Palaeoclimate, sedimentation and soil development during the Last Glacial Stage (Devensian), Heathrow Airport, London, UK

The Langley Silt Complex, overlying the Taplow Terrace of the river Thames at Prospect Park, near Heathrow Airport, west of London is described in ter ms of lithology, carbonate content, organic carbon content, particle size c haracteristic, macrostructure, micromorphology and stratigraphic position. The Langley Silts were deposited by wind or water in cold climate condition s and include evidence for the development of periglacial structures and fo r Devensian Lateglacial and Holocene soil formation. The Langley Silts rest upon a Last Interglacial (Ipswichian, OIS 5e) soil developed in the Taplow Gravel deposited during the previous cold stage (OIS 6). During the Early Devensian, and the Dimlington Stadial and Younger Dryas of the Late Devensi an wind deposited the silts, and during the Middle Devensian wind and surfa ce wash built up a laminated silt and sand. During the Middle Devensian, se asonal dessication formed non-sorted polygonal patterns as this laminated u nit aggraded, but this process ceased with the return to loess deposition i n the Late Devensian. Argillic soil development occurred during the Winderm ere Interstadial only to be disrupted by ground ice processes during the su cceeding Younger Dryas cold phase. The site provides one of the most comple te sedimentary sequences through the Last Glacial Stage in Britain and conf irms recent interpretations of soil development and evidence for aeolian de position in Britain during the Lateglacial. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.