Late Flandrian shoreline oscillations in the Severn Estuary: change and reclamation at Arlingham, Gloucestershire

Abstract

Since 1967 the area of the Thames Estuary has been extensively surveyed using reflexion seismic techniques. The interpretation of these records coupled with the logs and samples from some 140 boreholes has led to the reconstruction of the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene palaeodrainage pattern of the River Thames. The relationship of this drainage system to the tectonic pattern would indicate that there has been Late Pleistocene re-emphasis of the existing dominant structures. Also a large NW-SE trending monocline would appear to be still a positive area within this subsiding sector of SE England. Some evidence for the existence of a Late Pleistocene ice-sheet is presented. That this might well have dammed the existing drainage systems creating a large lake (Lake Tamesis) is a possibility that requires further investigation.