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Late Pleistocene and Holocene depositional systems and the palaeogeography of the Dogger Bank, North Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Simon Fitch ,
Ken Thomson  and
Vince Gaffney
Simon Fitch
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, University of Birmingham Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Ken Thomson*
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Vince Gaffney
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, University of Birmingham Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail addresses:sef049@bham.ac.uk(S. Fitch), k.thompson@bham.ac.uk (K. Thomson) , v.l.gaffney@bham.ac.uk (V. Gaffney).
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Abstract

3D seismic data from the Dogger Bank, North Sea, allow the mapping of Late Pleistocene and Holocene depositional systems in unprecedented detail. The data demonstrate that glacial processes resulted in the development of incised tunnel valley systems during the Weichselian and that these were subsequently modified by fluvial processes in a pro-glacial setting. Subsequently, the Dogger Bank formed an emergent plain during the Holocene with a complex meandering river system, associated tributary or distributary channels and lakes, dominating the region. Prior to the sea level rising sufficiently to submerge the Dogger Bank around 7500 yr ago, the meandering river system was replaced by a dendritic channel network of potential fluvial, estuarine or intertidal origin. As the Holocene depositional features bear no systematic relationship to the bathymetry this study demonstrates that previously published bathymetry-based models for the Holocene palaeogeographic development of the North Sea require modification.

Keywords

PleistoceneHolocenePalaeogeography
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 64 , Issue 2 , September 2005 , pp. 185 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington

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