Late Miocene increase in sediment accommodation rates in the southern North Sea Basin

Abstract

Boreholes provided with biostratigraphic data indicate major changes in the Miocene sediment accommodation rates in the northern Campine Block, located in the southern North Sea Basin. Low sediment accommodation rates took place during the early to middle Miocene and abruptly increased into the late Miocene. Two processes likely explain these observations. First, the long‐time (±10 Myr) slow sedimentation of fine sands with a high—in part authigenic—glauconite content (of up to almost 50%) suggests that the southern North Sea area was sediment starved during the early to middle Miocene. Sediment starvation ended with the start of the late Miocene when the area became covered by west‐prograding clinoform sets of coarser sands with mainly reworked glauconite as part of the proto‐Rhine system. The latter sands filled the accommodation space that was left after early to middle Miocene sediment starvation. Second, accelerated subsidence during the late Miocene created additional accommodation space to be filled compared with the early to middle Miocene. A mechanism that explains well the regional accelerated subsidence is lithospheric folding or buckling. The timing and geometry of accelerated rates of subsidence in the southern North Sea area are indeed consistent with deformation that was thought to have been related to lithospheric folding in areas further south (in the direction of the Alps) under NW‐Alpine compression.

A new balaenopterid whale from the late Miocene of the Southern North Sea Basin and the evolution of balaenopterid diversity (Cetacea, Mysticeti)

“…In addition, increased numbers of heterotrophic species in the present area indicate nutrient-rich marine conditions. A recent work also shows increased sedimentation rates in the area during the late Tortonian (Deckers & Louwye, 2019).…”

A proposal for an updated and revised stratigraphical framework of the Miocene in the Achterhoek (eastern Netherlands)

“…This type of analysis has led to significant improvements in age-dating of Neogene successions in NW Europe and beyond, and in understanding their palaeoenvironmental setting (e.g. Powell, 1986, 1992; Head et al, 1989; Zevenboom, 1995; De Verteuil and Norris, 1996; Dybkjaer & Rasmussen, 2000; Louwye, 2002; Louwye et al, 2004; Köthe, 2007; Köthe et al, 2008; Dybkjaer & Piasecki, 2010; Anthonissen, 2012; Quaijtaal et al, 2014; De Schepper et al, 2017; Dybkjaer et al, 2018; Deckers & Louwye, 2019; Everaert et al, 2020; Munsterman & Deckers, 2020). The potential of applying the results of dinoflagellate cyst analyses in biostratigraphic differentiation for Neogene intervals in the Netherlands has also been proven (e.g.…”

A review of the lower and middle Miocene of northern Belgium

“…One of those samples has a second coarse mode of 623 µm explaining also the large variation in D90. However, these three samples which are all from the Wijshagen borehole (BGD 048W0180, DOV kb18d48w-B181), should be reconsidered as representing the Genk Member rather than the Houthalen Member (Deckers & Louwye, 2019). Based on samples of the Opgrimbie quarry, Gullentops (1963Gullentops ( , 1972 1973) reported a modal grain size of approximately 215 µm for the Opgrimbie facies.…”

“…Further landward in the subsiding Roer Valley Graben, thick lignite seams of the Ville Formation formed in Germany (Schäfer et al, 2005). Seaward of this delta-system, the glauconitic sand of the Antwerpen Member was deposited under low sedimentation rates, indicative for sediment starvation (Deckers & Louwye, 2019). Consequently, the boundary between the Genk and Antwerpen Members marks the maximum extent of the Langhian delta-system.…”