Plio-Pleistocene scour hollows in the Southern Bight of the North Sea

Abstract

Scour hollows in the Belgian and French sectors of the North Sea have been studied from seismic records and borehole data. These hollows are thought to have formed by tidal scouring and fluvial erosion, as there is no evidence of any formed by subglacial scouring. The Murray Pit is filled by Neogene sediments and was probably eroded during the Early Pliocene. The remainder of the hollows are incised into the top of the Paleogene, and occur essentially within fluvial paleovalleys. They were most likely formed during phases of Late Pleistocene sea-level rise and most have been filled by Late Pleistocene marine sediments.