New insight into the Quaternary evolution of the River Trent, UK

doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2015.06.004

Proceedings of the Geologists' Association

Volume 126, Issues 4–5, October 2015, Pages 466-479

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2015.06.004 Get rights and content

Abstract

An exhaustive review of geological, palaeontological and archaeological data, coupled with selected new research and dating programmes using optically stimulated luminescence and amino acid racemization, has provided new insights into the origin and Quaternary evolution of the Trent river system. An important component of the new research was uplift/incision modelling based on the river-terrace archives from the greater Trent system, but also including dated speleothems in the southern Pennine valleys. The Trent came into existence following the Anglian (MIS 12) glaciation as a river draining the Dove, Derwent and Soar catchments via the Lincoln Gap and the newly eroded Fen Basin. Prior to that glaciation much of what is now the Trent catchment was drained by the Bytham system, which had its main axis significantly further south and flowed to the North Sea via East Anglia. Eastward Middle-Trent drainage from Derby to Nottingham only began with deglaciation of MIS 8 (Wragby glaciation) ice, which reached at least to the lower Soar and the Fen Basin. The widespread preservation of MIS 7 interglacial deposits in the Lower Trent and in Fen Basin valleys implies that no subsequent glaciation affected these areas. Late Devensian (MIS 2) ice reached the uppermost and lowermost Trent, possibly effecting diversion of the river into the Yorkshire Ouse, following overflow and subsequent emptying of Glacial Lake Humber.

Introduction

With a catchment at the southern limit of repeated lowland glaciation during the late Pleistocene (Fig. 1), the Trent is one of the most northerly rivers in Europe to have an extensive archive of river terraces and associated biostratigraphical and archaeological evidence. Such was the rationale for the ‘Trent Valley Palaeolithic Project’ (TVPP; see acknowledgements), which provided the opportunity for an extensive modern study of the Trent sequence and its palaeontological and Palaeolithic archives, as well as a critical review of past research (Howard et al., 2007, White et al., 2007a, Bridgland et al., 2014, Rose, 2015a, Rose, 2015b, Westaway et al., 2015). As well as fieldwork in those gravel pits active in 2003–6, together with temporary excavations at important localities identified from past research, the TVPP funded new dating programmes using the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and amino acid racemization (AAR) methods (Schwenninger et al., 2007, Penkman et al., 2011, Penkman et al., 2013, Bridgland et al., 2014; Table 1). In the latter case the analyses made use of Bithynia tentaculata opercula from TVPP sites and from archived collections. A key aspect of the study was the review of the archaeological collections (Palaeolithic artefacts) held in museums across the UK, with the aim of using project findings to provide a more secure context for human occupation of the Trent catchment during the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic (cf. White et al., 2009).

Key to understanding the evolution of this system is the influence on Trent drainage of three distinct glaciations: (1) Britain's most extensive, during the Anglian (MIS 12), (2) the last (Late Devensian, MIS 2) glaciation, when ice reached the uppermost and lowermost parts of the Trent catchment, and (3) a more enigmatic glaciation between 1 and 2 that can be shown to have occurred during MIS 8 (White et al., 2010). All three glaciations caused important changes in the drainage pattern of the English East Midlands, with the Trent as exists today (Fig. 1) being established in stages as the result of their cumulative effects.

Also included in the TVPP was a review of karstic evidence from cave systems in the Peak District, which, since it can be interpreted in terms of palaeo-watertable level, provides a well-dated archive of the progressive deepening of the Pennine tributary valleys of the Trent. Such data are comparable with the evidence from river terrace sequences but are available in areas where the latter have not formed (for example, because the bedrock is too durable for extensive lateral valley migration) or have been destroyed by glaciation. Data from both the terraces and the karstic systems were investigated by mathematical modelling of the uplift history represented, this uplift being assumed to be the driver for the aforementioned valley deepening (Bridgland et al., 2014, Westaway et al., 2015).

