Hubbard's Hill

Site of Special Scientific Interest · 51.2469, 0.1972

Condition (Natural England)

Favourable (1)
UnitFeatureConditionArea (ha)Assessed
TQ534520 Favourable 66.58 2006-11-13

Geology & landscape

Geological Period: Quaternary · Rock Type: Greensand

Landscape processes: Glacial, Periglacial

Description

Description This is an important locality for Quaternary periglacial deposits and landforms, particularly solifluction features. The earliest and most extensive of the solifluction deposits at Hubbard's Hill are probably Wolstonian in age c. 130,000 BP. They are now highly dissected but their former extent and volume imply considerable periglacial erosion of the Lower Greensand escarpment. The youngest deposits form a series of prominent lobes overlying a fossil soil. The latter has a radio-carbon age of 12,500 BP, so that the lobes must have formed during the late Devensian Stadial last glaciation. This suite of landforms can be clearly dated and forms some of the largest and best preserved solifluction lobes of late Devensian Stadial age in lowland England. Hubbard's Hill is therefore a particularly important locality for the study of the periglacial erosion processes affecting southern England during the Quaternary. Date, July 1995