratigraphy and sequences in the southwestern Mesopotamia (Argentina): Evidences of the last interglacial stage

The aim of this paper is to show the stratigraphic record of the Late Pleistocene corresponding to the distal region of the Paraná River basin. It displays sedimentological, paleontological and geochronological evidences that characterise the last interglacial–glacial cycle. In particular, strong environmental records are shown for the Last Interglacial Stage (LIS). Salto Ander Egg Formation (SAEF) is defined as a new lithostratigraphic unit representative of the Late Pleistocene in southwestern Mesopotamia. This unit is formed of complex fluvial deposits, which contains a heterogeneous collection of sub-environments, of ages ranging from 120 to 60 ky BP. The clast-supported gravel facies containing sparse boulders indicate high flow during a humid climate. The large and middle-scale architectures of fluvial sedimentary bodies evidence the relationship between the sediment accommodation and the sea level oscillations. Three sub-sequences identified in the succession suggest a transgressive trend during the MIS5e, a highstand stage in MIS5c, and a minor transgressive cycle during MIS3. A Brazilian faunal association collected at the bottom of the sequence and sedimentological interpretations display wet and warm climatic conditions, typical of tropical or subtropical environments. Such environmental conditions are characteristic of the maximum of the last interglacial stage (MIS5e) and show a signal stronger than the signal of the current interglacial stage. All these data show a direct correlation between the increases of paleodischarges and the elevation of the sea level. The whole sequence is completed with transitional swampy deposits, accumulated probably during the MIS3/MIS2 transition, and the typical loess of the Tezanos Pinto Formation, mantled during the Last Maximum Glacial.     

Last Interglacial changes in sea level on Aldabra,western Indian Ocean

The Pleistocene limestones on the island of Aldabra in the western Indian Ocean preserve a detailed record of the Last Interglacial interval. Sedimentological analysis has revealed that this interval, formerly regarded as reflecting rapid sea-level rise, during global warming, followed by a more gradual fall towards the low sea level of the Last Glacial Maximum, in fact shows much greater variation. Although data do not support an accurate chronology, there is evidence that reversals in sea-level trend caused both pauses in deposition and concurrent erosion during sea-level rise, and both stillstands and erosion during sea-level fall. Data include sea-level related variations in coral morphology, discontinuities and boundaries within depositional sequences, and changes in biofacies. These may explain inconsistencies in the radiometric ages of deposits within the unit, but question the nature of the interglacial cycle, the mechanisms driving it and, in particular, whether comparable variation occurred elsewhere.     

Sedimentary processes,stratigraphic sequences and middens: the link between archaeology and geoheritage—a case study from the Quaternary of the Broome region,Western Australia

The cliffed and active dune coastal region of Broome provides an excellent record of Pleistocene and Holocene stratigraphy of desert environments interfacing with the Indian Ocean. The Mesozoic Broome Sandstone is the basal stratigraphic unit in the area and is overlain by Pleistocene red desert quartz sand (Mowanjum Sand). Modern coastal processes of waves, wind and tide have resulted in distinctive sedimentary bodies (stratigraphic units) clearly linked to the sedimentary environment. The Mowanjum Sand, reworked by coastal winds, generates the landward-ingressing orange quartzose Churchill Sand, or reworked by waves and abraded to white sand with the addition of carbonate grains that form the beaches (Cable Beach Sand) and with eolian action, coastal dunes or inland-ingressing white dunes (Shoonta Hill Sand). These sedimentary bodies and stratigraphic units form a template with which to locate and interpret archaeological middens and Indigenous occupation over the past 5000?years in a context of coastal occupation, coastal stability, mean sea-level changes, climate changes, and availability of marine food and freshwater. Shell middens and stone artefacts form definitive layers or horizons in relation to the stratigraphy, in places in situ, and elsewhere reworked as sheets and plumes; understanding their inter-relationships has enabled the unravelling of the archaeological history and relating Indigenous occupation to biofacies and lithofacies. The array of sedimentary, biofacies and stratigraphic units are of national geoheritage significance in their own right. The addition of archaeological deposits as stratigraphic units provides a link between geoheritage and archaeology, where the archaeological materials are viewed as part of the complex stratigraphic story, part of the coastal history, and part of the geoheritage story.     

