Journal of the Geological Society

Reply to discussion on ’An analysis of Cotswold topography: insights into the

landscape response to denudational isostasy': Journal, Vol. 165, 85103
N.F. Lane, A.B. Watts and A.R. Farrant

Journal of the Geological Society 2009; v. 166; p. 584

doi:10.1144/0016-76492009-001

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Journal of the Geological Society, London, Vol. 166, 2009, pp. 583. doi: 10.1144/0016-76492008-129.

Discussion on ‘An analysis of Cotswold topography: insights into the landscape

response to denudational isostasy’

Journal, Vol. 165, 85–103

J. D. S C O U R S E 1 & R . C . P R E E C E 2
1
School of Ocean Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Menai Bridge LL59 5AB, UK
2
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK
*Corresponding author (e-mail: j.scourse@bangor.ac.uk)

Lane et al. (2008) interestingly interpret the evolution of the
Cotswold scarp and vale landscape in terms of lithospheric
response to erosional unloading, ‘denudational isostasy’, and
elastic plate flexure tectonics. They attribute up to 50% of the
relief in the Cotswolds to erosional unloading and discuss
viscoelastic plate models, which predict initial uplift rates as
high as 8 m ka 1 . They note that Late Anglian and early post-
Anglian incision rates inferred from the Thames terrace sequence
by Maddy & Bridgland (2000) are consistent with this high rate
against a longer-term (last 2 Ma) slower uplift rate for southern
England of 0.07–0.10 m ka 1 . The data for this longer-term
estimate are based on Bowen (1994), Maddy & Bridgland (2000)
and our interpretation for uplift rates based on raised interglacial
shorelines in central southern England (Preece et al. 1990). The
rates invoked in this last study have since been supported by
analysis of raised shoreline and fluvial terrace sequences over a
wider region of central southern England (Westaway et al. 2006).
We would like to highlight here the paper by Gale et al.
(1999), which was not cited by Lane et al. (2008) and which we
feel adds significant new data to our understanding of long-term
uplift rates in central southern England. Based on the contribu-
tion and distribution of derived lithoclast and fossil suites in the
Selsey, Barton and Becton Formations in Whitecliff Bay, Isle of
Wight, Gale et al. (1999) interpreted Mid–Late Eocene uplift of
+500 m on the northern limb of the Sandown Pericline. This
yields a mean Eocene uplift rate of 0.10 m ka 1 , almost identical,
and well within the range of possibilities, to that calculated by
Preece et al. (1990) for uplift in the same area over the past 500
ka. As in the Lane et al. (2008) analysis, Preece et al. (1990)
attributed this uplift to denudational isostasy, but Gale et al.
(1999) highlighted continuing uplift of the Sandown Pericline.
We are not qualified to comment on the competing structural
explanations for the identified uplift, but if the consistent rate of
uplift of 0.10 m ka 1 constrained during the Eocene and during
the last 500 ka on the northern limb of the Sandown Pericline has
been sustained over the entire period of the last c. 50 Ma, and not
just within the Eocene and Pleistocene, then this indicates a total
uplift of 5 km. This is an order of magnitude too high in relation
to the ages of other uplifted Cenozoic sequences across southern
England (compare Preece et al. 1990). This implies that the uplift
must have been pulsed, as suggested by Lane et al. (2008) in
their paper, and this has implications for studies of long-term
landscape evolution over a wider region of southern England.
References
Bowen, D.Q. 1994. Late Cenozoic Wales and South West England. Proceedings of
the Ussher Society, 8, 209–213.
Gale, A.S., Jeffrey, P.A., Huggett, J.M. & Connolly, P. 1999. Eocene
inversion history of the Sandown Pericline, Isle of Wight, southern England.
Journal of the Geological Society, London, 156, 327–339.
Lane, N.F., Watts, A.B. & Farrant, A.R. 2008. An analysis of Cotswold
topography: insights into the landscape response to denudational isostasy.
Journal of the Geological Society, London, 165, 85–103.
Maddy, D. & Bridgland, D.R. 2000. Accelerated uplift resulting from Anglian
glacioisostatic rebound in the Middle Thames valley, UK? Evidence from the
river terrace record. Quaternary Science Reviews, 19, 1581–1588.
Preece, R.C., Scourse, J.D., Houghton, S., Knudsen, K.L. & Penney, D.N.
1990. The Pleistocene sea level and neotectonic history of the eastern Solent,
southern England. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London,
Series B, 328, 425–477.
Westaway, R., Bridgland, D. & White, M. 2006. The Quaternary uplift history
of central southern England: evidence from the terraces of the Solent River
system and nearby raised beaches. Quaternary Science Reviews, 25, 2212–
2250

Received 27 October 2008; revised typescript accepted 2 January 2009.

Scientific editing by Jamie Woodward.

