THE CHRONOLOGY OF LATE QUATERNARY FLUVIAL ACTIVITY IN PART OF THE MILFIELD BASIN, NORTHEAST ENGLAND

The sediment stratigraphy of a 4 m thick intercalated Holocene alluvia l fill and valley floor pear at a site in the Milfield Basin, Northumb erland, has been dated by a series of eight C-14 assays, and related t o a previously analysed pollen record. The sequence extends from the e arliest Holocene until c. 2800 cal. sp. Prior to the onset of peat inc eption, substantial amounts of channel-trenching can be demonstrated t o have occurred in the Milfield Basin during the Loch Lomond Stadial. There is no measurable early Holocene accelerated fluvial activity, bu t a major flooding event occurred at c. 7500 cal. BP, much earlier tha n recorded elsewhere in the region. The explanation for this is not cl ear. However, the cessation of mid-Holocene overbank sedimentation at c. 4000-3500 cal. BP is tentatively correlated with slope stability as sociated with woodland regeneration. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.