Holocene coastal paleoenvironments in Atlantic Patagonia,Argentina

The Atlantic shoreline in Patagonia, southernmost South America, is a paraglacial coast that has undergone extensive erosion and retreat since the late Pleistocene, releasing a large volume of sand and gravel to southward littoral drift. Despite regional erosive conditions, accretionary landforms developed during the Holocene in three coastal reentrants. These are, from north to south along a 200 km long shoreline stretch: (1) the cuspate foreland that underlies Bustamante Point, in the Rı́o Gallegos Estuary; (2) the cuspate foreland with incipient spit underlying Dungeness Point, in the eastern Strait of Magellan; (3) the San Sebastián Bay tidal flat; and (4) the El Páramo Spit, partly enclosing the San Sebastián Bay. These accretionary landforms contain a record of relative sea level changes for approximately the past 7 ka, and indicate a tectonically driven drop of about 3 m during growth of Bustamante Point and of 1–2 m in the other areas. Differential sea level fall influenced development of the landforms, with slower rates favoring spit development in the south.     

Relationship between Late Pleistocene sea‐level variations,carbonate platform morphology and aragonite production (Maldives,Indian Ocean)

A piston core from the Maldives carbonate platform was investigated for carbonate mineralogy, grain‐size distributions, calcium carbonate content and organic carbon. The sedimentary record was linked to Late Pleistocene sea‐level variations, using an age model based on oxygen isotopes obtained from planktonic foramanifera, nannofossil biostratigraphy and ¹⁴C age determinations. The correlation between the sedimentary record and Late Pleistocene sea‐level showed that variations in aragonite and mud during the past 150 000 years were clearly related to flooding and sea floor exposure of the main lagoons of the atolls of the Maldives carbonate platform. Platform flooding events were characterized by strongly increased deposition of aragonite and mud within the Inner Sea of the Maldives. Exposure events, in contrast, can be recognized by rapid decreases in the values of both proxy records. The results show that sediments on the Maldives carbonate platform contain a continuous record of Pleistocene sea‐level variations. These sediments may, therefore, contribute to a better understanding of regional and even global sea‐level changes, and yield new insights into the interplay between ocean currents and carbonate platform morphology.     

Sea-level and reef accretion history of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 7 and late Stage 5 based on age and facies of submerged late Pleistocene reefs,Oahu, Hawaii

In situ Pleistocene reefs form a gently sloping nearshore terrace around the island of Oahu. TIMS Th–U ages of in situ corals indicate that most of the terrace is composed of reefal limestones correlating to Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 7 (MIS 7, ~ 190–245 ka). The position of the in situ MIS 7 reef complex indicates that it formed during periods when local sea level was ~ 9 to 20 m below present sea level. Its extensiveness and geomorphic prominence as well as a paucity of emergent in situ MIS 7 reef-framework deposits on Oahu suggest that much of MIS 7 was characterized by regional sea levels below present. Later accretion along the seaward front of the terrace occurred during the latter part of MIS 5 (i.e., MIS 5a–5d, ~ 76–113 ka). The position of the late MIS 5 reefal limestones is consistent with formation during a period when local sea level was below present. The extensiveness of the submerged Pleistocene reefs around Oahu compared to the relative dearth of Holocene accretion is due to the fact that Pleistocene reefs had both more time and more accommodation space available for accretion than their Holocene counterparts.     

