Upper Cenozoic of the Southern North Sea Basin: Palaeoclimatic and palaeogeographic evolution

Abstract

An outline is presented of Neogene and Quaternary biozonation and lithostratigraphy of the southern North Sea Basin. The maps showing the thickness distribution of the Upper Miocene deposits and the depth contours of the base of the Quaternary depict the basin evolution. The pattern of basin development in the Quaternary differs distinctly from that in Neogene times; resemblance with the pattern in Mesozoic times is ascribed to reactivated downwarping in areas of much earlier, namely Mesozoic, basin development. Considerably greater amounts of sediments were accumulated per time unit in the southern North Sea Basin during the Quaternary as compared to the Neogene.