NUMBER 150 FEBRUARY 2020 Quaternary Newsletter A publication of the Quaternary Research Association Quaternary Newsletter Vol. 150 February 2020 i QUATERNARY NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Dr A. Stone Geography, School of Environment, Education and Development, The University of Manchester, Arthur Lewis Building, Oxford Road, M13 9PL (e-mail: [email protected]) Instructions to authors Quaternary Newsletter is issued in February, June and October. Articles, reviews, notices of forthcoming meetings, news of personal and joint research projects etc. are invited and should be sent to the Editor. Closing dates for submission of copy (news, notices, reports etc.) for the relevant issues are 5th January, 1st May and 1st September. These dates will be strictly adhered to in order to expedite publication. Articles must be submitted at least 6 weeks before these dates in order to be reviewed and revised in time for the next issue of QN, otherwise they may appear in a subsequent issue. Suggested word limits are as follows: obituaries (2000 words); articles (3000 words); reports on meetings (2000 words); reports on QRA grants (800 words); reviews (1000 words); letters to the Editor (500 words); abstracts (500 words). Authors submitting work as Word documents that include figures must send separate copies of the figures in .eps, .tif or .jpg format (minimum resolution of 300 dpi is required for accurate reproduction). Quaternary Research Fund and New Researchers Award Scheme reports should limit themselves to describing the results and significance of the actual research funded by QRA grants. The suggested format for these reports is as follows: (1) background and rationale (including a summary of how the grant facilitated the research), (2) results, (3) significance, (4) acknowledgments (if applicable). The reports should not (1) detail the aims and objectives of affiliated and larger projects (e.g. PhD topics), (2) outline future research and (3) cite lengthy reference lists. No more than one figure per report is necessary. Recipients of awards who have written reports are encouraged to submit full-length articles on related or larger research projects NB: Updated guidelines on the formatting of contributions are now available via the QRA webpage and from the editor. © Quaternary Research Association, London 2019. Argraff/Printed by: Gwasg Ffrancon Press BETHESDA Gwynedd, North Wales Tel: 01248 601669 Fax: 01248 602634.­­ All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any storage system, without permission in writing from the publishers. COVER PHOTOGRAPH Moraines at Corrie Fee at the head of Glen Cova in Scotland (see the field report of the joint QRA/GLWC Field Meeting inside this issue). ii Quaternary Newsletter Vol. 150 February 2020 EDITORIAL I hope you have all had a good start to 2020. At the start of 2020 we wish congratulations to Charlotte Bryant and Neil Roberts for their honorary memberships of the QRA. We also wish congratulations to Natasha Barlow, who receives the Lewis Penny Medal and to Jim Rose, who receives the James Croll Medal. We also thank the Leeds Quaternary team for hosting a wonderful 2020 Annual Discussion Meeting. I write as my last issue of QN as editor. It has been an extremely rewarding four years, and a pleasure to serve on the committee and interact with so many members of the QRA via contributions to QN. The publication is a wonderful reflection and reminder of the vibrant and exciting research that is being undertaken by all of you. I would particularly like to thank Jim Rose for his legacy as editor in transforming the QN into the format that we still appreciate today, and one that encourages and supports the submission of research articles and reviews, in addition to reports relating to funding awarded and the discussion and field meetings of the society. I would also like to thank all of the contributors to QN who have written reports, articles, reviews and obituaries, as well as reviewers who willingly give their time and energy to peer review of articles. A huge debt of thanks is owed to Val Siviter for typesetting QN and distributing those hard copies that head to copyright libraries and to any members opting in to have a ‘blue book’ posted to them. The move of QN to electronic distribution was a decision voted in by the membership during 2016 and implemented from 2017. It has provided an opportunity to increase the length of articles and the inclusion of colour photographs and weblinks, and also allowed the QRA to direct the funds that used to be spent on a large print and postage bill toward outreach, geoconservation and support for research and conference attendance for our members. The new editor of QN is Sarah Woodroffe, who researches Holocene and recent sea-level changes and how these connect with ice sheet history, crustal response to surface loading and predictions of