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The lithostratigraphic classification of the Quaternary deposits is based on the genesis of the sediments. The distinguished environments are marine - estuarine, fluvial, eolian and slope. The marine - estuarine deposits are restricted to certain time-intervals within the Quaternary and are limited to the northern part of Belgium. Fluvial deposits are found throughout the Quaternary. On the basis of the sedimentological - lithological differentials within the Meuse basin and the Schelde basin a bipartite subdivision of the fluvial deposits is introduced. Eolian deposits are differentiated on the basis of their grain size distribution, namely sand and silt. The sandy deposits are accumulated in the northern part of Belgium, whereas loess is deposited in the more southern part of the country. Slope deposits are not restricted regionally neither temporally.

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ABSTRACT. In Belgian lithostratigraphy, the Gent Formation was previously introduced to encompass all Quaternary sandy aeolian sediments. It has been difficult to apply, however, as it was incomplete, regionally biased, and not based on sediment properties alone. To solve this problem the Gent Formation is revised both in terms of definition and subdivision. Morphological and chronological criteria were omitted to allow ranking strata on the basis of visible lithological properties. The Belgian sand belt is newly introduced to designate the area where these sediments were deposited. The Gent Formation is subdivided into five members based on distinct lithological properties, and as a consequence reflecting different palaeoenvironmental conditions during deposition. Whenever feasible, each member is put in a chronostratigraphical and geomorphical context. The new subdivision is discussed and compared with earlier Belgian lithostratigraphical frameworks, as well as to the most recent one for comparable deposits in the Netherlands.

The chronostratigraphic position of aeolian dunes in East Flanders (Belgium) has been under debate for decades. Until now, the only available age information consisted of a limited number of radiocarbon dates, which provided indirect sediment deposition chronologies. This paper reports on the first direct determination, by quartz-based single-aliquot optically stimulated luminescence dating, of the time that dune sands were deposited along the Lower River Scheldt in Belgium. The sediments are dated at 12.0±0.9 ka (n = 5), which confirms that the time of inland dune formation in East Flanders dates from the Younger Dryas period and should not be constrained to the Holocene.