Wolstonian Stage

The Wolstonian Stage is a middle Pleistocene stage of the geological history of Earth from approximately 374,000 until 130,000 years ago. It precedes the Eemian Stage in Europe and follows the Hoxnian Stage in the British Isles.

It is also approximately analogous to the Warthe and Saalian stages in northern Europe; the Riss glaciation in the Alps; and the Illinoian Stage in North America.

It is equivalent to Marine isotope stages (MIS) 10 through 6. MIS 10, 8 and 6 were glacial periods and 9 and 7 were interglacials.

It is named after Wolston in the English county of Warwickshire.

Description

The Wolstonian Stage is a middle Pleistocene stage of the geological history of Earth that precedes the Ipswichian Stage (Eemian Stage in Europe) and follows the Hoxnian Stage in the British Isles. The Wolstonian Stage apparently includes three periods of glaciation. The Wolstonian Stage is temporally analogous to the Warthe Stage and Saalian Stage in northern Europe and the Riss glaciation in the Alps, and temporally equivalent to all of the Illinoian Stage and the youngest part of the Pre-Illinoian Stage in North America. It is contemporaneous with the North American Pre-Illinoian A, Early Illinoian, and Late Illinoian glaciations.[1][2][3]

The Wolstonian Stage is equivalent to Marine isotope stages 6 through 10.[2][3]

Britain became an Island during this period (350,000 years ago).[4]

It started 374,000 years ago and ended 130,000 years ago.[5][6]

The Wolstonian Stage was named after the site of Wolston in the English county of Warwickshire where corresponding deposits were first identified.[7]

Acheulian flint tools have been found in Wolstonian deposits.

Historical names of the "four major" glacials in four regions.
Region	Glacial 1	Glacial 2	Glacial 3	Glacial 4
Alps	Günz	Mindel	Riss	Würm
North Europe	Eburonian	Elsterian	Saalian	Weichselian
British Isles	Beestonian	Anglian	Wolstonian	Devensian
Midwest U.S.	Nebraskan	Kansan	Illinoian	Wisconsinan

Historical names of interglacials.
Region	Interglacial 1	Interglacial 2	Interglacial 3
Alps	Günz-Mindel	Mindel-Riss	Riss-Würm
North Europe	Waalian	Holsteinian	Eemian
British Isles	Cromerian	Hoxnian	Ipswichian
Midwest U.S.	Aftonian	Yarmouthian	Sangamonian

Richmond, G.M.; Fullerton, D.S. (1986). "Summation of Quaternary glaciations in the United States of America". Quaternary Science Reviews. 5: 183–196. Bibcode:1986QSRv....5..183R. doi:10.1016/0277-3791(86)90184-8.
McMillan, A.A. (2005). "A provisional Quaternary and Neogene lithostratigraphic framework Great Britain". Netherland Journal of Geosciences. 84 (2): 87–107. doi:10.1017/S0016774600022988.
Gibbard, P.L.; Boreham, S.; Cohen, K.M.; Moscariello, A. (2007). "Global chronostratigraphical correlation table for the last 2.7 million years" (JPG 844 kb). Cambridge UK: Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge.
Gibbard, Phil (2007). "How Britain Became An Island: The report". Nature Precedings. doi:10.1038/npre.2007.1205.1
Lisiecki, L.E., 2005, Ages of MIS boundaries. LR04 Benthic Stack Boston University, Boston, MA
Lisiecki, L.E.; Raymo, M.E. (2005). "A Pliocene-Pleistocene stack of 57 globally distributed benthic d18O records" (PDF). Paleoceanography. 20: PA1003. Bibcode:2005PalOc..20.1003L. doi:10.1029/2004PA001071. hdl:2027.42/149224.
Gibson, Sebastian M. et al. (2022) Timing and dynamics of Late Wolstonian Substage ‘Moreton Stadial’ (MIS 6) glaciation in the English West Midlands, UK, Royal Society Publishing, (Open access), June 2022. Deposits from Wolston are described and dated (as 150 ka) in sections 4.1.4 and 4.2.1.4.

Aber, J.S. (2006). "Regional Glaciation of Kansas and Nebraska". Emporia KS: Emporia State University. Archived from the original on 2008-07-04. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (2007). "Global correlation tables for the Quaternary". Cambridge UK: Department of Geography, University of Cambridge.
Gibbard, P., 2008a, Map 6. (Fluvial) Palaeogeography during the Saalian (Drenthe Substage) / Wolstonian glacial maximum. North West European Rivers, Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group, Cambridge, England. (includes PDF file of map)
Gibbard, P. (2008). "Map 7: Maximum extent of the glaciation during the Saalian / Drenthe / Dneipr Stage (late Middle Pleistocene)". Cambridge UK: North West European Rivers, Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group. (includes PDF file of map)
Gibbard, P. (2008). "Map 8: Latest Saalian to early Weichselian drainage during sea level lowstand". Cambridge UK: North West European Rivers, Quaternary Palaeoenvironments Group. (includes PDF file of map)
Hallberg, G.R. (1980). "Illinoian and Pre-Illinoian stratigraphy of southeast Iowa and adjacent Illinois" (PDF). Technical information Series. no. 11. Ames IA: Iowa Geological Survey Bureau. Archived from the original (PDF 19.3 Mb) on 2010-07-13.
Shotton, F.W., nd, East Anglia and the English Midlands. Ice Age Britain. The Shotton Project, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England.