Abstract
The early Miocene was an important period for the development of the eastern North Sea. Tectonism in North-West Europe resulted in uplift of the Scandinavian mountains, reactivation of salt structures, inversion of old graben structures and deposition of the most coarse-grained deposits in the Danish pre-Quaternary succession. Some of these deposits were later cemented into conglomerates. The deposits are common in the fluvial parts of the Billund Formation (Aquitanian) and the basal transgressive lag of the late Aquitanian – Burdigalian Klintinghoved Formation capping the Billund Formation. Questions remained as to the age of these deposits and what they infer about tectonic events in the region. This study reviews the geology of the flint-dominated conglomerates and presents the first dates for a sample of these unique deposits. We observe grain sizes up to 5 cm diameter. Palynological analyses place the sample as early Miocene. Some samples from the area have suggested a local source near active salt structures, associated with the uplift of the pre-Neogene sedimentary successions. We suggest that the common occurrences of flint clasts in the lower Miocene succession reveal significant erosion of Upper Cretaceous and Danian chalk, likely associated with the uplift of the Scandinavian lowlands during the Savian tectonic phase, early Miocene.
Highlights
The existence of a conglomerate dominated by flint in central and western Jylland, western Denmark, has been known for many years
We review the history of these conglomerates and present the first dates for a sample of the unique flint conglomerate first defined by Ødum (1968) from offshore Jylland, west Denmark
A total of 50 boreholes across Jylland have been described for sediment texture. This resulted in the establishment of a new lithostratigraphy for the onshore Danish Miocene succession (Fig. 2; Rasmussen et al 2010)
Summary
The existence of a conglomerate dominated by flint in central and western Jylland, western Denmark, has been known for many years. The conglomerate contained a sea-urchin of the Late Cretaceous genus Galerites and both angular and rounded flint clasts. Several series of samples have previously been analysed from cemented sandstone from Brøndum gravel pit, onshore western Denmark and the succession comprising the flint-rich gravel layer from the cliff at Hostrup, north-west Jylland, and from fluvial, gravel-rich deposits from the Addit and Voervadsbro pits and the Salten section (Dybkjær and Piasecki 2010 and references therein; Fig. 1B).
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