Overconsolidation in some fine-grained sediments; its nature, genesis and value in interpreting the history of certain English Quaternary deposits

Abstract

Soil mechanics parameters, such as apparent cohesion, natural moisture content and liquid limit, are useful additional factors in determining depositional and erosional events within non- and partially-lithified sedimentary successions. Overconsolidated beds, caused by desiccation, occur in the marine Quaternary succession of the Essex coast and they indicate at least two important periods of prolonged desiccation during lowered sea levels. The older phase reflects, in part, the late- Devensian - Holocene (Flandrian) interIude of depressed base-level and extended over at least 10,000 years. The younger and shorter phase is intra-Holocene c. 4,500 B.P.