Netherlands Journal of Geosciences — Geologie en Mijnbouw | 92 – 1 | 47-59 | 2013 The Geology of the Wicken Vision Area, lower Cam valley, Cambridgeshire, UK S. Boreham Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge CB2 3EN, United Kingdom Email:
[email protected] Manuscript received: May 2011, accepted: September 2012 Abstract The geology of the Wicken Vision Area in the lower Cam valley is described with reference to a stacked series of ten cross-sections through Holocene and Pleistocene deposits, and Cretaceous/Jurassic bedrock across the region. A detailed cross-section through a Holocene palaeochannel, with radiocarbon dating and pollen analyses is also presented. The structural geology of the bedrock and the stratigraphic arrangement of the Pleistocene and Holocene deposits are used to describe landscape development for the area. This study offers a new understanding of the stratigraphy and context of the Holocene, Weichselian and earlier Pleistocene deposits of the lower Cam valley, and provides a unique view of sediment architecture in valley-fill sediments at the fen edge. Keywords: Holocene, Weichselian, Pleistocene, Cam valley, Wicken Vision Introduction simplistic description masks a wealth of geological complexity in the district. This paper aims to describe the lithostratigraphy and sediment The area included in this study stretches from North Fen, architecture of Holocene, Weichselian and earlier Pleistocene Upware and Wicken Fen in the north, to Reach, Swaffham deposits in the transitional area between the River Cam valley Bulbeck and Lode in the east, Fen Ditton to the south, and and southern Fenland by adding new geological observations Milton, Horningsea and Waterbeach to the west (Fig.