Beestonian stage

The Beestonian Stage is the name for an early Pleistocene stage used in the British Isles. It precedes the Cromerian Stage and follows the Pastonian Stage. This stage consists of alternating glacial and interglacial phases instead of being a continuous glacial epoch. It is equivalent to the Bavelian, Waalian, and Eburonian stages from the Netherlands Quaternary subdivision combined and Marine Isotope stages 22 to (60?).^[1][2][3] The Beestonian Stage and Marine Isotope Stage 22 ended about 866,000 years ago.^[4][5]

The Beestonian corresponds temporally to the Gunz glaciation of the Alpine region and the Elbe glaciation of Northern Europe. It had also been equated to the Nebraskan Stage in North America. However, the Nebraskan Stage, along with the Kansan and Aftonian Stages, have been abandoned by North American Quaternary geologists and merged into the Pre-Illinoian Stage.^[6][7] At this time, the Beestonian stage is correlated with the period of time, which includes the Pre-Illinoian F, Pre-Illinoian G, and Pre-Illinoian H glaciations of North America.^[2][7]

It is named after Beeston Cliffs near West Runton in Norfolk where deposits from this stage are preserved.

See also

• Glacial history of Minnesota
• Ice age
• Glacial period
• Last glacial period
• Timeline of glaciation
• Ice core carbon dioxide content related to glaciation

References

1. McMillan, A.A., 2005, A provisional Quaternary and Neogene lithostratigraphic framework Great Britain, Netherland Journal of Geosciences. vol. 84, no. 2, pp, 87-107.
2. Walker, M., 2005, Quaternary Dating Methods, John Wiley & Son, Chichester, United Kingdom. ISBN 0-470-86927-5
3. Gibbard, P.L., S. Boreham, K.M. Cohen and A. Moscariello, 2007, Global chronostratigraphical correlation table for the last 2.7 million years v. 2007b, jpg version 844 KB. Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England
4. Lisiecki, L.E., 2005, Ages of MIS boundaries. LR04 Benthic Stack Boston University, Boston, MA
5. Lisiecki, L.E., and M.E. Raymo, 2005, A Pliocene-Pleistocene stack of 57 globally distributed benthic d18O records. Paleoceanography. vol. 20, PA1003, doi:10.1029/2004PA001071
6. Hallberg, G.R., 1986, Pre-Wisconsin glacial stratigraphy of the Central Plains region in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri, Quaternary Science Reviews. vol. 5, pp. 11-15.
7. Richmond, G.M. and D.S. Fullerton, 1986, Summation of Quaternary glaciations in the United States of America, Quaternary Science Reviews. vol. 5, pp. 183-196.

Further reading

• Bowen, D.Q., 1978, Quaternary geology: a stratigraphic framework for multidisciplinary work. Pergamon Press, Oxford, United Kingdom. 221 pp. ISBN 978-0-08-020409-3
• Ehlers, J., P. L. Gibbard, and J. Rose, eds., 1991, Glacial deposits in Great Britain and Ireland. Balkema, Rotterdam. 580 pp ISBN 978-90-6191-875-2
• Mangerud, J., J. Ehlers, and P. Gibbard, 2004, Quaternary Glaciations: Extent and Chronology 1: Part I Europe, Elsevier, Amsterdam. ISBN 0-444-51462-7
• Sibrava, V., Bowen, D.Q, and Richmond, G.M., 1986, Quaternary Glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere, Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 5, pp. 1-514.

External links

• Aber, J.S., 2006, Regional Glaciation of Kansas and Nebraska, Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas.
• anonymous, 2000, Pre-Wisconsin Glaciation of Central North America, Work Group on Geospatial Analysis of Glaciated Environments (GAGE), INQUA Commission on Glaciation, Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas.
• anonymous, 2007, Global correlation tables for the Quaternary, Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England.