The full programme book (PDF) - Royal Geographical Society

T8
Reconstructing Quaternary Rhine–Meuse dynamics in the southern North Sea:
architecture, seismo-lithofacies associations and malacological biozonation
Rijsdijk K.F.* 1 , Kroon I.C. 2 , Meijer T. 3,4 , Passchier S. 5 , van Dijk T.A.G.P .6,7 ,
Bunnik F.P.M. 8, and Janse A.C. 4
1 Computational GeoEcology Group, Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem dynamics, UVA. P.O. Box
94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2 Sustainable GeoEnergy, TNO. P.O. Box 80015, NL-3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
3 WMC Kwartair Consultants, Alkmaar, The Netherlands
4 Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity, Naturalis, Darwinweg 2, 2333 CR Leiden. The Netherlands.
5 Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair NJ 07043, USA.
6 Department of Applied Geology and Geophysic, Deltares, Postbus 85467, 3508 AL Utrecht, The
Netherlands
7 Department of Water Engineering & Management, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE
Enschede, The Netherlands
8 Petroleum Geosciences, TNO. P.O. Box 80015, NL-3508 TA Utrecht, The Netherlands
Mapping the thickness of the Middle to Upper Pleistocene Rhine-Meuse sequence in the
southern North Sea based on new core and seismic data has allowed for a detailed
palaeonvironmental re-assessment 1 . A marine integrated litho-seismostratigraphic and
malacological biostratigraphic framework is correlated with the OSL-dated Rhine-Meuse
sequence onshore 2a,b . 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 (100 ka) uplift of the
Wealden-Artois synclinorium and compaction-driven subsidence of Tertiary shales within
the Voorne Trough. Post-depositional compaction of these shales resulted in Cenozoic
subsidence rates that are up to 3 cm/ka faster than in the surrounding region 5 , creating
accommodation space for the fluvial sequence (Figure 1). The Saalian Palaeo-Channel
river must have caused a permanent breach in the Cretaceous chalks exposed in the
Weald-Artois anticlinorium leading to a full marine connection with the southern Lusitanian
mollusc fauna province during the subsequent interglacials 6 and a permanent southward
diversion of the Rhine-Meuse system during the last glaciation. The dominant erosive
sedimentary signatures within the Rhine-Meuse sequence resulted through shorter term
(