Cromerian Stage

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The Cromerian Stage or Cromerian Complex, also called the Cromerian (German : Cromerium), 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 (German : Kromer-Warmzeit). It is now known that the Cromerian consisted of multiple glacial and interglacial periods. [1]

Contents

Chronology

The core of the Cromerian is the first half of the Middle Pleistocene stage (Ionian) approximately 800-500 ka ago, just before the Anglian glaciation. In terms of Marine isotope stages (MIS) this corresponds to MIS 19 to MIS 13. [2] Some authors instead put the start at MIS 22, corresponding to a start 900 ka ago, which includes the last 100 ka of the Calabrian stage, after the Beestonian Stage. [3] Some sources today correlate the Elster glaciation to MIS 10 instead of MIS 12, while keeping the Cromerian running up to the start of the Elsterian. The result is an end to the Cromerian stage in continental Europe at the end of MIS 11 (400 ka ago), and that the continental Cromerian continues beyond its end in Britain and Ireland and runs in parallel to the Anglian and Hoxnian Stages (MIS 12-11). [4]

In the Alpine region the corresponding stage is called Günz.

The Cromerian had been equated to the Aftonian in North America. However, the Aftonian, along with the Yarmouthian (Yarmouth), Kansan, and Nebraskan, have been abandoned by North American Quaternary geologists and merged into the Pre-Illinoian. [5] [6] At this time, the Cromerian is correlated with the period of time, which includes the Pre-Illinoian C, Pre-Illinoian D, and Pre-Illinoian E glaciations of North America. [7] [6]

Proposals for structuring the Cromerian complex have become quite confusing. Great potential for a full breakdown has been provided by the extensive, continental series at Gorleben. [8]

Glacial cycles

Based on a lack of glacial evidence in Western Europe for the Middle Pleistocene (Ionian) before the Anglian glaciation, the Cromerian was originally thought to be a period without major glaciations. However, there is evidence for ice-rafting of material across the North Sea from this period. [3] Investigations in the 1950s of oxygene isotopes in deep sea core samples revealed five glacial cycles during MIS 22 - MIS 13. The Mid-Pleistocene Transition to the 100,000 year glacial cycle became established during the Cromerian. [3] Four of the glaciations (MIS 22, MIS 20, MIS 18, MIS 14) were moderate, probably involving low-land glaciation in Scandinavia, but not spreading to England and northern Germany. [1] One of the glaciations, Marine Isotope Stage 16 (MIS 16), is globally as strong as the most recent glaciations, MIS 6 (main Saale) and MIS 2 (Weichsel/Devensian). There is plenty of evidence in Russia for a major glaciation during this stage, which is called the Don Glaciation and believed to correspond to MIS 16. It is not clear why western Europe seems so unaffected by this major glacial. [1] [9]

Fossils

In 1990 the West Runton Mammoth skeleton was found, the best example of the species Mammuthus trogontherii to be unearthed so far.

A significant fossil site, with animal remains dating about 600,000 years ago, is the Mosbach Sands in Germany, named after an abandoned village near Wiesbaden, Germany. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Pleistocene is the geological epoch that lasted from c. 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek πλεῖστος (pleîstos), meaning "most", and καινός, meaning "new".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of glaciation</span> Chronology of the major ice ages of the Earth

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<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. The Anglian Stage is correlated to Marine Isotope Stage 12, which started about 478,000 years ago and ended about 424,000 years ago.

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.

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 Eemian Stage in Europe and follows the Hoxnian Stage in the British Isles.

The Kansan glaciation or Kansan glacial was a glacial stage and part of an early conceptual climatic and chronological framework composed of four glacial and interglacial stages.

The Illinoian Stage is the name used by Quaternary geologists in North America to designate the period c.191,000 to c.130,000 years ago, during the Chibanian stage of the Pleistocene, 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 Yarmouthian stage and the Yarmouth Interglacial were part of a now obsolete geologic timescale of the early Quaternary of North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elster glaciation</span>

The Elster glaciation or, less commonly, the Elsterian glaciation, in the older and popular scientific literature also called the Elster Ice Age (Elster-Eiszeit), is the oldest known ice age that resulted in the large-scale glaciation of North Germany. It took place 500,000–300,000 years ago. It succeeded a long period of rather warmer average temperatures, the Cromerian Complex. The Elster was followed by the Holstein interglacial and the Saale glaciation. The glacial period is named after the White Elster, a right tributary of the Saale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mindel glaciation</span>

The Mindel glaciation is the third youngest glacial stage in the Alps. Its name was coined by Albrecht Penck and Eduard Brückner, who named it after the Swabian river, the Mindel. The Mindel glacial occurred in the Middle Pleistocene; it was preceded by the Haslach-Mindel interglacial and succeeded by the Mindel-Riss interglacial.

