The confluence area of Rhine, Meuse, and Belgian rivers: Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene fluvial history of the northern Lower Rhine Embayment

Abstract

The fluvial history of the northern Lower Rhine Embayment shows interplay of three main river systems: Rhine, Meuse and smaller rivers draining the central and northern part of Belgium.The Pliocene and Early Pleistocene (pre-)Rhine and Meuse river systems had their conjunction in the southern part of the Roer Valley Graben between Aachen and Jülich. Despite slight differences in the heavy-mineral assemblages the lithological composition of the Pliocene deposits of the three river systems shows close resemblance and therefore they cannot be mapped separately. However, due to a marked change of the petrographical composition the Upper Pliocene and Lower Pleistocene deposits of the Rhine are easily recognised and as a result Rhine and Meuse deposits can be mapped separately upstream of their confluence.The Lower Pleistocene deposits of Rhine, Meuse and the Belgian rivers show a clear interrelationship. They are bounded by two regional well-mapable unconformities and are preserved in from west to east changing lithostratigraphical sequences. Revision of the lithostratigraphical schemes in Germany and the Netherlands and the better defined lithostratigraphical position of Meuse deposits in Germany now strongly constrain the correlation of the various fluvial deposits. As a result existing reconstructions of the fluvial deposition and tectonic history of the southern Roer Valley Graben can be evaluated and re-adjusted.It is concluded that the main course of the Meuse was aligned through the so-called East Meuse valley during the larger part of the Early Pleistocene. Available pollen data do not conflict with this conclusion. At the same time the Rhine ceased to enter the southern part of the Roer Valley Graben. Instead, the Meuse accumulated here a series of deposits derived from the East-Meuse valley. Simultaneously, the Belgian rivers filled available accommodation space in the Roer Valley Graben of the southern Netherlands. The conclusions are based primarily on the revised lithostratigraphical framework. In general they simplify the picture of fluvial and tectonic behaviour of the area.

Response of drainage systems to Neogene evolution of the Jura fold-thrust belt and Upper Rhine Graben

“…In the sedimentary record of the UrG, this is reflected by a massive influx of Alpine heavy minerals, commencing towards the end of the late Pliocene (Hagedorn 2004;Hagedorn & boenigk 2008;rolf et al 2008). In the Lower rhine Graben, however, the first occurrence of Alpine heavy minerals has been reported from the Oebel beds of the Waalre-1 Formation, which clearly pre-dates the Pliocene-Quaternary boundary (GaussMatuyama magnetic reversal at 2.58 Ma; Kemna 2008) and has been tentatively assigned an age of 2.8-2.58 Ma (Westerhoff et al 2008).…”

A consistent magnetic polarity stratigraphy of late Neogene to Quaternary fluvial sediments from the Heidelberg Basin (Germany): A new time frame for the Plio–Pleistocene palaeoclimatic evolution of the Rhine Basin

“…As already noted by Rolf et al (2008), this worldwide climate change is marked by the initiation of Northern Hemisphere glaciation and is well documented in deep-sea sediments (Shackleton et al, 1984) and loess deposits in China (Heller and Liu, 1982). Further advances in the knowledge of superregional geological and palaeoclimatic developments can be expected from, for example, the correlation with the Plio/Pleistocene sites in the North Sea Basin (Zagwijn, 1985;Maher and Hallam, 2005b;Westerhoff et al, 2008), the Pannonian Basin (Nádor et al, 2003) and the Po-Basin (Scardia et al, 2006;Muttoni et al, 2007).…”

“…In the following years, magnetic polarity stratigraphy became an important age determination tool for geologically young, onshore strata worldwide (e.g., Keller et al, 1977;Heller and Liu, 1982;Johnson et al, 1986;Appel et al, 1991;Biswas et al, 1999;Maher and Hallam, 2005b;Scardia et al, 2006). However, the current chronostratigraphic system for the Quaternary and the late Neogene in central and north-western Europe is based primarily on pollen-analysis investigations from the Netherlands and the Lower Rhine Embayment (i.e., Zagwijn, 1957Zagwijn, , 1963Zagwijn, , 1985Kemna, 2008;Westerhoff et al, 2008). Although these studies are underpinned by magnetic polarity stratigraphy, the palaeomagnetic record by itself was not suitable for the establishment of the chronostratigraphic system.…”

The mineralogy of suspended matter, fresh and Cenozoic sediments in the fluvio-deltaic Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt–Ems area, the Netherlands: An overview and review

“…There are 13 fluvial formations in total. During most of the Pliocene and Pleistocene the Netherlands was situated downstream of the confluence of Rhine and Meuse (Westerhoff et al, 2008). Consequently the sediment has a mixed Rhine-Meuse composition.…”