Title
North Sea palaeogeographical reconstructions for the last 1 Ma
Author
Cohen, K.M.
Gibbard, P.L.
Weerts, H.J.T.
Publication year
2014
Abstract
The landscape evolution of the southern North Sea basin is complex and has left a geographically varying record of marine, lacustrine, fluvial and glacial sedimentation and erosion. Quaternary climatic history, which importantly included glaciation, combined with tectonics gave rise to cyclic and non-cyclic changes of sedimentation and erosion patterns. Large-scale landscape reorganisations left strong imprints in the preserved record, and are important for the detail that palaeogeographical reconstructions for the North Sea area can achieve. In the spirit of the North Sea Prehistory Research and Management Framework (NSPRMF; Peeters et al., 2009), this paper provides background geological information regarding the North Sea. It summarises current stratigraphical and chronological frameworks and provides an overview of sedimentary environments. As we go back in time, the understanding of Quaternary palaeo-environmental evolution in the North Sea basin during the last 1 million years becomes decreasingly accurate, with degree of preservation and accuracy of age control equally important controls. Comparing palaeogeographical reconstructions for the Middle Pleistocene, the last interglacial-glacial cycle and the period following the Last Glacial Maximum illustrates this. More importantly, a series of palaeogeographical maps provide an account of basin-scale landscape change, which provides an overall framework for comparing landscape situations through time. © Netherlands Journal of Geosciences Foundation 2014.
Subject
Earth / Environmental
GM - Geomodelling
ELSS - Earth, Life and Social Sciences
Geological Survey Netherlands
Geosciences
Energy / Geological Survey Netherlands
Archaeology
Palaeogeography
Quaternary
Southern North Sea
archaeology
chronology
glacial-interglacial cycle
landscape change
landscape evolution
Last Glacial Maximum
paleoclimate
paleoenvironment
paleogeography
Quaternary
reconstruction
stratigraphy
Atlantic Ocean
North Sea
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:88aa2a3d-f0dc-4739-894f-1ac7060c6519
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/njg.2014.12
TNO identifier
516500
Publisher
Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences
ISSN
0016-7746
Source
Geologie en Mijnbouw/Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, 93 (1-2), 7-29
Document type
article