Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T16:14:57.084Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Internal structure and development of an aeolian river dune in The Netherlands, using 3-D interpretation of ground-penetrating radar data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2016

R.L. Van Dam
R.L. Van Dam*
Affiliation:
Netherlands Institute of Applied Geoscience TNO, PO Box 6012, 2600 JA Delft, The Netherlands
*
Currently at: Geopuls, Bemuurde Weerd o.z. 7, 3514 AN Utrecht, The Netherlands; e-mail:[email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Ground-penetrating radar data from a regular grid are used to study the internal structure and development of a 9-m high aeolian river dune in the Dutch Rhine-Meuse delta. The purpose of this investigation was to image the internal sedimentary structures to better understand the development of these aeolian river dunes. Three radar facies can be recognised in the GPR sections. Radar facies 1 has a maximum thickness of 5 to 6 m and is characterised by dipping, parallel reflections with a maximum length of at least 20 m. The reflections from perpendicular sections, analysed using closed-loop correlation in 3-D-interpretation software, form eastward dipping (14° maximum) surfaces. Radar facies 2 is one continuous, sub-horizontal reflection. This high amplitude reflection is most probably caused by a thin organic horizon. Radar facies 3 has a thickness of 3 to 4 m and is made up of sets of short, predominantly eastward to north-eastward dipping reflections separated by rather continuous, sub-horizontal reflections. The eastward dipping surfaces in radar facies 1 are foresets of a dune that was deposited by prevailing westerly winds in the Younger Dryas, the last cold period in the Pleistocene. During the Early Holocene, an increasing vegetation cover stabilised the dune and formed a thin organic horizon. Subsequent resumption of dune forming processes led to the formation of radar facies 3 on top of the vegetated Pleistocene dune. Sedimentation by small dunes, partly eroding each other, led to sets of cross-stratification separated by bounding surfaces. The results suggest a small change in palaeo wind direction.

Keywords

aeolianground-penetrating radarpalaeo wind directionRhine-Meuse deltathree-dimensional imaging
Type
Regular Papers
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 81 , Issue 1 , March 2002 , pp. 27 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2002

