A Middle Pleistocene palaeovalley-fill west of the Malvern Hills

Abstract

New sections and detailed mapping of the Pleistocene deposits on the west side of the Malvern Hills show that the area occupied by ice during a pre-Devensian glaciation was greater than previously envisaged. The deposits associated with the glaciation occur in a palaeovalley and comprise lacustrine silts and clays and till. They are considered to be of Anglian age as they are locally overlain non-sequentially by newly described silts of probable late Anglian to early Hoxnian age, the most westerly record of such deposits in southern Britain. Gravels underlying the glacigenic deposits are thought to have been laid down by a southward-flowing river either earlier in the Anglian or during a preceding stage. Deposits formed during two post-Hoxnian episodes of gelifluction are correlated with similar deposits on the east side of the Malvern Hills. The younger gelifluctate is probably late Devensian in age and the older, much dissected deposit is attributable to periglacial processes during an earlier Devensian or Wolstonian cold period.