西藏纳木错地区116 ka以来的湖相沉积及其环境演化与气候变迁

水准测量表明,西藏纳木错沿岸发育了拔湖48m以下的6级湖岸阶地和拔湖48m以上、最高至139.2m的高位湖相沉积。根据实测剖面、地层序列和岩性特征,并结合同位素测年等资料,可将该套湖相沉积地层划分为1个群、2个组。通过易溶盐、pH值、地球化学、粘土矿物、介形类和孢粉分析等的研究发现,湖相沉积中记录了116 ka B.P.以来的环境演化与气候变迁的信息。自116 ka B.P.以来,以全新世气候最宜期时,最温暖湿润;在90.1 ka B.P.和86.5 ka B.P.的相对温暖期时,气温相当或略高于现今,属温和轻爽或偏干,湿度稍大;在36～35 ka B.P.时段,气温和湿度较现今略高或较高。这表明自晚更新世以来,该区环境在逐渐变暖的总趋势上,经历了多次明显的冷暖与干湿波动。     

The genesis, mineralization, and stratigraphic significance of phosphatic/glauconitic condensed limestone unit in the Manavgat Basin, SW Turkey

A condensed hemipelagic limestone unit with glauconite and phosphate separates a drowned Late Burdigalian carbonate platform from overlying Langhian pelagic mudstones, marls, and calcarenitic tempestites within the Neogene Manavgat Basin of southwestern Anatolia, Turkey. The unit consists of coeval lenticular limestone bodies, between 1 cm and 15 m in thickness, ranging from 10 m to 3 km in lateral extent. The P2O5 content of this limestone ranges from 0.2 to 10% by weight and the iron-oxide, clay, and other metal-oxide contents of this unit substantially exceed those of the underlying and overlying rocks.This condensed stratigraphic unit was deposited on the southwesterly outer shelf portions of drowned horsts that directly faced upwelling currents. The unit displays three main facies: 1) glauconitic phosphate crusts associated with hardgrounds; 2) bedded glauconitic-phosphatic limestones; and 3) glauconitic-phosphatic limestones interbedded with resedimented limestones. Facies (1) forms the thinnest units whereas facies (3) is the thickest, since the thickness and spatial distribution of this facies are related to environmental contrasts caused by block faulting of the underlying carbonate platform.This lithostratigraphic unit of hemipelagic glauconite–phosphate deposition represents an interval of maximum flooding in tectonically active situations and depositional hiatus on submarine highs that separate the carbonate transgressive systems tract from the overlying terigenic tempestite highstand systems tract. This appears to be the sole condensed unit within the Miocene Manavgat Basin; and is here ascribed to a third-order (2.3) eustatic rise in sea level comprising the maximum flooding of the first-order cycle. This is also the time for early–Mid Miocene major changes in Mediterranean climate from tropical to temperate.     

Geoheritage at the small scale: tidal-zone bubble-sand structures as diagnostic paleo-environmental indicators,and their geoheritage significance

In identifying sites of geoheritage significance, commonly there has been an emphasis on the larger-scale features. However, the story of geology and the significant features that are critical to unravel geological processes and geological history are commonly small in scale. This contribution focuses on bubble sand and bubble-sand structures as features that are small-scale but nonetheless important to geology, and hence are of geoheritage significance. Bubble sand and bubble-sand structures are ubiquitous on modern beaches and tidal flats, occurring in the uppermost tidal zone of sandy beaches, as a distinct layer in a shoaling beach-to-dune stratigraphy, and are a diagnostic indicator of upper-tidal conditions where a rising tide and a concomitantly rising water-table interacts with the upper swash-zone wave processes. On sandy tidal flats, bubble sand and bubble-sand structures may occur in the mid- to upper-tidal zones; here they are also diagnostic indicators of tidal conditions, forming during a rising tide where a rising water-table forces air upwards to be trapped in moist sand. If found in ancient sequences, bubble-sand structures are a powerful environmental indicator of tidal conditions and, for beach sequences, an indicator of the high-tide level and sea level. Bubble-sand structures have been found in a number of ancient sequences throughout the geological record as far back as the Neoproterozoic, e.g. within beach-to-dune stratigraphy in Pleistocene limestones of the Perth Basin and in southeastern USA, and in tidal-flat sands of the Mesozoic Broome Sandstone of the Canning Basin. The bubble-sand structure is a significant geological tool for use in paleo-environmental and paleo-oceanographic reconstructions, and determination of the position of a paleo-water-table. Given the rarity of their preservation, these occurrences of bubble-sand structures are of geoheritage significance in their own right and, depending on age of sequence and how common they are in the region, they may be nationally significant or globally significant.     

