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The Glacial Deposits of Gower

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

T. Neville George
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Extract

A general description of the drifts of Gower has been given in the memoirs of the Geological Survey,1 in which, however, no distinction was made between deposits of different ages. But it has long been known that there are at least two series of Glacial deposits in South-Western Britain, though until recently their relative extents were only surmised: in South Wales the relations of the drifts have been determined only within the last few years.2 As a consequence of this recent work it is clear that the Newer Drift does not extend into Gower much beyond the Sketty-Fairwood-Mumbles neighbourhood, and while the margin of this Newer Drift as determined by Charlesworth may be questioned in detail, especially further west along the Towy Valley,3 yet it is at least certain that the greater part of Gower is (or was) covered by Boulder Clay and gravels of the older drift. The general absence of deposits characteristic of terminal moraines, the “ mature ” topography, and the great amount of erosion that the drift has suffered are sufficiently distinctive, even apart from the extensive mounds of sand and gravel that mark the boundary of the Newer Drift further east.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 70 , Issue 5 , May 1933 , pp. 208 - 232
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1933

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References

page 208 note 1 “The Country around Swansea”: Mem. Geol. Surv., 1907, 136. “ West Gower and the Country around Pembrey ”: Mem. Geol. Surv., 1907, p. 39.Google Scholar

page 208 note 2 Charlesworth, J. K., “The South Wales End-Moraine”: Q.J.G.S., lxxxv, 1929, 346, and pl. xxi. For a local note see T. N. George, “Pleistocene Deposits at Mayals ”: Proc. Swansea Sci. and Field Nat. Soc., i, pt. v, 1931, 142.Google Scholar

page 208 note 3 Though it must be recognized that the common northern source of the two drifts militates against the possibility of determining precisely their respective limits.Google Scholar

page 209 note 1 The sketch-map showing the distribution of igneous erratics in West Gower (p. 224) gives the situation of most of the localities of that district. For East Gower, see George, T. N., “The Quaternary Beaches of Gower”: Proc. Geol. Assoc., xliii, 1932, p. 292.Google Scholar

page 209 note 2 Ibid., p. 310.

page 213 note 1 “The Country around Swansea”: Mem. Geol., op. cit., 1907, 140.Google Scholar

page 214 note 1 “ West Gower and the Country around Pembrey”: op. cit., 37, 41.Google Scholar

page 215 note 1 Compare Williams, K. E., “The Glacial Drifts of Western Cardiganshire” Geol. Mag., LXIV, 1927, 208, 213.Google Scholar

page 215 note 2 Compare Jehu, T. J., “The Glacial Deposits of Northern Pembrokeshire”. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., lxi, 1904, 80, 81.Google Scholar

page 215 note 3 Compare “The Country around Haverfordwest”: Mem. Geol. Surv., 1914, 219.Google Scholar

page 215 note 4 Compare “The Country around Milford”: Mem. Geol. Surv., 1916 155, 156.Google Scholar

page 217 note 1 George, T. N., “Studies in Avonian Brachiopoda: I. The Genera Brachythyris and Martinia ”: Geol. Mag., lxiv, 1927, 117.Google Scholar

page 219 note 1 “West Gower and the Country around Pembrey”: op. eit., 38.Google Scholar

page 220 note 1 For details of distribution, consult George, T. N., op. cit., 1932, p. 314.Google Scholar

page 220 note 2 See George, T. N., op. cit., 1933, pl. xx, fig. c.Google Scholar

page 220 note 3 Prestwich, J., “The Raised Beaches and ‘Head’ or Rubble-drift of the South of England: Their Relation to the Valley Drifts and to the Glacial Period; and on a late post-Glacial Submergence”: Q.J.G.S., xlviii, 1892, 291.Google Scholar

page 220 note 4 “West Gower and the Country around Pembrey”: op. cit., 40.Google Scholar

page 221 note 1 Op. cit., 42.Google Scholar

page 222 note 1 Loc. cit.Google Scholar

page 222 note 2 I am indebted to Mr. R. O. Jones for the identification of these specimens.Google Scholar

