Late Middle Pleistocene sea-level change in the southern North Sea: the record from eastern Essex, UK

Litho- and biostratigraphical data from a complex of buried channels in eas tern Essex are combined with palaeosalinity data to reconstruct the estuary of the Thames during the late Middle Pleistocene. Two models of relative s ea-level change are proposed for the Anglian (Elsterian) - Ipswichian (Eemi an) interval. The first invokes a complex marine incursion during a single interglacial event. The second describes two marine transgressions during t wo separate interglacial stages. The models are placed in the wider context of the shallow marine record of the southern North Sea. (C) 1999 INQUA/Els evier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.