Abstract In recent years, ‘Anthropocene’ has been proposed as an informal stratigraphic term to denote the current interval of anthropogenic global environmental change. A case has also been made to formalize it as a series/epoch, based on the recognition of a suitable marker event, such as the start of the Industrial Revolution in northern Europe. For the Anthropocene to merit formal definition, a global signature distinct from that of the Holocene is required that is marked by novel biotic, sedimentary and geochemical change. Although there is clear evidence of anthropogenic effects in geological sequences, it is uncertain whether these trends are sufficiently distinct, consistent and dated for the proposal for a Holocene/Anthropocene boundary to be substantiated. The current view of the Earth-Science community is that it should remain informal. For formal definition a Global Stratigraphic Section and Point (GSSP) is required. Adoption of the term ‘Anthropocene’ will ultimately depend on recognition of a global event horizon. Without this, there is no justification for decoupling the Anthropocene from the Holocene. If the Anthropocene is deemed to have utility, it should be as an informal historical designation rather than a formally defined stratigraphic unit (of whatever status) within the geological timescale.

Abstract The southern North Sea is a shallow epicontinental sea that was glaciated several times during the Quaternary. The area is known for its remarkable record of tunnel valleys, the age and origin of which are debated. The recent availability of continuous three-dimensional seismic data between the coasts of Britain and the Netherlands provides the opportunity to establish a new seismic interpretation workflow adapted to the intracratonic glaciogenic successions. By analysing the geomorphology of the buried basal glaciogenic unconformity, four distinct major ice fronts are identified and correlated onshore. The ice fronts provide robust relative timelines, and the analysis of tunnel-valley orientations and their merging points indicates that the number of glacial phases has been underestimated. By comparing the erosion capacities of sand and chalk substrates, it is suggested that mechanical abrasion processes are also involved during tunnel-valley genesis. The methods and observations used in this study are applicable to the ancient glaciogenic record in general and constitute a basis for the sedimentological analysis of tunnel valleys.

Abstract The Quaternary, or final period of geological time, has been popularly equated for the last 150 years with the ‘ice age’, when glaciers invaded many high latitude and high altitude parts of the Earth’s surface not previously glaciated since at least the Permo-Carboniferous. Early in the 19th century a distinction was drawn between the ‘solid’ rock formations, which often show a regular stratigraphic order and uniform thickness because of deposition in extensive marine basins, and the thinner, unconsolidated and much more variable ‘drift’ or superficial formations now known to result from more recent deposition mainly in glacial and other non-marine environments. The terms solid and drift are still preserved in the legends of quite recently published British Geological Survey (BGS) maps, although since 2004 they have been replaced by ‘Bedrock’ and ‘Superficial Deposits’, respectively. Over most of England and Wales they correspond to pre-Quaternary and Quaternary deposits. The term drift (or diluvium) originally implied deposition by waters of the Biblical Flood, but with increasing exploration of polar regions in the 19th century it became popular to invoke floating ice as a depositional agent, accounting especially for the large blocks of identifiable rock types (erratics) displaced long distances from their nearest known outcrops. However, both flood and floating ice implied an unlikely submergence of great depth in order to deposit erratics and other drifts on mountains well above present sea level, for example on Moel Tryfan in North Wales, where Quaternary marine molluscs occur at 430 m OD.

Abstract Although geologists are used to looking backwards in time, to reconstruct past events and processes from the preserved rock record, one of the roles of the scientist is to use their evidence to predict the consequences of their observations. One of the most important lessons from the geological history of the British landmass is that the dynamic interaction of processes that operate at the Earth’s surface can produce highly differing but also predictable patterns of sedimentary sequences under varied environmental conditions. Moreover, the present, if it is indeed the key to the past in the true Huttonian sense, may also be seen as a key to predicting our geological future, albeit with the modifying effect of the interference of humans in the operation of natural processes. In this chapter an attempt is made to offer some insight into potential future geological and environmental developments. These ideas are based on a forward projection of processes operating today, or in the recent geological past, and give rise to what is hoped are interesting insights. For the sake of simplicity, three timescales are examined. First, the climate changes predicted to occur over the next two centuries are discussed, mainly focusing on the role of greenhouse-gas emissions on our modern climate and its implications. This is followed by a short review of the changes that might be expected over the next 130 ka, based on climate simulation modelling. Finally, a speculative review of long-timescale developments is presented.

Abstract The Thames is the largest drainage basin in Britain. For convenience it is subdivided into three regions. The Upper Thames occurs upstream of Reading where it crosses gently dipping Jurassic rocks. Its upper catchment includes the Cotswold Hills and south English Midlands. The Middle and Lower Thames occupy the London Basin, where the Thames is a broadly west to east aligned stream along the axis of the basin, with tributaries from the north and south, before it the North Sea through the Thames Estuary. Deposits of the Thames and its tributaries occur from the tops of the highest hills on the basin margin ( c .180 m O.D.) to below sea level in the Thames Estuary. The earliest Thames deposits, the Pebble Gravel Formation consists of fragmentary gravels composed predominantly of local materials, particularly flint.

Abstract South and Southeast England consists of the counties south of the Thames catchment, and east of the Dorset-Devon border. Spreads of Pleistocene gravels and sands occur extensively at a wide range of altitudes, where they cap interfluves and plateaux, underlie terraces, occur beneath the modern rivers or underlie now submerged terraces beneath the Solent, Southampton Water and nearshore shelf. Colluvial and aeolian sediments are abundant throughout the region, while marine littoral accumulations occur close to the coast. Dry valley fills and doline infillings occur locally in areas underlain by Chalk bedrock.