Title
Reconstructing Quaternary Rhine-Meuse dynamics in the southern North Sea: Architecture, seismo-lithofacies associations and malacological biozonation
Author
Rijsdijk, K.F.
Kroon, I.C.
Meijer, T.
Passchier, S.
van Dijk, T.A.G.P.
Bunnik, F.P.M.
Janse, A.C.
Publication year
2013
Abstract
Mapping the Middle to Upper Pleistocene Rhine-Meuse sequence in the southern North Sea based on new core and seismic data has allowed a detailed palaeoenvironmental re-assessment. An integrated seismo-lithostratigraphic and malacological biostratigraphic framework is correlated with the optically stimulated luminescence-dated Rhine-Meuse sequence onshore. The data point to a dynamic interplay of fluvial and marine systems in the southern part of the North Sea driven by longer-term (>100 ka) tectonic and epeirogenic processes and shorter-term (<10 ka) climatic processes. The final permanent breaching of the Cretaceous chalk at the Strait of Dover during the Saalian (Marine Isotope Stage 6, MIS 6) ice age led to the formation of the 'Eurogeul' belt, a gravelly sand belt that represents the largest concentration of gravelly fluvial sediments in the southern North Sea. The formation and preservation of the Rhine-Meuse sequence is related to long-term (>100 ka) uplift of the Wealden-Artois synclinorium and compaction-driven subsidence of Tertiary shales within the Voorne Trough. The dominant erosive sedimentary signatures within the Rhine-Meuse sequence resulted through shorter-term (<10 ka) interplay of Pleistocene transgressions, glaciations and the permanent breaching of the Cretaceous chalk at the Strait of Dover by the Palaeo-Channel river during the Saalian (MIS 6). © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Subject
Earth & Environment
PG - Petroleum Geosciences
EELS - Earth, Environmental and Life Sciences
Geological Survey Netherlands
Geosciences
Energy / Geological Survey Netherlands
Eurogeul
Fluvial architecture
Gravel
Kreftenheye
Seismo-lithostratigrapy
Straits of Dover
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:2ec149b2-0ac8-4cbd-9a3e-fb1d86145d53
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.2627
TNO identifier
476226
ISSN
0267-8179
Source
Journal of Quaternary Science, 28 (5), 453-466
Document type
article