Alluvial architecture has been subject of many studies because of theoccurrence of natural resources in ancient fluvial successions. This paperprovides an overview of the current state of research on alluvialarchitecture with special reference to Holocene fluvio-deltaic settings.Several examples from modern fluvio-deltaic areas, especially the HoloceneRhine-Meuse delta (the Netherlands) and the Lower Mississippi Valley(U.S.A.), are used to illustrate the architectural elements that can bedistinguished in fluvial successions and to show the influence of thevarious controls on alluvial architecture (base level, climate, tectonism,aggradation, avulsion, and compaction). Avulsion is regarded as a principalprocess in the formation of fluvio-deltaic sequences, because it determinesthe location and number of active channels on the floodplain. The avulsionmechanism is still subject of debate, though. A brief description of theevolution of process-based alluvial-architecture models is given. Thesemodels simulate the proportion and distribution of coarse-grained channelbelts in fine-grained overbank deposits. The major drawback of thepresent-day alluvial-architecture models is the lack of (three-dimensional)quantitative field data to test and validate them. The paper concludes withthe suggestion to collect more architectural data from natural fluvialsettings, to improve simulation of channel-belt geometry inalluvial-architecture models, and to implement new data and knowledge offluvial processes into models.

In the Netherlands, the bulk of the Miocene to lowest Pliocene sedimentary succession is currently assigned to a single lithostratigraphical unit, the Breda Formation. Although the formation was introduced over 40 years ago, the definition of its lower and upper boundaries is still problematic. Well-log correlations show that the improved lecto-stratotype for the Breda Formation in well Groote Heide partly overlaps with the additional reference section of the older Veldhoven Formation in the nearby well Broekhuizenvorst. The distinction between the Breda and the overlying Oosterhout Formation, which was mainly based on quantitative differences in glauconite and molluscs, gives rise to ongoing discussion, in particular due to the varying concentrations of glauconitic content that occur within both formations. In addition, the Breda Formation lacks a regional-scale stratigraphic framework which relates its various regionally to locally defined shallow marine to continental members.

In order to resolve these issues, we performed renewed analyses of material from several archived cores. The results of archived and new dinocyst analyses were combined with lithological descriptions and wire-line log correlations of multiple wells, including the wells Groote Heide and Broekhuizenvorst. In this process, the updated dinocyst zonation of Munsterman & Brinkhuis (2004), recalibrated to the Geological Time Scale of Ogg et al. (2016), was used. To establish regionally consistent lithostratigraphic boundaries, additional data was used along a transect across the Roer Valley Graben running from its central part (well St-Michielsgestel-1) towards the southern rift shoulders (well Goirle-1). Along this transect, chronostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic analyses were integrated with well-log correlation and the analyses of seismic reflection data to constrain geometrical/structural relationships as well.

The results led to the differentiation of two distinct seismic sequences distinguished by three recognisable unconformities: the Early Miocene Unconformity (EMU), the Mid-Miocene Unconformity (MMU) and the Late Miocene Unconformity (LMU). The major regional hiatus, referred to as the Mid-Miocene Unconformity, occurs intercalated within the present Breda Formation and compels subdivision of this unit into two formations, viz. the here newly established Groote Heide and the younger Diessen formations. Pending further studies, the former Breda Formation will be temporally raised in rank to the newly established Hilvarenbeek subgroup, which comprises both the Groote Heide and Diessen formations. Whereas these two sequences were already locally defined, a third sequence overlying the LMU represents two newly defined lithostratigraphical units, named the Goirle and the Tilburg members, positioned in this study at the base of the Oosterhout Formation. Besides their unique lithological characteristics, in seismic reflection profiles the Goirle and the Tilburg members stand out because of their distinct seismic facies.

Use of an integrated, multidisciplinary and regional approach, an improved southern North Sea framework and more comprehensive lithostratigraphic subdivision of Neogene successions is proposed for the Netherlands, to make (cross-border) correlations more straightforward in the future.

Middle Jurassic - Early Cretaceous strata are a target for oil and gas exploration in the Dutch offshore. During the initial stages of the ‘Late Jurassic’ offshore exploration, various oil fields and a few gas fields were discovered of which only one, the F3-FB field, proved to be economically viable. In the Northern Offshore of the Netherlands, latest Middle Jurassic (Callovian) - earliest Cretaceous (Ryazanian) strata are mostly limited to the Dutch Central Graben and Terschelling basins. Outside the Dutch Central Graben and the Terschelling Basin only thin veneers of these strata occur on the fringing highs such as the Schill Grund High and the Step Graben. The geology of this non-marine to shallow marine succession is complex. The combination of lateral facies changes, repetitive log and facies characteristics in time, sea-level and climate changes, salt tectonics and structural compartmentalisation hamper straightforward seismic interpretation and log correlation. The large number of lithostratigraphic units defined in the Stratigraphic Nomenclature of the Netherlands illustrates the complexity of this time-interval.

