Map of the Buried Valley of the Solent Estuarine System

MAP OF THE PLEISTOCENE BURIED VALLEY OF THE SOLENT ESTUARINE SYSTEM

Dr Ian West

This small scale map shows the base of the Pleistocene river gravels under Southampton Water and the Solent. Because of the large number of civil engineering boreholes which have been made (particularly in the industrial areas on the west bank of the estuary) much more detail exists for Southampton Water. Maps are available on the scale 1:10,000 for the gravel base with contours at 3 m intervals. The main features, however, are shown on this small map with an old meander in the upper part of Southampton Water, under the Western Docks, the position of the deep channel under Calshot Spit, and the descent of the buried valley base to more than 40 metres in the eastern Solent and Spithead area.

The valley system swings southwest down the English Channel to join the extended channel of the River Seine off the Le Havre region. In the Pleistocene gravel phases the Hampshire rivers were upper tributaries of an extended River Seine. Now only the short headwaters remain.

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Webpage - written and produced by:

Ian West, M.Sc. Ph.D. F.G.S.

at his private address, Romsey, Hampshire, kindly supported by Southampton University,and web-hosted by courtesy of iSolutions of Southampton University. The website does not necessarily represent the views of Southampton University. The website is written privately from home in Romsey, unfunded and with no staff other than the author, but generously and freely published by Southampton University. Field trips shown in photographs do not necessarily have any connection with Southampton University and may have been private or have been run by various organisations.