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

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Marine isotope stages (MIS), marine oxygen-isotope stages, or oxygen isotope stages (OIS), are alternating warm and cool periods in the Earth's paleoclimate, deduced from oxygen isotope data reflecting changes in temperature derived from data from deep sea core samples. Working backwards from the present, which is MIS 1 in the scale, stages with even numbers have high levels of oxygen-18 and represent cold glacial periods, while the odd-numbered stages are lows in the oxygen-18 figures, representing warm interglacial intervals. The data are derived from pollen and foraminifera (plankton) remains in drilled marine sediment cores, sapropels, and other data that reflect historic climate; these are called proxies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cromer Forest Bed</span> Geological formation in Norfolk, England

The Cromer Forest Bed is a geological formation in Norfolk, England. It consists of river gravels, estuary and floodplain sediments predominantly clays and muds as well as sands along the coast of northern Norfolk. It is the type locality for the Cromerian Stage of the Pleistocene between 0.8 and 0.5 million years ago. The deposit itself range varies in age from about 2 to 0.5 million years ago. It is about 6 metres thick and is exposed in cliff section near the town of West Runton. For over a century the bed, 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, carnivorans and birds. Although most of the forest bed is now obscured by coastal defence, the Cromer Forest Bed continues to be eroded and is rich in fossils including the skeletal remains of the West Runton Mammoth which was discovered in 1990. 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 the town of Happisburgh.

Gunz, Günz or Gunz Complex is a timespan in the glacial history of the Alps. It started approximately one million years ago and ended about 370 000 years ago. Some sources put the end at 480 000 years ago. Deep sea core samples have identified approximately 5 glacial cycles of varying intensity during Gunz.

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.

The Sangamonian Stage is the term used in North America to designate the last interglacial period. In its most common usage, it is used for the period of time between 75,000 and 125,000 BP. This period of time is equivalent to all of Marine Isotope Stage 5 and the combined Eemian period and early part of the Weichselian glaciation in Europe. Less commonly, the Sangamonian Stage is restricted to the period between 122,000 and 132,000 BP, which is equivalent to Marine Oxygen Isotope Substage 5e and the Eemian period of Europe. It preceded the Wisconsinan (Wisconsin) Stage and followed the Illinoian Stage in North America.

Biber or the Biber Complex is a timespan approximately 2.6–1.8 million years ago in the glacial history of the Alps. Biber corresponds to the Gelasian age in the international geochronology, which since 2009 is regarded as the first age of the Quaternary period. Deep sea core samples have identified approximately 20 glacial cycles of varying intensity during Biber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine Isotope Stage 9</span>

Marine Isotope Stage 9 was an interglacial period that consisted of two interstadial and one stadial period. It is the final period of the Lower Paleolithic and lasted from 337,000 to 300,000 years ago according to Lisiecki and Raymo's LR04 Benthic Stack. It corresponds to the Purfleet Interglacial in Britain, the Holstein Interglacial in continental Europe, and the Pre-Illinoian in North America.

<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, 0.5–0.8 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. 1 2 3 Böse et al. (2012), Quaternary Glaciations of Northern Europe, Quaternary Science Reviews 44, 1-25.
  2. ↑ Lisiecki, Lorraine E.; Raymo, Maureen E. (2005). "A Pliocene-Pleistocene stack of 57 globally distributed benthic δ18O records". Paleoceanography. 20 (1): n/a. Bibcode:2005PalOc..20.1003L. doi:10.1029/2004PA001071. hdl: 2027.42/149224 . S2CID   12788441.
  3. 1 2 3 Lee et al. (2011), The Glacial History of the British Isles during the early and Middle Pleistocene: Implications for the long-term development of the British Ice Sheet, Quaternary Glaciations-Extent and Chronology, pages 59-74, Elsevier.
  4. ↑ "German Stratigraphic Commission: Stratigraphische Tabelle von Deutschland 2016" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-11-23. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  5. ↑ Hallberg, G.R., 1986, Pre-Wisconsin glacial stratigraphy of the Central Plains region in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri, Quaternary Science Reviews. vol. 5, pp. 11-15.
  6. 1 2 Richmond, G.M. and D.S. Fullerton, 1986, Summation of Quaternary glaciations in the United States of America, Quaternary Science Reviews. vol. 5, pp. 183-196.
  7. ↑ Walker, M., 2005, Quaternary Dating Methods, John Wiley & Son, Chichester, United Kingdom. ISBN   0 470 86927 5
  8. ↑ Thomas Litt, Karl-Ernst Behre, Klaus-Dieter Meyer, Hans-Jürgen Stephan und Stefan Wansa: Stratigraphische Begriffe für das Quartär des norddeutschen Vereisungsgebietes. Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart (Quaternary Science Journal), 56(1/2), 2007, pp. 22-23 ISSN   0424-7116
  9. ↑ Cambridge Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group: Don Glaciation
  10. ↑ Ernst Probst: Deutschland in der Urzeit. Munich: Bertelsmann, 1986. German National Library catalogue

Sources

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