Evolution and architecture of a West Mediterranean Upper Pleistocene to Holocene coastal apron‐fan system

The Quaternary deposits of tectonically stable areas are a powerful tool to investigate high‐frequency climate variations (<10 ka) and to distinguish allogenic and autogenic factors controlling deposition. Therefore, an Upper Pleistocene–Holocene coastal apron‐fan system in north–western Sardinia (Porto Palmas, Italy) was studied to investigate the relations between climate changes, sea‐level fluctuations and sediment source‐supply that controlled its development. The sedimentary sequence records the strong influence of local (wet/dry) and worldwide (sea‐level) environmental variations in the sedimentation and preservation of the deposits. A multi‐disciplinary approach allowed subdivision of the succession into four major, unconformity‐bounded stratigraphic units: U1 U2, U3 and U4. Unit U1, tentatively dated to the warm and humid Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 5, consists of sandy, gravelly coastal/beach deposits developed during high sea‐level in low‐lying areas. Unit U2 consists of debris‐flow dominated fan‐deposits (ca 74 ka; MIS 4), preserved as partial fills of small valleys and coves. Unit U2 is mainly composed of reddish silty conglomerate to pebbly siltstones sourced from the Palaeozoic metamorphic inland hills (bedrock), superficially disintegrated during the preceding warm, vegetation‐rich MIS 5. The cold and semi‐arid climate strongly reduced vegetation cover along the valley flanks. Therefore, sediment gravity‐flow processes, possibly activated by rainstorms, led to deposition of debris‐flow dominated fans. Unit U3 consists of water‐flow dominated alluvial‐fan deposits (ca 47 to 23 ka; MIS 3), developed on a slightly inclined coastal plain. Unit U3 is composed of sandstone and sandy conglomerate fed from two main sediment sources: metamorphic inland bedrock and Quaternary bioclastic‐rich shelf‐derived sands. During this cold phase, sea‐level dropped sufficiently to expose bioclastic sands accumulated on the shelf. Frequent climate fluctuations favoured inland aeolian transport of sand during dry phases, followed by reworking of the aeolian bodies by flash floods during wet phases. Bedrock‐derived fragments mixed with water‐reworked, wind‐blown sands led to the development of water‐flow dominated fans. The Dansgaard–Oeschger events possibly associated with sand landward deflation and main fan formations are Dansgaard–Oeschger 13 (ca 47 ka), Dansgaard–Oeschger 8 (ca 39 ka) and Dansgaard–Oeschger 2 (ca 23 ka). No record of sedimentation during MIS 2 was observed. Finally, bioclastic‐rich aeolianites (Unit U4, ca 10 to 5 ka; MIS 1), preserved on a coastal slope, were developed during the Holocene transgression (ca 10 to 5 ka; MIS 1). The studied sequence shows strong similarities with those of other Mediterranean sites; it is, however, one of the few where the main MIS 4 and MIS 3 climatic fluctuations are registered in the sedimentary record.     

Stone,water and ice: The Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark,County Clare,Ireland

This is an overview of the geology and geoheritage of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark. The geology is Carboniferous, dominated by fossiliferous Mississippian limestones and mostly coastal exposures of Pennsylvanian siliciclastics. Late Pleistocene ice sheets subsequently formed significant features in the landscape. The Cliffs of Moher is the most visited outdoor tourist attraction in Ireland and tourism is a significant income source in the Geopark area. Education and research form a key part of the Geopark programme. The Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark is managed by Clare County Council with support from Geological Survey Ireland.     

