Palaeoenvironments of the Hoxnian Nar Valley Clay, Norfolk, England : evidence from an integrated study of diatoms and ostracods

Diatoms and ostracods from the Nar Valley, west Norfolk, England are analysed with a view to establishing marine and freshwater palaeoenvironments of the Hoxnian interglacial Stage. No microfossils were recovered from the non-marine facies, but rich assemblages of both fossil groups were extracted from the marine Nar Valley Clay and these, together with associated sedimentological evidence, indicate that the environment of deposition changed from a relatively nearshore, muddy shelf setting, to one that was more littoral and subject to higher current regimes, with salinities remaining at normal marine levels through both depositional phases.