108
A further Note on the Nazeing Stage
in the Lea Valley
By JOHN F. HAYWARD, Ph.D., M.Sc, F.G.S.
Evidence that the second (or "M") sub-division of the
Nazeing Stage was present at Fishers Green, Essex, was
discovered too late for its incorporation in the previous report
[Hayward, 1957b]. The site has now been investigated and
details are given hereunder.
The text figure gives a map of the pit and indicates the
positions of the channel deposits which have been studied. So
far as the Nazeing Stage is concerned there is the more westerly
channel, described in the earlier paper, and one farther to the
east which is the subject of this report. This section was
investigated by augering which proved the existence of a
steep-sided and rather flat-bottomed channel which, at its
deepest, was cut through the gravels of the Ponders End Stage
into the Beading Beds below. This was clearly a southward
continuation of the Nazeing Channel of Warren's original
report [Allison et al. 1952], a section across which is given
in the previous paper by the present writer [op. cit. Plate 4,
A.11]. Owing to the flooding of the pit, all auger samples
from below the Boreal Peat were in the form of a slurry and
it was difficult to collect samples for later examination. Hence
it was not easy to recognise the junction between the fill of
the channel and the underlying Beading Beds except by the
feel of the beds under the auger. The section given in the text
figure is therefore slightly idealised and is based on three lines
of auger holes.
As the deposits below the peat could not be identified in auger
sample, material was brought up by the excavator from below
the water, and this was examined. This was easily recognised
in hand specimen as belonging to the "M" Beds of the Nazeing
Stage. It was a characteristic marl with abundant molluscs,
Ostracods and charophyte fruits, but with a higher per-
centage of plant matter than the samples examined by the
author from other localities. Some bands were richer in plant
remains than others and the junction between the two types