Cromer Forest Bed

Last updated

Cromer Forest-bed Formation
Stratigraphic range: Early Middle Pleistocene 0.8–0.5  Ma
O
S
D
C
P
T
J
K
Pg
N
West Runton Beach 13 January 2007 (1).JPG
Cromer Forest-bed Formation exposed at the base of the West Runton Cliffs
Type Geological formation
Unit of Dunwich Group
Sub-unitsSheringham Member, Runton Member, West Runton Member, and Bacton Member
UnderliesMiddle Pleistocene glacial deposits
OverliesWroxham Crag Formation or unconformity with Chalk Group
Thickness6-to-8-metre (20 to 26 ft)
Lithology
Primary sands and silts
Other peat, mud, silty marl
Location
Coordinates 52°56′28″N1°15′11″E / 52.941°N 1.253°E / 52.941; 1.253
RegionFlag of Norfolk.svg  Norfolk
CountryFlag of England.svg  England
Type section
Named for Cromer
Named by Clement Reid
LocationThe coast of North Norfolk from Weybourne to Happisburgh
Year defined1882
CountryEngland

The Cromer Forest-bed Formation, sometimes known as the Cromer Forest Bed, is a geological formation in Norfolk, England. It consists of river gravels, estuary and floodplain sediments predominantly silt, sand, and muds as well as peat along the coast of northern Norfolk. [1] It is the type locality for the Cromerian Stage of the Pleistocene between 0.8 and 0.5 million years ago. [2] The deposit itself range varies in age from about 0.8 to 0.5 million years ago. It is about 6-to-8-metre (20 to 26 ft) thick and is exposed in cliff section near the village of West Runton.

Contents

Paleontology and paleobotany

For over a century this formation, named after the local town of Cromer, has been famous for its assemblage of fossil mammal remains, containing the diverse remains of numerous taxa, including deer, [3] carnivorans [4] and birds. [5] Although most of the forest bed is now obscured by coastal defence, the Cromer Forest-bed Formation continues to be eroded and is rich in fossils including the skeletal remains of the West Runton Mammoth which was discovered in 1990. [6] [7] [8] [9]

Archaeology

The oldest human footprints outside Africa, the Happisburgh footprints as well as handaxes and bison bones with cut marks were also found in layers considered to belong to this deposit near Happisburgh. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Last Glacial Period</span> Period of major glaciations of the Northern Hemisphere (115,000–12,000 years ago)

The Last Glacial Period (LGP), also known as the Last glacial cycle, occurred from the end of the Last Interglacial to the beginning of the Holocene, c. 115,000 – c. 11,700 years ago, and thus corresponds to most of the timespan of the Late Pleistocene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglian stage</span> Period of the Pleistocene epoch

The Anglian Stage is the name used in the British Isles for a middle Pleistocene glaciation. It precedes the Hoxnian Stage and follows the Cromerian Stage in the British Isles. It correlates to Marine Isotope Stage 12, which started about 478,000 years ago and ended about 424,000 years ago.

The Cromerian Stage or Cromerian Complex, also called the Cromerian, is a stage in the Pleistocene glacial history of north-western Europe, mostly occurring more than half a million years ago. It is named after the East Anglian town of Cromer in Great Britain where interglacial deposits that accumulated during part of this stage were first discovered. The stratotype for this interglacial is the Cromer Forest Bed situated at the bottom of the coastal cliff near West Runton. The Cromerian stage preceded the Anglian and Elsterian glacials and show an absence of glacial deposits in western Europe, which led to the historical terms Cromerian interglacial and the Cromerian warm period. It is now known that the Cromerian consisted of multiple glacial and interglacial periods.

The Hoxnian Stage was a middle Pleistocene stage of the geological history of the British Isles. It was an interglacial which preceded the Wolstonian Stage and followed the Anglian Stage. It is equivalent to Marine Isotope Stage 11. Marine Isotope Stage 11 started 424,000 years ago and ended 374,000 years ago. The Hoxnian is divided into sub-stages Ho I to Ho IV. It is likely equivalent to the Holstein Interglacial in Central Europe.

