Luminescence dating of Netherlands’ sediments

Over the last decades luminescence dating techniques have been developed that allow earth scientists to determine the time of deposition of sediments. In this contribution we review: 1) the development of the methodology; 2) tests of the reliability of luminescence dating on Netherlands’ sediments; and 3) geological applications of the method in the Netherlands. Our review shows that optically stimulated luminescence dating of quartz grains using the single aliquot regenerative dose method yields results in agreement with independent age control for deposits ranging in age from a few years up to 125 ka. Optical dating of quartz has successfully been applied to sediments from a wide range of depositional environments such as coastal dunes, cover sands, fluvial channel deposits, colluvial deposits and fimic soils. These results demonstrate that optical dating is a powerful tool to explore the natural archive of the Netherlands’ subsurface.Civil Engineering and Geoscience

The geometry and stratigraphic position of the Maassluis Formation (western Netherlands and southeastern North Sea)

The geometry and depositional history of the Maassluis Formation is described from an East-West oriented transect located in the west-central Netherlands and P- and Q-blocks in the Dutch offshore area. The Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene Maassluis Formation was deposited under near coastal marine conditions. Two distinct facies are distinguished: (1) medium grained sands with a blocky GR/SP-log pattern that were deposited under intertidal and aeolian conditions and (2) medium to coarse grained sands deposited in a subtidal environment showing a clear coarsening upward trend. The lower part of the Maassluis Formation is laterally equivalent to the shallow marine Oosterhout Formation and gets progressively younger towards the West. The upper part is lateral equivalent to estuarine and mudflat deposits (Balk Member, c.q. Peize Formation) in the central part of The Netherlands and to river deposits (Peize Formation) further to the East