Biostratigraphical correlation between the late Quaternary sequence of the Thames and key fluvial localities in central Germany

Abstract

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, in 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 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 complexes from each terrace level within the Bilzingsleben staircase, the celebrated travertine sequence at Weimar-Ehringsdorf, on Terrace 4 of the Ilm, is described. The biostratigraphical and palaeoenvironmental evidence from the Ehringsdorf travertines compares closely with that from interglacial deposits at Aveley, in the Mucking Formation of Lower Thames; both are attributed to OIS 7, with comparison possible at the oxygen isotope substage level. © 2004 Geologists' Association.