Comments to Westaway and Bridgland - 'Causes, consequences and chronology of large-magnitude palaeoflows in Middle and Late Pleistocene river systems of northwest Europe'

Westaway and Bridgland (Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 35: 1071–1094, 2010) discuss the causes, the consequences and the chronology of large-magnitude palaeoflows in Pleistocene river systems of northwest Europe. Based on their calculations, these authors suggest that the combined effects of meltwater from Alpine glaciers, rainfall, snowmelt and melting of permafrost during Heinrich Events (HEs) explain the large-magnitude discharges of the Fleuve Manche palaeoriver which punctuated the last glacial period. This comment identifies some approximations and inconsistencies regarding (i) the timing of the last massive Fleuve Manche palaeoriver discharge and its relation to the de-glacial pattern of the British-Irish Ice Sheet (Point 1); (ii) the palaeoclimatic conditions prevailing on land and the antagonistic forcing mechanism proposed by the authors to explain the large-magnitude palaeoflows (Point 2); (iii) Westaway and Bridgland's (2010) revised interpretation of the deep-sea records from the Bay of Biscay (Point 3); and (iv) the relationship between the offshore sedimentation since the Middle Pleistocene and the formation of the Dover Strait (Point 4). Each point is discussed.