The Netherlands

Abstract

Abstract At various times during the Late Cretaceous, chalk was deposited over the Netherlands. A major transgression in Late Cretaceous times almost completely submerged the country and led to the extensive deposition of chalk and marly chalk. At the end of the Early Cretaceous, a structural high extended from Zandvoort in the north-west towards Krefeld in the south-east (Fig. 9.1). This structure comprised the Zandvoort Ridge, the Maasbommel High, and the Krefeld High. On both sides of the structure, thick sequences of Lower Cretaceous sediments accumulated in depositional basins (Heybroek 1974). A transgression, which had become general by Aptian—Albian times, sub-merged these structural elements from the north and formed thick sequences of chalk in the northern and central parts of the country during Late Cretaceous times. In the central and northern Netherlands, chalk deposition began during the Cenomanian, but along the margins of the depositional basin, in the south-eastern part of the country, a supply of elastic sediments prevented the formation of chalk during the early part of the Late Cretaceous. Instead, argillaceous sediments and glauconitic sands were deposited during the Santonian and Early Campanian, to be replaced by carbonates only in Late Campanian times.