ABSTRACT
Recent years have seen a growing realisation that climatic fluctuation during Pleistocene time was considerably more complex than had been envisaged hitherto. This results from studies of the deep oceanic sediment record and has made possible a revival of the theory that the formation of river terraces may be related inherently to major climatic oscillations.
Examination of sections in north-eastern Essex has shown fossiliferous periglacial gravels at a number of sites, demonstrating that in many cases individual terrace aggradations may be associated with two cold periods, separated by an interglacial. Analysis of the interglacial deposits suggests that the more recent Kesgrave Group gravels in the area accumulated during the time period represented by the ‘Cromerian Complex’ in The Netherlands, so that a reasonably close time control is established. This allows comparison with a model, developed from the more complete post-Anglian record in other parts of the Thames catchment, that seeks to link the depositional sequence to climatic fluctuation. It is no longer the case that there are many more terraces in the Thames valley than there are climatic cycles in the Middle and Upper Pleistocene record, with which they can be correlated.