The Wolstonian Stage is a middle Pleistocene stage of the geological history of Earth from approximately 374,000 until 130,000 years ago. It precedes the Last Interglacial and follows the Hoxnian Stage in the British Isles.

The Illinoian Stage is the name used by Quaternary geologists in North America to designate the Penultimate Glacial Period c.191,000 to c.130,000 years ago, during the late Middle Pleistocene (Chibanian), when sediments comprising the Illinoian Glacial Lobe were deposited. It precedes the Sangamonian Stage and follows the Pre-Illinoian Stage in North America. The Illinoian Stage is defined as the period of geologic time during which the glacial tills and outwash, which comprise the bulk of the Glasford Formation, accumulated to create the Illinoian Glacial Lobe. It occurs at about the same time as the penultimate glacial period.

The Beestonian Stage is an early Pleistocene stage in the geological history of the British Isles. It is named after Beeston Cliffs near West Runton in Norfolk where deposits from this stage are preserved.

The Pastonian interglacial, now called the Pastonian Stage, is the name for an early or middle Pleistocene stage of geological history in the British Isles. It precedes the Beestonian Stage and follows the Pre-Pastonian Stage. Unfortunately the precise age of this stage cannot yet be defined in terms of absolute dating or MIS stages. The Pre-Pastonian Stage is equivalent to the Tiglian C5-6 Stage of Europe and the Pre-Illinoian I glaciation of the early Pre-Illinoian Stage of North America.

The Pre-Pastonian Stage or Baventian Stage, is the name for an early Pleistocene stage of geological history in the British Isles. It precedes the Pastonian Stage and follows the Bramertonian Stage. This stage ended 1.806 Ma at the end of Marine Isotope Stage 65. It is not currently known when this stage started. The Pre-Pastonian Stage is equivalent to the Tiglian C4c Stage of Europe and the Pre-Illinoian J glaciation of the early Pre-Illinoian Stage of North America.

The Bramertonian Stage is the name for an early Pleistocene biostratigraphic stage of geological history the British Isles. It precedes the Pre-Pastonian Stage. It derives its name from Bramerton Pits in Norfolk, where the deposits can be found on the surface. The exact timing of the beginning and end of the Bramertonian Stage is currently unknown. It is only known that it is equivalent to the Tiglian C1-4b Stage of Europe and early Pre-Illinoian Stage of North America. It lies somewhere in time between Marine Oxygen Isotope stages 65 to 95 and somewhere between 1.816 and 2.427 Ma. The Bramertonian is correlated with the Antian stage identified from pollen assemblages in the Ludham borehole.

The Corton Formation is a series of deposits of Middle Pleistocene age found primarily along the coasts of Suffolk and Norfolk in eastern England.

The Ancestral Thames is the geologically ancient precursor to the present day River Thames. The river has its origins in the emergence of Britain from a Cretaceous sea over 60 million years ago. Parts of the river's course were profoundly modified by the Anglian glaciation some 450,000 years ago. The extensive terrace deposits laid down by the Ancestral Thames over the past two million years or so have provided a rich source of material for studies in geology, geomorphology, palaeontology and archaeology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Gibbard</span>

Philip Leonard Gibbard is a Quaternary geologist and has been Professor of Quaternary Palaeoenvironments in the University of Cambridge, Department of Geography since 2005. A PhD student of Professor Richard Gilbert West in the Subdepartment of Quaternary Research, University of Cambridge (1971–1974), he investigated the diversion of the River Thames from its course through Hertfordshire to its present course through London. Later he established the stratigraphy and palaeogeography of the Thames in the Middle (1985) and Lower Thames Valley (1994). He has since undertaken many collaborative, palaeoenvironmental investigations. This multidisciplinary approach has led to him working throughout Britain, offshore areas, especially the North Sea, English Channel and the formation of the Strait of Dover, and neighbouring countries. For an example of this work, see Britain's island heritage: reconstructing half a million years of history.

