We investigate the stratigraphy of Neogene and Quaternary intervals of the Schelphoek borehole (Schouwen, Zeeland, the Netherlands). The Breda Formation (Miocene-Zanclean) contains three sequences separated by hiatuses. The Oosterhout Formation (Zanclean-Piacenzian) contains at least two sequences. This formation is overlain by seven sequences of the Gelasian Maassluis Formation that almost certainly represent glacial cycles. The three lowermost sequences are provisionally assigned to the Praetiglian (MIS 96, MIS 98 and MIS 100). A large hiatus exists between the top of the Maassluis Formation and the base of the late Middle to Late Quaternary succession. Due to extensive in situ reworking of older strata (including fossils) at the base of several of the formations, their exact boundaries are difficult to establish. The Neogene succession in the Schelphoek borehole is compared to the stratigraphic successions in the Antwerp area to the south and the Dutch coastal area and continental platform to the north. Finally, the stratigraphic context of the Gelasian (‘Tiglian’) mammal fauna dredged from the bottom of a major tidal channel in the adjacent Oosterschelde is assessed by comparison with the Schelphoek borehole.

We investigated the Quaternary lithological succession and faunas in a borehote near Moriaanshoofd (Province of Zeeland, SW Netherlands), Ín order to improve our understanding of the depositional context of classical Gelasian mammal faunas from the region. The fossils mostly derive from the base of a fossil-rich interval between 31 m and 36.5 m below the surface, that was initially interpreted as a Middle or Late Pleistocene interglacial marine unit, but turned out to be a Late Quaternary fluvial unit with large amounts of reworked fossils and sediments. Eocene mollusc taxa pinpoint Ftanders (Belgium) as the source region for this river. Within the base of this paleo-Schelde River fossil material of various stratigraphic provenance became incorporated.

The locality of Langenboom (eastern Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands), also known as Mill, is famous for its Neogene molluscs, shark teeth, teleost remains, birds and marine mammals. The stratigraphic context of the fossils, which have been collected from sand suppletions, was hitherto poorly understood. Here we report on a section which has been sampled by divers in the adjacent flooded sandpit 'De Kuilen' from which the Langenboom sands have been extracted. The studied section covers part of the marine Miocene Breda Formation and Pliocene Oosterhout Formation, and is topped by fluvial Quaternary deposits of presumably the Beegden Formation. The Breda Formation (15 -18 m below lake surface) in this section is, based on organic walled dinoflagellate cysts, of an early-middle Tortonian age. The Oosterhout Formation (7 -15 m below lake surface) comprises two depositional sequences, the lower of which (12 -15 m below lake surface) presumably is the source of most Langenboom fossils. Combined dinoflagellate cyst and benthic mollusc indicators point to an early Zanclean -early Piacenzian age for this lower cycle. Its basal transgressive lag and (to lesser extent) top comprise reworked Tortonian taxa as well. Dinoflagellate cysts and a single benthic mollusc point to a Piacenzian age for the upper Oosterhout Formation sequence (7 -12 m below lake surface).

Mapping the Middle to Upper Pleistocene Rhine–Meuse sequence in the southern North Sea based on new core and seismic data has allowed a detailed palaeoenvironmental re‐assessment. An integrated seismo‐lithostratigraphic and malacological biostratigraphic framework is correlated with the optically stimulated luminescence‐dated Rhine–Meuse sequence onshore. 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 (<10 ka) climatic processes. The final permanent breaching of the Cretaceous chalk at the Strait of Dover during the Saalian (Marine Isotope Stage 6, MIS 6) ice age led to the formation of the ‘Eurogeul’ belt, a gravelly sand belt that represents the largest concentration of gravelly fluvial sediments in the southern North Sea. The formation and preservation of the Rhine–Meuse sequence is related to long‐term (>100 ka) uplift of the Wealden–Artois synclinorium and compaction‐driven subsidence of Tertiary shales within the Voorne Trough. The dominant erosive sedimentary signatures within the Rhine–Meuse sequence resulted through shorter‐term (<10 ka) interplay of Pleistocene transgressions, glaciations and the permanent breaching of the Cretaceous chalk at the Strait of Dover by the Palaeo‐Channel river during the Saalian (MIS 6).

Three specimens of the large-sized Eocene campanilid gastropod genus Campanile have been dredged from the modern sea floor in the Bruine Bank area (North Sea, Dutch sector). The material is identified here as Campanile parisiense rarinodosum, a subspecies hitherto unknown from the North Sea Basin. All three shells are strongly abraded, reflecting their secondary derivation. The new finds suggest that fossiliferous strata of probably late Lutetian (middle Eocene) age are represented in the southern North Sea Basin, situated most likely in the southeastern part of the UK sector. The present material of Campanile must have been reworked into the Dutch sector via Quaternary rivers. The occurrence of Campanile parisiense rarinodosum would indicate close biogeographic ties between the North Sea and the western French Atlantic basins during the late Lutetian. These new records thus shed light on the palaeogeography of the area during two widely separated geological time slices.