Stratigraphy and origin of New Forest brickearths, England

The thin, loamy brickearth deposits overlying the flinty terrace gravels of the New Forest are divided into older and younger members. The Lower (older) Brickearth includes sediments thought to be mainly loess, with some aeolian sand and possible river floodloam (overbank sediment). These share the common feature of palaeo-argillic soil horizons in their upper layers. Two separate phases of pre-Holocene temperate pedogenesis often can be distinguished in the palaeo-argillic horizons. The Lower Brickearth is the Devensian loess in Britain. The Upper (younger) Brickearth consists mainly of Late Devensian (Oxygen Isotope Stage 2) loess, bur its lower layers also contain fine sand derived mainly from local Tertiary strata. Both brickearths occur on all the terrace surfaces of the New Forest and indicate that the terraces date from Oxygen Isotope Stage 6 or earlier.