PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS AT STOKE-GOLDINGTON, IN THE VALLEY OF THE GREAT-OUSE, UK

At Stoke Goldington in the valley of the Great Ouse in Buckinghamshire a river terrace at a height of about 7 m above the floodplain is unde rlain by fluvial sediments representing climatic fluctuations in the l ate Middle Pleistocene. Near the base of the succession, at a level on ly 1 m above the modern floodplain, a fossil assemblage, including pol len, plant macrofossils, molluscs, insects and ostracods, provides evi dence for the local development of herb-rich grassland under temperate climatic conditions. The fossil record, amino-acid racemisation ratio s and uranium disequilibrium dating all suggest deposition of this mat erial during Oxygen Isotope Stage 7. The deposits containing the tempe rate assemblage are immediately overlain by typical cold-climate grave ls of the Great Ouse. These have been subjected to a later cut-and-fil l episode, with the fill accumulating in cool climatic conditions. The cut-and-fill episode was succeeded by aggradation, forming the overly ing terrace surface. Amino-acid racemisation ratios indicate that the fill was emplaced, and the terrace surface created, during or after Ox ygen Isotope Stage 5.