future sea-level change. After studying a BA in Geography (featuring mostly physical geography) at Durham, University she completed an MSc. Her PhD research focussed on relative sea-level changes in Cleveland Bay in Queensland, Australia, supervised by Ian Shennan and Jerry Lloyd at Durham Univeristy. Sarah is an Associate Professor at the Geography Department at Durham University. She currently works on records from key locations associated with the Greenland Ice Sheet and supervises a range of PhD student projects that look at locations from the Antarctic to New Zealand. Sarah is an expert in the development and application of sediment and microfossil- Quaternary Newsletter Vol. 150 February 2020 1 based methodologies. I wish Sarah well for her term as QN editor and hope that members of the QRA will continue to be supportive of QN, making her task an enjoyable one. With many thanks and all best wishes. Abi Stone Department of Geography University of Manchester Arthur Lewis Building Oxford Road Manchester, M13 9PL [email protected] 2 Quaternary Newsletter Vol. 150 February 2020 SPOTLIGHT ON A SITE QRA50: TOP 50(80) QUATERNARY SITES – SPOTLIGHT ON A SITE: LEET HILL, NORFOLK, ENGLAND. In celebration of Jim Rose’s James Croll Medal we will visit a site that provides impressive exposures of Bytham River gravels in eastern England in Norfolk (Figure 1). The site was nominated by Ian Candy. Figure 1. A view of Leet Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest (photo credit Dudley Miles, Creative Commons). Here is a summary of the entry from Silva and Phillip (2015, p 55): • Leet Hill is known for its exposures of Bytham River gravels and glacial sediments from the Middle Pleistocene, both of which are some of the finest available in Eastern England. • The progressive evolution of the Bytham is evidenced here, along with evidence of its interaction with an ice advance. • Leet Hill is central to the construction of river terraces of the Bytham River and also debates around an ice advance during a pre-Anglian glaciation. Quaternary Newsletter Vol. 150 February 2020 3 References (and key sources for the site) Lee, J., Rose, J., Candy, I., Moorlock, B., Hamblin, J.O. (2008). Leet Hill (TM 384 926): pre-Anglian river and glaciofluvial outwash sedimentation. In: Candy, I., Lee, J., Harrison, A. (Eds.) The Quaternary of northern East Anglia: field guide. Quaternary Research Association, 102-113. (Quaternary Research Association. Field Guide). Lee, J. R., Rose, J., Hamblin, J. O., Moorlock, B. S. P. (2004). Dating the earliest lowland glaciation of eastern England: a pre-MIS 12 early Middle Pleistocene Happisburgh Glaciation. Quaternary Science Reviews, 23, 1551-1566. Rose, J., Lee, J. A., Candy, I., Lewis, S. G. (1999). Early and Middle Pleistocene river systems in eastern England: evidence from Leet Hill, southern Norfolk. Journal of Quaternary Science, 14, 347-360. 4 Quaternary Newsletter Vol. 150 February 2020 JAMES CROLL AWARD JAMES CROLL MEDAL – JIM ROSE The James Croll Medal is the highest award of the QRA and is named in honour of James Croll (1821-1890). Croll is most closely associated with fundamental work on the astronomical theory of the ice ages, but he also made seminal contributions on the glacial geology of Scotland, on the mechanisms that drive ocean circulation and the impact of that circulation on recent climate, on tidal theory and the rotation of the Earth. These are all major issues that occupy Quaternary scientists to this day. Croll was effectively self-taught. His work and example demonstrate that any individuals from all backgrounds can rise to national eminence and generate science of lasting and major international impact, and that it is not who you are or where you come from but what you do that is important. These are the qualities that the QRA seeks to celebrate in the award of the James Croll Medal. The Medal is therefore normally awarded to a member of the QRA who has not only made an outstanding contribution to the field of Quaternary science, but whose work has also had a significant international impact. This year, the QRA is delighted to make the Award to Professor Jim Rose. Jim is Emeritus Professor of Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London and a Visiting Research Associate at the British Geological Survey, having previously held the Gordon Manley Chair of Geography at RHUL, and been head of Department at RHUL and Birkbeck, University of London. Jim has a BA and DSc in Geography from the University of Leicester and is recipient of the Murchison Award and Victoria Medal from the Royal Geographical Society, the Coke Medal from the Geological Society and the Foulerton Award from the Geologists’ Association. He has also been elected as an Honorary Member of the UK Quaternary Research Association, the German DEUQUA, a Life member of INQUA and an Honorary Fellow of RHUL and Clare Hall Cambridge.