Environmental history of quartz sand grains from the Lower and Middle Pleistocene of Norfolk, England

Abstract

Criteria aresuggested for the distinction of glacial, glacio-fluvial, dune, beach, and deeper-water or estuarine environments on the basis of electron-microscopic examination of surface textures of quartz sand grains. In favourable circumstances a sequence of events representing a succession of environments may be recorded on a single sand grain or group of grains. Textures resulting from chemical action are also recognized.