SOILS AND QUATERNARY GEOLOGY IN BRITAIN

Abstract

Summary: The succession of Quaternary deposits in Britain records only small, fragmentary parts of a very complex history of Quaternary events resulting from many climatic fluctuations. Deep sea sediments provide a more continuous record, but correlation between the oceanic and terrestrial successions is at present extremely difficult, mainly because of the lack of absolute dates for older parts of the latter. The often conflicting evidence provided by indirect methods of dating and long‐distance correlation is illustrated by reference to the chalky tills of East Anglia and the English Midlands, and the importance of soil studies in elucidating regional Quaternary stratigraphy is emphasised.The scanty history of pedogenesis in various parts of Britain is tentatively related to the provisional succession of Quaternary stages. Important changes in soil development processes occurred in mid‐Flandrian times as well as in earlier cold and temperate (inter‐glacial) stages, Many features of unburied soils are probably early Flandrian or older relicts, and difficulties consequently arise over use of the word ‘palaeosol’. Interglacial relict features in soils on pre‐Devensian deposits (paleoaigillic subgroups) are distinguished from Devensian and Flandrian soil characters, but it is difficult at present to differentiate pedogenesis of successive interglacials.More than two‐thirds of England is covered by Quaternary deposits, mainly of cold periods, and these generally provide better agricultural soils than pre‐Quaternary sediments. Some relict features of both cold and temperate Quaternary stages also seem to be significant in determining the agricultural capability of British soils, but their effects need evaluating more precisely.