Litho- and biostratigraphy,facies patterns and depositional sequences of the Cenomanian-Turonian deposits in the Ksour Mountains (Saharan Atlas,Algeria)

The Cenomanian-Turonian deposits exposed in the Ksour Mountains, western part of the Saharan Atlas (Algeria), document marine shelf environments that had been thriving on the North African passive margin, connected northwards to the Tethys Ocean, and fringed southwards by the Saharan craton. Their lithological, palaeontological, and sedimentological characteristics have been investigated to provide new insights into the biostratigraphy, palaeo-environmental evolution and sea-level changes in this western part of the Saharan Atlas. Three formations are recognized, from base to top of the studied succession: 1. The El Rhelida Formation comprising two informal units: the mixed siliciclastic-carbonate unit deposited under different flow regime conditions, from shoreline to backshore environments, and the limestone–claystone unit including coastal mudflat deposits prone to storm events. The early Cenomanian age of the El Rhelida Formation is supported by vertebrate assemblages. 2. The Mdaouer Formation comprising two units: the evaporitic unit dominated by claystone and evaporite alternations deposited on a flat coastal sabkha with occasional storms, and the marlstone–limestone unit formed in a peritidal-lagoonal environment. The Mdaouer Formation is of early-middle Cenomanian age. 3. The Rhoundjaïa Formation comprising three units: the lower limestone unit consisting of relatively homogeneous fossiliferous limestones; the middle marly unit composed of marlstone and bioclastic limestones, and the upper limestone unit consisting of carbonates showing vertical variations in faunal content and stratonomy. The Rhoundjaïa Formation was deposited in homoclinal ramp setting. Ammonite data indicate an early late Cenomanian to early Turonian age for this interval. Within an overall transgressive trend, the Cenomanian-Turonian deposits of the Ksour Mountains record three third-order depositional sequences bounded each by regional discontinuities.     

Palaeomagnetic correlation and dating of Plio/Pleistocene sediments at the southern margins of the North Sea Basin

A series of discontinuous sediment sequences, of Plio/Pleistocene age, occur onshore around the southern North Sea margins, notably in the East Anglian region of Britain. Intensive lithological and palaeontological analyses of these sediments have shown that they record both major and minor oscillations in climate, sea level and environmental conditions. However, significant uncertainties exist regarding the absolute and relative chronostratigraphies of many of these sequences, hindering understanding of the relative impacts of climatic, eustatic and tectonic changes on the palaeogeographic development of the southern North Sea basin. Here, a number of key East Anglian Plio/Pleistocene sites are subjected to robust palaeomagnetic and mineralogical examination, in order to determine those sediments which display reliable, syn‐depositional magnetic polarities, which are thus of use in ascribing a palaeomagnetically determined age from comparison with the Geomagnetic Polarity Timescale (GPTS). Based on a range of palaeomagnetic and complementary mineralogical methods, reliable palaeomagnetic directions were obtained from eight sites, with reversed polarities displayed by sediments from three sites. These polarity determinations can be used to infer absolute ages and test published, between‐site correlations. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Global geoheritage significance of Ordovician stratigraphy and sedimentology in the Cliefden Caves area,central western New South Wales

