Active deposition of calcareous tufa in Wessex, UK, and its implications for the ‘late-Holocene tufa decline’

Abstract

Recent publications have suggested that deposition of calcareous tufa and travertine in the British Isles has declined since the mid-Holocene. Several causal mechanisms have been postulated which include changes in both palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological conditions. Results presented here for actively depositing tufa in the Wessex region of southwest England suggest that there has been significant under reporting of contemporary tufa deposition. This factor must be taken into consideration in any investigation of a possible tufa decline in the late Holocene. Geochemical and environmental conditions at 26 tufa deposition sites are reported in order better to elucidate the climatic and environmental factors which constrain contempor ary tufa deposition, and to achieve a better understanding of the controls on Holocene deposition.