References

Ahlbrandt, T.S. & Fryberger, S.G., 1980. Aeolian deposits in the Nebraska Sand Hills. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1120 A: 1–24.Google Scholar
Anderson, M.P., Aiken, J.S., Webb, E.K. & Mickelson, D.M., 1999. Sedimentology and hydrogeology of two braided stream deposits. Sedimentary Geology 129: 187–199.Google Scholar
Asprion, U. & Aigner, T., 1999. Towards realistic aquifer models: three-dimensional georadar surveys of Quaternary gravel deltas (Singen Basin, SW Germany). Sedimentary Geology 129: 281–297.Google Scholar
Berendsen, H.J.A., Hoek, W.Z. & Schorn, E.A., 1995. Late Weichselian and Holocene river channel changes of the rivers Rhine and Meuse in the central Netherlands (Land van Maas en Waal). In: Frenzel, B. (ed.): ESF Project European Palaeoclimate and Man. Paläoklimaforschung: 151–171.Google Scholar
Beres, M., Huggenberger, P., Green, A.G. & Horstmeyer, H., 1999. Using two- and three-dimensional georadar methods to characterize glaciofluvial architecture. Sedimentary Geology 129: 1–24.Google Scholar
Bridge, J.S., Alexander, J., Collier, R.E.L., Gawthorpe, R.L. & Jarvis, J., 1995. Ground-penetrating radar and coring used to study the large-scale structure of point-bar deposits in three dimensions. Sedimentology 42: 839–852.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bristow, C.S., 1995. Internal geometry of ancient tidal bedforms revealed using gpr. International Association of Sedimentologists Special Publication 24: 313–328.Google Scholar
Bristow, C.S., Bailey, S.D. & Lancaster, N., 2000a. The sedimentary structure of linear sand dunes. Nature 406: 56–59.Google Scholar
Bristow, C.S., Chroston, P.N. & Bailey, S.D., 2000b. The structure and development of foredunes on a locally prograding coast: insights from ground-penetrating radar surveys, Norfolk, U.K. Sedimentology 47: 923–944.Google Scholar
Bristow, C.S., Pugh, J. & Goodall, T. 1996. Internal structure of aeolian dunes in Abu Dhabi determined using ground-penetrating radar. Sedimentology 43: 995–1003.Google Scholar
Daniels, D.J., Gunton, D.J. & Scott, H.E., 1988. Introduction to subsurface radar. IEE Proceedings 135: 278–320.Google Scholar
Davis, J.L. & Annan, A.P., 1989. Ground-penetrating radar for high resolution mapping of soil and rock stratigraphy. Geophysical Prospecting 37: 531–551.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dix, C.H., 1955. Seismic velocities from surface measurements. Geophysics 20: 68–86.Google Scholar
Gawthorpe, R.L., Collier, R.E.L., Alexander, J., Leeder, M.R. & Bridge, J.S., 1993. Ground penetrating radar: application to sandbody geometry and heterogeneity studies. In: North, C.P. & Prosser, D.J. (eds.): Characterisation of fluvial and aeolian reservoirs. Geological Society (London): 421–432.Google Scholar
Huggenberger, P., 1993. Radar facies: recognition of facies patterns and heterogeneities within Pleistocene Rhine gravels, NE Switzerland. In: Best, J.L. & Bristow, C.S. (eds): Braided Rivers: Geological Society (London): 163–176.Google Scholar
Isarin, R.F.B., Renssen, H. & Koster, A., 1997. Surface wind climate during the Younger Dryas in Europe as inferred from aeolian records and model simulations. Palaeogeography Palaeocli-matology Palaeoecology 134: 127–147.Google Scholar
Jol, H.M. & Smith, D.G., 1991. Ground penetrating radar of northern lacustrine deltas. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 28: 1939–1947.Google Scholar
Louwe Kooijmans, L.P., 1974. The Rhine/Meuse delta. Four studies on its prehistoric occupation and Holocene geology. Ph.D. Thesis, Leiden University (Leiden): 421 pp.Google Scholar
McKee, E.D., 1966. Structures of dunes at White Sands National Monument, New Mexico (and a comparison with structures of dunes from other selected areas). Sedimentology 7: 1–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKee, E.D. & Bigarella, J.J., 1979. Sedimentary structures in dunes with two sections on the Lagoa dune field, Brazil. In: McKee, E.D. (ed.): A study of global sand seas. U.S. Geological Survey: 83–136.Google Scholar
McMechan, G.A., Gaynor, G.C. & Szerbiak, R.B., 1997. Use of ground-penetrating radar for 3-D sedimentological characterisation of clastic reservoir analogs. Geophysics 62: 786–796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pedley, H.M., Hill, I., Demon, P. & Brasington, J., 2000. Three-dimensional modelling of a Holocene tufa system in the Lathkill Valley, north Derbyshire, using ground-penetrating radar. Sedimentology 47: 721–737.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pons, L.J., 1957. De geologie, de bodemvorming en de waterstaatkundige ontwikkeling van het Land van Maas en Waal en een gedeelte van het Rijk van Nijmegen. Ph.D. Thesis, Wageningen University (Wageningen): 156 pp.Google Scholar
Schenk, C.J., Gamier, D.L., Olhoeft, G.R. & Lucius, J.E., 1993. Internal structure of an aeolian dune using ground-penetrating radar. International Association of Sedimentologists Special Publication 16: 61–69.Google Scholar
Törnqvist, T.E., 1998. Longitudinal profile evolution of the RhineMeuse system during the last glaciation: interplay of climate change and glacio-eustasy? Terra Nova 10: 11–15.Google Scholar
Törnqvist, T.E., Weerts, H.J.T. & Berendsen, H.J.A., 1994. Definition of two new members in the upper Kreftenheye and Twente Formations (Quaternary, The Netherlands): a final solution to persistent confusion? Geologie en Mijnbouw 72: 251–264.Google Scholar
Van Dam, R.L., 2001. Causes of ground-penetrating radar reflections in sediment. Ph.D. Thesis, Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam): 110 pp.Google Scholar
Van Dam, R.L. & Schlager, W., 2000. Identifying causes of groundpenetrating radar reflections using time-domain reflectometry and sedimentological analyses. Sedimentology 47: 435–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Dam, R.L., Van Den Berg, E.H., Van Heteren, S., Kasse, C. Kenter, J.A.M. & Groen, K., 2002. Influence of organic matter on radar-wave reflection: sedimentological implications. Journal of Sedimentary Research 72(3): 341–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Heteren, S., Fitzgerald, D.M., McKinlay, P.A. & Buynevich, I.V., 1998. Radar facies of paraglacial barrier systems: coastal New England, USA. Sedimentology 45: 181–200.Google Scholar
Van Overmeeren, R.A., 1998. Radar facies of unconsolidated sediments in The Netherlands: A radar stratigraphy interpretation method for hydrogeology. Journal of Applied Geophysics 40: 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verbraeck, A., 1983. Sedimentation in the mid-Netherlands river area during the Late Weichselian. Geologie en Mijnbouw 62: 487–491.Google Scholar