Welton-Le-Wold Old Gravel Pits

Also within

Lincolnshire County Lincolnshire Wolds Scenic Area

Condition (Natural England)

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Quaternary

Landscape processes: Glacial

Description

Area,3.4 ha Description Welton Le Wold is a site of the highest importance for Pleistocene studies in Britain. The critical significance of the deposits lies in their geographical position and the links they provide between the stratigraphical successions of East Anglia, the Midlands and Holderness. Together, the sections reveal three till units, overlying gravels Welton Gravels containing derived Hoxnian mammal fossils and Acheulian artefacts. The lowermost till Welton Till is generally accepted as Wolstonian in age and has been correlated with the Basement Till of Holderness; the uppermost till is Devensian. The stratigraphical position and age of the chalky middle till, the Calcethorpe Till, are controversial and have generated considerable debate because of their profound implications for inter regional correlations. According to one interpretation, the till is Wolstonian in age and a correlative of the chalky till of the Midlands. The alternative view is that the chalky till at Welton Le Wold is soliflucted and relates to the chalky till of East Anglia, which is demonstrably of Anglian age and that the chalky tills are coeval. The sections at Welton Le Wold are therefore of crucial importance for facilitating further work to elaborate a regional Pleistocene stratigraphy for central and eastern England.