page 223 note 1 Howard, F. T. and Small, A. W., “Notes on Ice Action in South Wales”: Trans. Cardiff Nat. Soc., xxxii, 1901, 44.Google Scholar

page 223 note 2 “The Country around Swansea”: op. cit., 128, 139. “West Gower and the Country around Pembrey”: op. cit., 40. A. Strahan, “ The Geology of South Wales ” in “ Geology in the Field ”: Geol. Assoc., 1910, 854.Google Scholar

page 223 note 3 Sandford, K. S., “The Erratic Rocks and the Age of the Southern Limit of Glaciation in the Oxford District”: Q.J.G.S., lxxxv, 1929, 376. See also A. E. Trueman, “The Geology of the Swansea District ”: Proc. Geol. Assoc., xxxv, 1924, 305.Google Scholar

page 225 note 1 See “The Country around Swansea”: op. cit., 138. “The Country around Ammanford ”: Mem. Geol. Surv., 1907, 189. “The Country around Carmarthen ”: Mem. Geol. Surv., 1909, 143.Google Scholar

page 225 note 2 Jehu, T. J., op. cit., 53.Google Scholar

page 225 note 3 Williams, K. E., op. cit.Google Scholar

page 225 note 4 “The Country around Haverfordwest”: op. cit., 216. “The Country around Milford”: op. cit., 154. “The Country around Pembroke and Tenby”: Mem. Geol. Surv., 1921, 195.Google Scholar

page 226 note 1 Charlesworth, J. K., op. cit., 340.Google Scholar

page 226 note 2 George, T. N., op. cit., 1932, 316.Google Scholar

page 226 note 3 “The Country around Bridgend”: Mem. Geol. Sun., 1904, 100.Google Scholar

page 227 note 1 Sandford, K. S., op. cit., 377.Google Scholar

page 227 note 2 Ibid., 376.

page 228 note 1 “The Country around Swansea”: op. cit., 118.Google Scholar

page 228 note 2 “West Gower and the Country around Pembrey”: op. cit., 36.Google Scholar

page 228 note 3 Prestwich, J., op. cit., 322 ff., where there is a discussion of the various theories.Google Scholar

page 228 note 4 “The Country around Swansea”: op. cit., 119. “West Gower and the Country around Pembrey”: op. cit., 36.Google Scholar

page 228 note 5 It need scarcely be remarked that some of the sands that overlie the “raised beach” and underlie head are true aeolian deposits. See George, T. N., op. cit., 1932, 310. But these are very different from the red loams associated with the head, which Tiddeman also regarded as wind-blown.Google Scholar

page 228 note 6 Reid, C., “On the Origin of Dry Chalk Valleys and of Coombe Rock”: Q.J.G.S., xliii, 1887, 364. Reid’s theory is probably quite inadequate to explain the formation of Coombe Rock, which is also probably to be attributed to a process of solifluction, as demonstrated by F. H. Edmunds, “The Coombe Rock of the Hampshire and Sussex Coast”: Summ. Prog. Geol. Surv. for 1929, pt. ii, 1930, 63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 228 note 7 Ussher, W. A. E., The Tertiary Geology of Cornwall, 1879, 42.Google Scholar

page 228 note 8 Prestwich, J., op. cit., 329 ff.Google Scholar

page 229 note 1 Andersson, J. G., “Solifluction, a Component of Subaerial Denudation”: Journ. Oml., xiv, 1906, 91.Google Scholar

page 229 note 2 Wright, W. B., The Quaternary Ice Age, 1914, 97.Google Scholar

page 230 note 1 Tiddeman, R. H., op. cit., 1900, 443. A. Strahan, op. cit., 1910, 852.Google Scholar

page 230 note 2 “The Country around Swansea”: op. eit., 118. “West Gower and the Country around Pembrey”: op. cit., 36.Google Scholar

page 231 note 1 Compare George, T. N., op. cit., 1932, 310.Google Scholar

page 231 note 2 See Wright, W. B., op. cit., 204.Google Scholar

page 232 note 1 See George, T. N., op. cit., 1932, 301.Google Scholar