Exposures in the Power House Terrace of the River Stour at Wilden, Worcestershire, England

A new course for the River Stour at Wilden, near Stourport in Worcestershire revealed sections in the Power House Terrace of the River Severn. A lower gravel was succeeded by organic deposits which yielded pollen and an extensive insect fauna, and both these indicate a Late Devensian date, from about 13,000 to 10,000 years BP. These figures are confirmed by 7 radiocarbon dates. The distribution of the insects in time reveals a change of climate from warm in the earlier period to arctic at 10,000 BP. The intense erosional and depositional activity embodied in the Main, Worcester and Power House Terraces of the Severn must antedate 13,000 years ago and can have taken no more than 12,000 years and possibly as little as 5000 years to accomplish.