Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 3.37 P680303 (1907) Harmer's geological excursion to Norfolk. An inferred view of
variable glacial deposits in the Norfolk coast showing marked slippage which may have occurred
during melting of the ice sheet. (CP13/050 Reproduced by permission of the British Geological
Survey NERC. All rights reserved)
occurrence of inter-glacial periods, since a long interval of time was indicated for
such processes to occur which may have corresponded to one of the mild inter-
stadials suggested by Penck and Brückner for mainland Europe. Lastly, the origin
of the plateau and valley gravels of the region may be ascribed, he claimed, to the
torrential waters that were released during later stages of the melting and retreat of
the ice.
Harmer summarised the conditions which, he believed, prevailed in England
and Wales during glacial times as follows:
Most glaciologists believe that this country was invaded by ice, on the east from the
German Ocean [North Sea], and on the west from the Irish Sea. Crossing the Lincolnshire
Wolds, but (as I believe) at certain points only, ice from the North Sea, augmented, I think,
by that of an inland glacier from the Vale of York, travelled towards the plain of the lower
Witham and the Fenland, whence it overspread a large tract of the country to the east, the
south, and the west. To the east it reached the Suffolk coast, to the south nearly to
the valley of the Thames, while to the west it filled those of the Welland, the Nene, and the
Ouse, overriding also the high land intervening.