The Pre-Illinoian Stage is used by Quaternary geologists for the early and middle Pleistocene glacial and interglacial periods of geologic time in North America from ~2.5–0.2 Ma.

<i>Felis lunensis</i> Extinct species of felid

Felis lunensis, or the Martelli's cat is an extinct felid of the subfamily Felinae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norwich Crag Formation</span>

The Norwich Crag Formation is a stratigraphic unit of the British Pleistocene Epoch. It is the second youngest unit of the Crag Group, a sequence of four geological formations spanning the Pliocene to Lower Pleistocene transition in East Anglia. It was deposited between approximately 2.4 and 1.8 million years ago, during the Gelasian Stage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Happisburgh footprints</span> Fossilized hominid footprints in Norfolk, England

The Happisburgh footprints were a set of fossilized hominid footprints that date to the end of the Early Pleistocene, around 950–850,000 years ago. They were discovered in May 2013 in a newly uncovered sediment layer of the Cromer Forest Bed on a beach at Happisburgh in Norfolk, England, and carefully photographed in 3D before being destroyed by the tide shortly afterwards.

Actinidia faveolata is an extinct species in the kiwifruit genus, Actinidia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Runton Cliffs</span>

West Runton Cliffs is a 17.8-hectare (44-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of Sheringham in Norfolk. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Glaciation</span> Major glaciation of eastern Europe

The Don Glaciation, also known as the Donian Glaciation and the Donian Stage, was the major glaciation of the East European Plain, 0.8–0.5 million years ago, during the Cromerian Stage of the Middle Pleistocene. It is correlated to Marine Isotope Stage 16, approximately 650,000 years ago, which globally contained one of the largest glacial volumes of the Quaternary.

References

  1. "Cromer Forest-bed Formation". The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units. British Geological Survey.
  2. Ashton, Nick (2017). Early Humans. London: William Collins. p. 314. ISBN   978-0-00-815035-8.
  3. Lister, Adrian M. (1993). "The stratigraphical significance of deer species in the cromer forest-bed formation". Journal of Quaternary Science. 8 (2): 95–108. Bibcode:1993JQS.....8...95L. doi:10.1002/jqs.3390080202.
  4. Lewis, Mark; Pacher, Martina; Turner, Alan (December 2010). "The larger Carnivora of the West Runton Freshwater Bed". Quaternary International. 228 (1–2): 116–135. Bibcode:2010QuInt.228..116L. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2010.06.022.
  5. Harrison, C. J. O. (May 1979). "Birds of the Cromer Forest Bed Series of the East Anglian Pleistocene" (PDF). Transactions of the Norfolk & Norwich Naturalists' Society. 24: 277–287.
  6. "Clues of Britain's First Humans (Published 2010)". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 30 May 2023.
  7. "First humans arrived in Britain 250,000 years earlier than thought". The Guardian . London. 7 July 2010. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023.
  8. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1931)
  9. Stuart, Anthony J.; Lister, Adrian M. (December 2010). "Introduction: The West Runton Freshwater Bed and the West Runton Mammoth". Quaternary International. 228 (1–2): 1–7. Bibcode:2010QuInt.228....1S. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2010.07.035.
  10. Ashton, Nick; Lewis, Simon G.; De Groote, Isabelle; Duffy, Sarah M.; Bates, Martin; Bates, Richard; Hoare, Peter; Lewis, Mark; Parfitt, Simon A.; Peglar, Sylvia; Williams, Craig (7 February 2014). Petraglia, Michael D. (ed.). "Hominin Footprints from Early Pleistocene Deposits at Happisburgh, UK". PLOS One. 9 (2): e88329. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...988329A. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088329 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   3917592 . PMID   24516637.

Further reading

Gibbard, P.L., S. Boreham, K.M. Cohen and A. Moscariello, 2007, Global correlation tables for the Quaternary, Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England.