Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Harmer continued that at a later stage of the Pleistocene epoch the North Sea
ice sheet retreated from East Anglia and although there are no indications that it
ever re-advanced, it seems that the edge of the ice remained stationary for a
considerable period close to the present coastline, during which time it resulted in
the formation of a relatively high and long terminal moraine, the Cromer Ridge.
This feature comprises a series of hummocky hills which, in places, reaches over
90 m (300 ft.) high and extends for about 24 km (15 miles) west-southwest to east-
northeast across northern Norfolk before ending with the exposed contorted drift in
the cliffs between Weybourne and Happisburgh, where it reaches the sea. South of
the Cromer Ridge a flat sandy heathland was formed by melt waters during the
retreat of the North Sea ice sheet. This outwash plain, a glacial landform not found
elsewhere in East Anglia due to its 'newer' drift formation, corresponds to the
'sand plains' of similar morainic origin in northern Germany and Denmark, such
as the so-called Heath of Jutland. The terminal moraine in this region traverses the
Danish Peninsula from north to south before looping eastwards across the North
European Plain (Figs.
3.26
,
3.27
,
3.28
,
3.29
,
3.30
,
3.31
,
3.32
,
3.33
,
3.34
,
3.35
and
3.36
).
Fig. 3.26 P680282 (1907) Harmer's geological excursion to Norfolk. An inferred view looking
east towards Mundesley showing hummocky hills which probably comprise glacial drift of the
extended Cromer Ridge moraine. (CP13/050 Reproduced by permission of the British Geological
Survey NERC. All rights reserved)