583
Journal of the Geological Society, London, Vol. 166, 2009, pp. 584. doi: 10.1144/0016-76492009-001.

Reply to discussion on ‘An analysis of Cotswold topography: insights into the

landscape response to denudational isostasy’

Journal, Vol. 165, 85–103

N. F. L A N E 1 , A . B. WAT T S 1 * & A . R . FA R R A N T 2
1
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PR, UK
2
BGS Keyworth, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK
*Corresponding author (e-mail: tony.watts@earth.ox.ac.uk)

We thank Scourse and Preece for their interest in our paper.
We agree that we should have included a reference to Gale et
al. (1999), who used stratigraphic data to quantify the uplift
history of the northern limb of the Sandown pericline, Isle of
Wight. We did, however, include a reference to Green et al.
(2001), who used an apatite fission-track analysis of outcrops of
Palaeozoic basement rocks to determine the uplift history of the
English Midlands. Together, these studies suggest a mean long-
term uplift rate of c. 0.10 m ka 1 for the Mid–Late Eocene over
a wide region of southern Britain.
We agree that a long-term rate of c. 0.10 m ka 1 could not
have been maintained throughout the Cenozoic because it implies
an uplift of .5 km. Recent studies limit the uplift to ,2.5 km,
attributing it to either magmatic underplating (Jones et al. 2002)
or far-field compressional stresses (Hillis et al. 2008). Scourse &
Preece suggest that because Lane et al. (2008) argued for
Pleistocene uplift rates of 2 m ka 1 and higher, then the uplift
must have been pulsed. We agree with this suggestion.
One possibility is uplift as a result of a flexural bulge flanking
an ice load. However, elastic plate modelling (Watts 2007) using
the elastic thickness structure determined by Pérez-Gussinyé &
Watts (2005) suggested that the bulge generated by a load the
size of the last Scottish ice sheet (i.e. Devensian) is ,12 m and
its crest would have been located well to the north of the
Cotswolds, in the Humber region. Although earlier ice sheet
loads, such as the Anglian, were probably more extensive, the
strong, rigid, Avalonian ‘core’ of central England would have
ensured that any flanking bulges were both small and wide. We
therefore prefer a model of river excavation and denudational
isostasy, as this is capable of producing significant uplift (up to
c. 150 m) local to the Cotswolds region. What is interesting is
the suggestion of Lane et al. (2008), based on considerations of
the elastic thickness structure of the UK, that isostatic compensa-
tion is essentially complete within c. 50 ka and that a scarp and
vale topography could have been generated within a 100 ka
duration glacial–interglacial cycle.
Finally, we agree with Scourse & Preece that a pulsed uplift
has important implications for landscape evolution. If it is
repeated during successive glacial–interglacial cycles, then it
implies that climate and tectonics are acting in concert to re-
surface the topography and produce a landscape that is in a state
of perpetual change. There are also implications for calculations
of the sea-level response to the waxing and waning of ice sheets.
For example, a pulsed uplift will lessen the impact of a sea-level
rise, even in a region such as the Humber that is in the collapsing
bulge of an ice sheet load.
References
Gale, A.S., Jeffery, P.A., Huggett, J.M. & Connolly, P. 1999. The inversion
history of the Sandown Pericline, Isle of Wight, southern England. Journal of
the Geological Society, London, 156, 327–339.
Green, P.F., Thomson, K. & Hudson, J.D. 2001. Recognition of tectonic events in
undeformed regions: contrasting results from the Midland Platform and East
Midlands Shelf, Central England. Journal of the Geological Society, London,
158, 59–73.
Hillis, R.R., Holford, S.P., Green, P.F., et al. 2008. Cenozoic exhumation of
the southern British Isles. Geology, 36, 371–374.
Jones, S.M., White, N., Clarke, B.J., Rowley, E. & Gallagher, E. 2002.
Present and past influence of the Iceland plume on sedimentation. In: Doré,
A.G., Cartwright, J., Stoker, M.S., Turner, J.P. & White, N. (eds)
Exhumation of the North Atlantic Margin: Timing, Mechanisms and Implica-
tions for Hydrocarbon Exploration. Geological Society, London, Special
Publications, 196, 13–25.
Lane, N., Watts, A.B. & Farrant, A. 2008. An analysis of Cotswold topography:
insights into the landscape response to denudational isostasy. Journal of the
Geological Society, London, 165, 85–103.
Pérez-Gussinyé, M. & Watts, A.B. 2005. The long-term strength of Europe and
its implications for plate-forming processes. Nature, 436, doi:10.1038/
nature03854.
Watts, A.B. 2007. An overview. In: Watts, A.B. (ed.) Treatise of Geophysics.
Volume 6: Crust and Lithosphere Dynamics. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1–48

Received 6 January 2009; revised typescript accepted 6 January 2009.

Scientific editing by Jamie Woodward.

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