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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 1995; v. 96; p. 47-62;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.096.01.05
© 1995 Geological Society of London

Extension of the British landmass: evidence from shelf sediment bodies in the English Channel

Andrew G. Bellamy

Postgraduate Research Institute for Sedimentology, The University, PO Box 227, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 2AB, UK
United Marine Dredging Limited, Francis House, Shopwhyke Road, Chichester, West Sussex, PO20 6AD, UK

Mapping and interpretation of high-resolution shallow seismic and vibrocore sample data from a submerged, infilled valley immediately east of the Owers Bank, at –20 m to –40 m chart datum (CD), eastern English Channel, indicate sediment body formation during multiple cut-and-fill events. Interpretation suggests that these occurred in a combination of diachronous gravel-bed river, peat-land, estuarine and shallow sub-littoral environments with subsequent marine planation (forming ravinement surfaces) and accumulation of a sea-bed sediment veneer. These environments are associated with large-scale relative sea-level and (inferred) climatic changes during the Quaternary which forced subaerial inner continental shelf conditions during cold stages, repeatedly interrupted by interglacial shelf submergence. A model of sediment body formation off the south coast of England, based on the case study findings, shows that subaerial, and not submarine, processes have dominated sedimentary history within present-day, submerged, infilled valleys. Relative to the Quaternary as a whole, global ice-volume is presently unusually low, implying that present eustatic sea-level is unusually high. Subaerial linkage of present-day southern England with the adjacent inner shelf has therefore persisted for most of Quaternary time, with the notion of British insularity applicable to only a relatively small part of the period.





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