A re-examination of the type Arenig Series

The stratotypc of the Arenig Series (Ordovician System) and its boundaries are critically re-examined. The lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy of the Tremadoc, Arenig, and Llanvirn age rocks at Arenig Fawr, North Wales that were constructed by Feamsides in 1905 are amended. The Arenig Series at Arenig is represented by the Camedd Iago Formation which was established by Lynas (1973) in the Migneint area. Examination of the sparse graptolite faunas indicates that the type Arenig Series is incomplete, only the extensus Zone having been recognized with certainty. There is a possible unconformity at the base and a probable unconformity at the top, and on present knowledge the succession cannot be correlated precisely with what are considered to be Arenig sequences elsewhere. It therefore may prove necessary to redefine the Arenig Series at a more useful type section. It is suggested that the Carmarthen district may provide a suitable stratotype.     

Glacial activity and paraglacial landsliding in the Devensian Lateglacial: evidence from Craig Cerrig-gleisiad and Fan Dringarth,Fforest Fawr (Brecon Beacons), South Wales

The tongue-shaped mass of debris and associated ridges on the cirque floor below Craig Cerrig-gleisiad, Brecon Beacons National Park is important and controversial because it has been attributed to more than one glacier advance during the Late Devensian. A new origin is proposed involving landslide development from the collapse of part of the western headwall followed by a single phase of glacier development in the Loch Lomond Stadial (Younger Dryas), which reworked the landslide sediments. Evidence for this landslide, which provides useful criteria for differentiating moraines formed by small glaciers from landslides, lies in tension cracks, backward-tilted blocks and bedrock joints dipping out of the western headwall, together with lateral levées, upstanding termini and angular clasts with only occasional, indistinct striae on the tongue-shaped mass, which is interpreted as a flowslide. Glacier reworking of debris in the upper part of the Cwm Cerrig-gleisiad landslide is indicated by subparallel ridges rising to 20 m above the cirque floor containing abraded clasts (16-32% striated). This interpretation is supported by a comparison with the morphological and sedimentary characteristics of a neighbouring landslide at Fan Dringarth, where no glacier developed in the Loch Lomond Stadial. The existence of paraglacial landsliding has significant palaeoenvironmental implications leading to: (1) erroneously large estimates of equilibrium line depression ($Δ$ELA) in the Loch Lomond Stadial; (2) consequent underestimates of summer palaeotemperatures and/or overestimates of the contribution of wind-drifted snow to glacier accumulation; and (3) larger moraines than usual and overestimation of the efficacy of glacial erosion because of antecedent processes.