Age and origin of clayey silt ‚brickearth’︁ in west London, England

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Abstract
The loamy ‚brickearth’︁ deposits overlying coarse cold climate Kempton Park, Lynch Hill and Taplow Gravels of the R. Thames in west London are dated by thermoluminescence and mineralogical comparisons with loesses of three known ages. Although much of the ‚brickearth’︁ resembles loess, it often contains more sand or clay than typical loess, and the mineralogical studies suggest that even the coarse silt (16–63 μm) fraction is rarely similar in composition to any known English loess. The thermoluminescence measurements suggest that most of the ‚brickearth’︁ on the Taplow and Lynch Hill Gravels was deposited in the late Devensian, whereas that on the Park Gravel is mainly Flandrian. It is suggested that the latter is mainly floodloam, whereas the earlier ‚brickearth’︁ is a mixed aeolian sediment derived from various local sources in and close to the Thames Valley.