The Late Devensian-Flandrian transition depicted by serial insect faunas from West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England

A bed of peat resting on sands and gravels and reaching the present-day ground surface, was investigated for beetles, and seven radiocarbon dates were obtained. The beetles indicated that the lowest layers of the peat, dated around 12,000 B.P., were laid down in boggy conditions in a treeless landscape under a climatic regime which was rather cooler than present day. Two quite sudden changes in the aspect of the fauna then followed. The first was the incoming of an assemblage indicative of a climate of arctic severity. This layer was not dated but if the rate of deposition was constant during this period it must have been around 11,000 B. P. The second change was the equally rapid disappearance of this northern fauna about 1000 years later. Succeeding layers then contained beetles suggesting conditions as warm as those of the present day, with species indicating both coniferous and deciduous trees appearing before 9500 B.P.