Globally significant geoheritage features of the Cliefden Caves area, in the Belubula River Valley between Orange and Cowra in central western New South Wales, comprise a richly fossiliferous shallow-water limestone succession of Late Ordovician age (the Cliefden Caves Limestone Subgroup) overlain by deep-water laminites and allochthonous limestones of the Upper Ordovician Malongulli Formation. Key features of the Ordovician geology of the Cliefden Caves area that have been identified using the Geoheritage Toolkit as being of international significance are the abundance of unique and exceptionally diverse fossils in the Fossil Hill Limestone (forming the lower part of the Cliefden Caves Limestone Subgroup), which supplement detailed interpretation of carbonate-dominated deposition within an Ordovician volcanic island setting. The fossiliferous limestones preserve biostromes and local small bioherms of stromatoporoids and corals, and recurrent in situ and disarticulated/imbricated Eodinobolus shell beds formed in shallow, quiet-water, dominantly muddy carbonate sediments that passed up-sequence to clay-free carbonate environments. These mud-dominated carbonate sediments are interspersed with higher-energy conditions, represented by skeletal, lithoclastic and calcrete-ooid grainstones overlying disconformities, leading to the identification of subaerial disconformities and associated diagenesis in the Fossil Hill Limestone. The Fossil Hill Limestone is succeeded by massive limestones in the middle part of the Cliefden Caves Limestone Subgroup and then, in turn by the Vandon Limestone and the deeper-water graptolitic laminites of the Malongulli Formation—this completes a succession that is rarely preserved in the geological record, further enhancing the geoheritage significance of the Cliefden Caves area.     

The Early Pleistocene Praetiglian and Ludhamian pollen stages in the North Sea Basin and their relationship to the marine isotope record

In this paper, the currently accepted correlation of the Early Pleistocene Ludhamian stage of England with the Tiglian‐A sub‐stage of the Netherlands is challenged. Recent investigations of Early Pleistocene marine North Sea deposits from a borehole near Noordwijk (the Netherlands) yielded evidence from molluscs, dinoflagellate cysts and sporomorphs for an alternation of warm‐temperate and arctic intervals within the Praetiglian and Tiglian stages. Marine equivalents of the terrestrial‐based pollen sub‐stages Tiglian A and B have been recognised in the upper part of the sequence. A Praetiglian age can be assigned to the lower part of the sequence on the basis of mollusc analysis. Within the Praetiglian, an alternation of warm and cold phases has been recognised from both the dinoflagellate cyst and molluscan records. Three cold phases within the Praetiglian are tentatively correlated with marine isotope stages (MIS) 96–100. The molluscan assemblages provide evidence for climate forcing of the sea level: highest sea levels are reached in the warm‐temperate intervals. Within the Praetiglian, an interval with an acme zone of the dinoflagellate cyst Impagidinium multiplexum, is correlated with the Ludhamian and tentatively linked to MIS 97 and/or MIS 96. The cold molluscan assemblages from the Noordwijk borehole include an acme zone of Megayoldia thraciaeformis, the first and only occurrence of this North Pacific bivalve in the North Sea Basin. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Pleistocene Cape Kidnappers section in New Zealand: orbitally forced controls on active margin sedimentation?

High sedimentation rates in Pleistocene active margin basins can provide a very detailed record of tectonic and climatic controls on sediment preservation. A 500 m thick, Pleistocene rock section exposed in northeastern North Island of New Zealand (Kidnappers Group), provides the opportunity to discuss these controls. The section is composed of conglomerate, sandstones, siltstones and minor shales, interbedded with tephra layers. The sediments were deposited in alluvial to shallow marine environments and preserved in stacks of depositional units decimetres to hundreds of metres thick as a result of base‐level changes through time. The correlation of base‐level changes in the section with the deep sea oxygen isotope stratigraphy shows that the sequences at 10 m and 80 m scales can correlate, respectively, to the 20 and 100 kyr changes in eustatic sea‐level, but that the 80‐m‐thick sequences correlate also to changes in tectonic uplift rates. A major change in the stratigraphical architecture occurs at the Mid‐Pleistocene Transition (MPT) when the 40 kyr ice volume variations shifted to a dominant 100 kyr variation. This change includes an increase in the amplitude of the shifts in depositional environments and an overall simplification of the stacking pattern of the depositional units through the MPT. This study illustrates that active margin basins can record orbitally forced sedimentary cycles and points to a possible leading influence of eustasy on the pattern of sediment preservation in tectonically active areas. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.