Late Pleistocene evolution of the Rhine-Meuse system in the southern North Sea basin: imprints of climate change, sea-level oscillation and glacio-isostacy

Busschers, Freek S.; Kasse, C.; Balen, R.T. van; Vandenberghe, Jef; Cohen, K.M.; Weerts, H.J.T.; Wallinga, Jakob; Johns, Cosmo; Cleveringa, P.; Bunnik, F.P.M.

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2007.07.013

Cited by 240 publications

(399 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…Based on studies from the southern North Sea it can be concluded that both scarps are believed to be remnants of ancient river terraces of the Rhine and Meuse rivers (Bridgland & D'Olier, 1995;Busschers et al, 2005Busschers et al, , 2007Busschers et al, , 2008Gibbard, 1995;Hijma et al, 2012;Peeters, Busschers, & Stouthamer, 2015;Rijsdijk et al, 2013). This conclusion is similar to what Mathys (2009) suggested about the Offshore Platform being the valley floor of an incised river valley.…”

Section: Planation Surfaces Escarpments and Slope Breakssupporting

confidence: 52%

A high-resolution DEM for the Top-Palaeogene surface of the Belgian Continental Shelf

et al. 2015

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A 1:250,000 scale map of the surface of the Top-Palaeogene for the Belgian Continental Shelf was created based on extensive analyses of older and recent geological and geophysical datasets. The Top-Palaeogene surface is an important polygenetic unconformity that truncates older strata of the Palaeogene and to a smaller extent some of Neogene age from the overlying Quaternary deposits. As such it represents the base of the latter. The represented surface has been diachronously shaped and reworked through Late Quaternary times by different geological processes (e.g. fluvial, marine, estuarine, periglacial). Additionally, the offshore surface has been attached to the landward Top-Palaeogene surface and was transformed into a uniform 3D surface allowing new and better interpretations to be used in fundamental and applied research underpinning both scientific purposes (e.g. geology, archaeology, palaeogeography), and commercial applications (e.g. wind farms, aggregate extraction, dredging). ARTICLE HISTORY

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Section: Planation Surfaces Escarpments and Slope Breakssupporting

confidence: 52%

A high-resolution DEM for the Top-Palaeogene surface of the Belgian Continental Shelf

et al. 2015

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“…In the Lower Rhine system, aggradation during the Pleniglacial is enhanced by the high sediment supply from the Schiefergebirge, evident from the coarser and more angular gravel admixtures in younger Weichselian Rhine units compared to older systems, downstream of the study area (Busschers et al, 2007). Fluvial modelling experiments for Rhine and Meuse also demonstrated gradual coarsening and increasing valley aggradation downstream of the mountain front of the Schiefergebirge and Ardennes respectively (Van Balen et al, 2010).…”

Section: Late Pleniglacial Bølling and Older Dryasmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…This sizeinduced difference in (slow) incisional response to climate change has implications for the further concentration of flow in the Lateglacial. The deepening channels of the Central Rhine course would draw increasingly more water from the secondary courses, retarding these secondary systems even more in positive feedback (Cohen, 2003;Busschers et al, 2007;Hijma et al, 2009;Erkens et al 2009;2011). This drove the eventual abandonment and slowly transformed the Oude-IJssel and Niers-Rhine into systems used at flood stage only and then not even flooded anymore -but this process was interrupted by the Younger Dryas climatic cold spell and by events associated with the eruption of the Laacher See volcano some 200 years before the onset of the Younger Dryas.…”

Section: Late Pleniglacial Bølling and Older Dryasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Starkel, 1983;Vandenberghe et al, 1995;Rose, 1995;Blum & Törnqvist, 2000;Gibbard & Lewin, 2002;Vandenberghe, 2008;Erkens, 2009). The valleys of the Rhine and the Maas in the Lower Rhine Embayment have a long research history on this topic (Pons,1957;Van de Meene, 1977;Verbraeck, 1984;Klostermann, 1992;Schirmer, 1995;Berendsen & Stouthamer, 2001;Cohen et al, 2002;Busschers et al, 2007;Erkens et al, 2011). In this area, a well-preserved terraced morphology exists, with OSL-datable fluvial sequences with aeolian cover and with palaeochannel fills that allow vegetation …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate-driven fluvial development and valley abandonment at the last glacial-interglacial transition (Oude IJssel-Rhine, Germany)