In recent years, new biostratigraphic techniques and newly acquired stratigraphic data led to the identification of a series of events which can be related to the tectonic, climatic, environmental and stratigraphic development of the ‘Late Jurassic’ in the Dutch Central Graben and Terschelling basins. Based on these data, three stratigraphic sequences can be recognized. Sequence 1 (Callovian - earliest Kimmeridgian) records the initiation of the Dutch Central Graben, Sequence 2 (early Kimmeridgian - early Portlandian) that of the initiation of the Terschelling Basin. During sequence 3 (late Portlandian - Ryazanian) the Dutch offshore was draped by a regional transgression. These insights have directly impact on the exploration potential, which is discussed in two play concepts. The first is a strat-trap play in the fluvial/paralic sediments of Sequence 1 in the lows between the graben boundary and salt domes. The second example is the Spiculite play, which comprises a bioclastic sandstone reservoir at the top of a dome with a 4-way dip closure. These two examples highlight the necessity of understanding the paleoenvironment and geography for assessing the future exploration potential.

The urbanised peat-rich coastal-deltaic plain of the Netherlands is severely subsiding due to human-induced phreatic groundwater level lowering, as this causes peat layers to compress and oxidise. To determine the potential susceptibility of this area to future subsidence by peat compression and oxidation, the effects of lowering present-day phreatic groundwater levels were quantitatively evaluated using a subsidence model. Input were a 3D geological subsurface voxel-model, modelled phreatic groundwater levels, and functions for peat compression and oxidation. Phreatic groundwater levels were lowered by 0.25 and 0.5m, and the resulting peat compression and oxidation over periods of 15 and 30 years were determined. The model area comprised the major cities Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and their surrounding agricultural lands.

The results revealed that for these scenarios agricultural areas may subside between 0.3 and 0.8m; potential subsidence in Amsterdam and Rotterdam is considerably lower, less than 0.4m. This is due to the presence of several metres thick anthropogenic brought-up soils overlying the peat below the urban areas, which has already compressed the peat to a depth below groundwater level, and thus minimises further compression and oxidation. In agricultural areas peat is often situated near the surface, and is therefore highly compressible and prone to oxidation. The averaged subsidence rates for the scenarios range between 7 and 13mma−1, which is corresponds to present-day rates of subsidence in the peat areas of the Netherlands. These results contrast with the trend of coastal-deltaic subsidence in other deltas, with cities subsiding faster than agricultural areas. This difference is explained by the driver of subsidence: in other deltas, subsidence of urban areas is mainly due to deep aquifer extraction, whereas in the Netherlands subsidence is due to phreatic groundwater level lowering.

Mosasaurs are rare in Australia with fragmentary specimens known only from the Cenomanian-lower Turonian Molecap Greensand (Perth Basin), Campanian - lower Maastrichtian Korojon Calcarenite (Carnarvon Basin), and upper Maastrichtian Miria Formation (Carnarvon Basin), Western Australia. These units were laid down during a near-continuous marine inundation of the western margin of the Australian landmass (which followed separation from India in the Valanginian and genesis of the Indian Ocean) in the Early-Late Cretaceous. The Australian mosasaur record incorporates evidence of derived mosasaurids (mainly plioplatecarpines); however, as yet no specimen can be conclusively diagnosed to genus or species level. The fragmentary nature of the remains provides little basis for direct palaeobiogeographic comparisons. However, correlation with existing data on associated vertebrates, macroinvertebrates and microfossils suggests that the Western Australian mosasaur fauna might have been transitional in nature (particularly following palaeobiogeographic separation of the northern and southern Indian Oceans during the mid-Campanian), potentially sharing elements with both northern Tethyan and austral high-latitude regions.

Within the Cenozoic sedimentary section of the Roer Valley Graben ten seismostratigraphic units have been identified. They are closely related to the lithological framework which makes it possible to recognize diem also on well logs in this region. The Lower Tertiary seismic units, representing mainly marine sediments, have a uniform development mat can be correlated over large distances into the German part of the Roer Valley Graben. The marine to continental Upper Tertiary and Quaternary seismic units display a more complex development due to lateral facies changes (including prograding delta systems) and rift tectonics.

