Abstract
Eight continuous corings in the west-central Netherlands show a 15 to 25 m thick stacked sequence of sandy to gravelly channel-belt deposits
of the Rhine-Meuse system. This succession of fluvial sediments was deposited under net subsiding conditions in the southern part of the North
Sea Basin and documents the response of the Rhine-Meuse river system to climate and sea-level change and to the glaciation history. On the
basis of grain size characteristics, sedimentological structures, nature and extent of bounding surfaces and palaeo-ecological data, the sequence
was subdivided into five fluvial units, an estuarine and an aeolian unit. Optical dating of 34 quartz samples showed that the units have intra
Saalian to Weichselian ages (Marine Isotope Stages 8 to 2). Coarse-grained fluvial sediments primarily deposited under cold climatic conditions,
with low vegetation cover and continuous permafrost. Finer-grained sediments generally deposited during more temperate climatic conditions
with continuous vegetation cover and/or periods of sea-level highstand. Most of the sedimentary units are bounded by unconformities that
represent erosion during periods of climate instability, sea-level fall and/or glacio-isostatic uplift.
of the Rhine-Meuse system. This succession of fluvial sediments was deposited under net subsiding conditions in the southern part of the North
Sea Basin and documents the response of the Rhine-Meuse river system to climate and sea-level change and to the glaciation history. On the
basis of grain size characteristics, sedimentological structures, nature and extent of bounding surfaces and palaeo-ecological data, the sequence
was subdivided into five fluvial units, an estuarine and an aeolian unit. Optical dating of 34 quartz samples showed that the units have intra
Saalian to Weichselian ages (Marine Isotope Stages 8 to 2). Coarse-grained fluvial sediments primarily deposited under cold climatic conditions,
with low vegetation cover and continuous permafrost. Finer-grained sediments generally deposited during more temperate climatic conditions
with continuous vegetation cover and/or periods of sea-level highstand. Most of the sedimentary units are bounded by unconformities that
represent erosion during periods of climate instability, sea-level fall and/or glacio-isostatic uplift.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 25-41 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Netherlands Journal of Geosciences |
| Volume | 84 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2005 |
Keywords
- Rhine-Meuse
- Netherlands
- North Sea Basin
- Middle Pleistocene
- Late Pleistocene
- fluvial
- estuarine
- subsidence
- optical dating
- climate
- sea-level
- glaciation
- isostacy