Janssens

Kasse

Bohncke

et al. 2012

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences

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Although numerous studies have been performed on fluvial system change over the last glacial-interglacial transition, the response of river systems to allogenic (climate) and autogenic forcing mechanisms and timing of this response are still not completely understood (e.g. Starkel, 1983;Vandenberghe et al., 1995;Rose, 1995;Blum & Törnqvist, 2000;Gibbard & Lewin, 2002;Vandenberghe, 2008;Erkens, 2009). The valleys of the Rhine and the Maas in the Lower Rhine Embayment have a long research history on this topic (Pons,1957;Van de Meene, 1977;Verbraeck, 1984;Klostermann, 1992;Schirmer, 1995;Berendsen & Stouthamer, 2001;Cohen et al., 2002;Busschers et al., 2007;Erkens et al., 2011). In this area, a well-preserved terraced morphology exists, with OSL-datable fluvial sequences with aeolian cover and with palaeochannel fills that allow vegetation AbstractIn the Weichselian, the Lower Rhine in the Dutch-German border region has used three courses, dissecting ice-marginal topography inherited from the Saalian. In the Late Weichselian, the three courses functioned simultaneously, with the central one gaining importance and the outer ones abandoning. This study aims to reconstruct the fluvial development and forcings that culminated in abandonment of the northern branch 'Oude IJssel-Rhine', at the time of the Lateglacial to Holocene transition. The fluvial architecture is studied using a cored transect over the full width of the valley, detailed cross-sections over palaeochannels and geomorphological analysis using digital elevation and borehole data. Biostratigraphy, radiocarbon dating and OSL dating provide a timeframe to reconstruct the temporal fluvial development. In its phase of abandonment, the fluvial evolution of the Oude IJssel-Rhine course is controlled by the ameliorating climate and related vegetation and discharge changes, besides by intrinsic (autogenic) fluvial behaviour such as the competition for discharge with the winning central branch and the vicinity of the Lippe tributary confluence. The rapid climate warming at the start of the Late Glacial resulted in flow contraction as the initial response. Other fluvial geomorphic adjustments followed, with some delay. An aggrading braided or transitional system persisted until the start of the Allerød, when channel patterns finally changed to meandering. Floodplain incision occurred at the Allerød -Younger Dryas transition and a multi-channel system developed fed by Rhine discharge. At the start of the Holocene, this system transformed into a small-scale, local meandering system, which was abandoned shortly after the start of the Holocene.The final abandonment of the Oude IJssel-Rhine and Niers-Rhine courses can be attributed to deep incision of the Central Rhine course in the earliest Holocene and is considered to be controlled by flow contraction induced by climate and related vegetation and discharge changes.

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“…1). In the Middle Weichselian (Middle Pleniglacial) the Rhine changed its course westward, to the present Rhine-Meuse delta, near Doesburg and abandoned its course through the lower IJssel valley (Busschers et al, 2007). In the Late Weichselian, the Rhine gradually abandoned its course through the Oude IJssel valley.…”

Section: Weichselian and Early-holocene Palaeogeographical Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The age and origin of the Gelderse IJssel

Makaske

Maas

Smeerdijk³

2008

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences

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The Gelderse IJssel is the third major distributary of the Rhine in the Netherlands and diverts on average ~15% of the Rhine discharge northward.Historic trading cities are located on the Gelderse IJssel and flourished in the late Middle Ages. Little is known about this river in the early Middle Ages and before, and there is considerable debate on the age and origin of the Gelderse IJssel as a Rhine distributary. A small river draining the surrounding Pleistocene uplands must have been present in the IJssel valley during most of the Holocene, but very diverse opinions exist as to when this local river became connected to the Rhine system (and thereby to a vast hinterland), and whether this was human induced or a natural process. We collected new AMS radiocarbon evidence on the timing of beginning overbank sedimentation along the lower reach of the Gelderse IJssel. Our data indicate onset of overbank sedimentation at about 950 AD in this reach. We attribute this environmental change to the establishment of a connection between the precursor of the IJssel and the Rhine system by avulsion. Analysis of previous conventional radiocarbon dates from the upper IJssel floodplain yields that this avulsion may have started ~600 AD. Our results contradict earlier suppositions, based on interpretation of archaeological data and historical accounts, that the Gelderse IJssel is much older and originated as a canal, dug under supervision of the Roman general Drusus.

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Late Pleistocene evolution of the Rhine-Meuse system in the southern North Sea basin: imprints of climate change, sea-level oscillation and glacio-isostacy

Cited by 240 publications

References 78 publications

A high-resolution DEM for the Top-Palaeogene surface of the Belgian Continental Shelf

A high-resolution DEM for the Top-Palaeogene surface of the Belgian Continental Shelf

Climate-driven fluvial development and valley abandonment at the last glacial-interglacial transition (Oude IJssel-Rhine, Germany)

The age and origin of the Gelderse IJssel

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