Pleistocene palaeomeanders of the River Avon, Warwickshire

The river terrace record of the Warwickshire Avon contains a number of pala eomeander remnants. Sediments preserved within palaeomeanders at Cropthorne and Eckington underlie the No. 3 terrace of the Avon and have been shown t o contain faunas of Ipswichian Interglacial age (Oxygen isotope Substage (O IS) 5e). They are considered to represent deposition at that time in a mean dering river. At Cropthorne the meander was 'cut-off' before the incision t hat preceeded the formation of the No. 2 terrace. A similar abandonment of a former meander is confirmed by clast lithological evidence from sediments around Broom near the Avon/Arrow confluence. Here the 'cut-off' is shown b y molluscan evidence to have occurred after the establishment of cold clima te conditions in the Devensian, and during the deposition of the sediments that underlie the No. 2 terrace. These adjustments of channel pattern are i nterpreted as response to change in discharge and sediment supply accompany ing deterioration of climate at the end of the last interglacial. Palaeomea nder remnants have been preserved by migration of the active valley floor a way from them during the Devensian.