Full details of the evidence obtained and reviewed during the TVPP is provided by a project monograph (Bridgland et al., 2014); the intention of the present paper is to summarize and disseminate the new ideas about the Middle–Late Quaternary evolution of the Trent drainage system following the normal peer review process for publication in an academic journal.

Section snippets

Early history: the Bytham River (pre-Anglian)

The earliest evidence for drainage related to the modern Trent system is a suite of gravels and sands, demonstrably pre-dating the Anglian (Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage [MIS] 12) glaciation, that extends from the West Midlands, in the Stratford-upon-Avon–Coventry area, to Leicester, Melton Mowbray and into East Anglia via the Breckland and the Waveney valley (Rose, 1987, Rose, 1989, Rose, 1994, Lee et al., 2004, Lee et al., 2006, Westaway, 2009). These are the Bytham Sands and Gravels,

Initiation of the Soar–Trent following the Anglian glaciation

During MIS 12 the Bytham system was overrun by Anglian ice, which reached the valley of the Thames in Hertfordshire and Essex (Fig. 1), diverting the latter river (Gibbard, 1977, Gibbard, 1979, Bridgland, 1988, Bridgland, 1994) and essentially obliterating the former. Indications of subsequent Trent drainage configurations are scarce but important strands of evidence can be identified. First, high-level gravel capping Wilford Hill (SK 582352, at ∼91 m O.D.) has long been interpreted as both

Late Middle Pleistocene glaciation and formation of the west–east Middle Trent valley

Early workers in the East Midlands were unanimous in recognizing a glaciation between those now classified as Anglian and Devensian (e.g., Clayton, 1953, Posnansky, 1960, Rice, 1968). Given that glacigenic deposits of different ages emanating from similar geological source areas can have identical characteristics, distinguishing between pre-Devensian tills is difficult without means of age determination. The TVPP has used the inter-relations between glacial and fluvial (terrace) deposits as an

The ‘Lincoln Trent’

The evolution of the Trent during the last two climate cycles is well understood, thanks to detailed work by the BGS, particularly in the reach downstream of Newark (Brandon and Sumbler, 1988, Brandon and Sumbler, 1991; Fig. 7, Fig. 8). This established new terrace formations, named ‘Eagle Moor’, ‘Balderton’, ‘Scarle’ and ‘Holme Pierrepont’, broadly equivalent to the Upper Hilton, Lower Hilton, Beeston and Floodplain terraces of Clayton's (1953) pioneering scheme. The TVPP has made only minor

The final diversion of the Trent to the Humber

The modern lower course of the Trent, by which it flows northwards to join the Yorkshire Ouse/Humber system, is clearly of geologically recent origin, since no terraces can be traced by this route, with the exception of the Holme Pierrepont (BGS DigMap). On the basis of borehole data, that terrace also continues into the Witham valley (Westaway, 2007), in common with the higher Lincoln-Trent terraces (Fig. 8). Dating the downcutting from the Beeston–Scarle to the Holme Pierrepont terrace, and

Synthesis and conclusions

Reinterpretation, following the TVPP studies, of the evolution of the River Trent system has important repercussions for landscape development and glacial history in Britain and Northwest Europe. Of particular importance was a poorly understood glaciation during MIS 8. Although recognized previously, particularly amongst glacigenic deposits given the name ‘Wolstonian’ (cf. Rose, 1987), this post-Anglian–pre-Devensian glaciation of the East Midlands and eastern Britain has hitherto generally

Acknowledgements

The Trent Valley Palaeolithic Project was Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund Project 3495 (Full name: The Lower and Middle Palaeolithic occupation of the Middle and Lower Trent Catchment and adjacent areas, as recorded in the river gravels used as aggregate resources: awarded to M.J. White, D.R. Bridgland and A.J. Howard and employing T.S. White). The assistance of Dr. Peter Wilson and Mr James Learey in managing this project for English Heritage is gratefully acknowledged. Additional thanks

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