Plio-pleistocene palaeogeography of the southern north sea basin (3.75-0.60 Ma)

Abstract

Palaeogeographical maps are presented for the southern North Sea basin, from approximately 1°W to 7°E, and 51–55°N, for the period from approximately 3.75-0.60 Ma. Reconstructions centre on: 3.75 Ma (Coralline CragBrunssumian); 2.55 Ma (Red Crag/Brielle Ground/Reuverian); 2.40 Ma (Red Crag/Westkapelle Ground/Praetiglian-Early Tiglian); 2.00 Ma (Norwich Crag/Smith's Knoll and IJmuiden Ground/Middle Tiglian); 1.75-1.70 Ma (Cromer Forest Bed (Paston)/Winterton Shoal/Late Tiglian-Eburonian); 1.40 Ma (Kesgrave/Yarmouth Roads/Waalian); 1.15 Ma (Kesgrave/Yarmouth Roads/Menapian); and 0.60 Ma (Cromer Forest Bed (West Runton)/Yarmouth Roads/Cromerian Complex). From 3.75-2.40 Ma the basin is mainly a marine area fringed to the east and south by fluviatile deposition, and broadly open via the southwest to the Atlantic. Following marked marine regression and cooling at around 2.40 Ma, the period from 2.00-1.70 Ma is mainly one of renewed marine transgression and warmer conditions, during which a Great European delta built out, fed mainly from the east and south, into the southern North Sea. From 1.40-0.60 Ma marine waters were almost entirely excluded from the area, and temperate intervals alternated with increasingly glacial episodes, whilst the Great European delta continued to expand northwards into the northern North Sea.