Preliminary investigations of outwash environments in the Tyne Valley: implications for Late Devensian (Dimlington Stadial) deglaciation

Whilst recent detailed sedimentological investigations have been carried out on deglacial valley fill sediments of Late Pleistocene age in many UK river valleys, there is a paucity of high-resolution work on the deglacial history of the Tyne Valley. Combined with a poorly resolved chronology, this represents an appreciable gap in our understanding of Devensian palaeoenvironments in northeastern Britain. Confusion still exists in terms of understanding the mode of deglaciation and the resulting depositional landforms that characterize the present-day morphology of the valley. This paper reconstructs part of the deglacial history of the lower Tyne Valley using information gathered through a combination of geomorphological mapping and description and interpretation of sedimentary sequences. The evidence indicates the sediments are glaciofluvial in origin, deposited within a supra-glacial, rather than sub-glacial environment. Further work currently underway, including the development of a rigorous geochronology based on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) will help to place these deposits within a secure, regional model of deglaciation, which can be compared with other models developed for adjacent areas of northern Britain.