This paper presents an overview of a provisional lithostratigraphical framework for the Quaternary and Neogene deposits of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) (onshore). The objective is to provide a workable framework to aid future Quaternary mapping and research, and a stratigraphical scheme capable of use in a wide variety of applications. Using the full hierarchy, a supergroup, group and subgroup lithostratigraphy, based upon the primary mapping unit, the formation, is proposed. It is recommended that some classes of lithogenetically-defined deposits which, at present cannot be accorded formational status, should be assigned informally to one of the proposed groups or subgroups. The framework distinguishes one superficial deposits supergroup within which seven groups are defined: i) Crag Group, marine deposits (Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene); ii), Dunwich Group, fluvial deposits (pre-Anglian/pre-Elsterian); iii) Residual Deposits Group; iv) British Coastal Deposits Group, coastal and marine deposits (Anglian to Holocene); v) Britannia Catchments Group, fluvial, organic and mass movement deposits (Anglian to Holocene) within broadly defined catchment areas related to Late Devensian to present-day physiography; vi) Albion Glacigenic Group, glacigenic deposits (pre-Devensian/pre-Weichselian), and vii) Caledonia Glacigenic Group, glacigenic deposits (Devensian/Weichselian). North of the Devensian (Weichselian) ice-sheet limit, a series of glacigenic subgroups are defined geographically for the two glacigenic groups on the basis of mappable formations of till. The subgroups include associated formations of glaciofluvial and glaciolacustrine deposits. Consequently some of the glacigenic water-lain units may extend beyond the Devensian limit. Catchment subgroups of the Britannia Catchments Group are proposed for formations and lithogenetic units defined within broad present-day physiographic regions by major river drainage systems that have developed since Middle Pleistocene time. Lithostratigraphical description and correlation of formations will aid the refinement of the proposed framework and enable the development of lithostratigraphical maps and three-dimensional models. As well as offering a unified framework for onshore Quaternary and Neogene deposits the proposed supergroup, group and subgroup structure may prove useful for a wide range of regional applications (e.g. hydrological, hydrogeological, engineering).

The Zechstein salt in the Dutch part of the North Sea Basin played a key role in the generation of successful petroleum plays. This is not only because of its sealing capacity, but also because the salt occurs in structures that provide lateral and vertical traps. The structural styles of areas with thick salt and those with none- or thin salt are completely different during phases of extensional or compressional tectonics. This indicates that, indirectly, the depositional thickness of the main Zechstein salt is essential in regulating the loci of the Dutch petroleum systems. In this paper we aim at quantifying current ideas on the relationship between 1) depositional salt thicknesses; 2) structural style of the main structural elements identified in the Dutch subsurface; 3) timing of deformation; and 4) thickness of the overburden. By finalisation of TNO's subsurface mapping program (see Kombrink et al., this issue), several data products are available that allow evaluation of these relationships. The depositional thickness of the salt was estimated using iterative smoothing of the present day thickness, the results of which account both for regional thickness variations and volume preservation (99%). Fault-distribution analysis shows that faults are only able to penetrate salt with a depositional thickness of <300 m, a transition that demarcates the division between thin- and thick-skinned salt tectonics. In the southern offshore where the salt is thin or absent, the overburden shows the same fault pattern throughout the stratigraphic sequence. In the northern realm, where salt is thicker than 300 m, the salt layer acted as decollement and sub- and supra salt strain are dissimilar. A strong genetic and temporal relationship exists between periods of regional tectonism, halokinetic intensity and thickness distribution of the Zechstein overburden. This relationship is further proven by burial history analysis across two selected profiles in the northern offshore. The analysis focuses on the vertical distribution of the salt by taking into account the depositional and erosional history of the salt overburden, without a-priori defined periods of salt flow. The results corroborate the notion that platforms and highs experienced less extension during the major phases of Jurassic rifting and further suggest that the absence of a thick Jurassic overburden precludes major salt flow during this tectonic phase. Main salt flow was triggered during the Sub-Hercynian and later phases of compression resulting in salt pillow geometries. In the basinal areas, where the Jurassic succession is thickest, salt diapirs and walls formed that are almost exclusively linked to major subsalt faults. Main salt flow occurred during Late Kimmerian rifting, whereas some minor structuration occurred during Sub-Hercynian inversion.

Reactive-transport models contribute significantly to the field of modern geosciences. A general mathematical approach to solving models of complex biogeochemical systems is introduced. It is argued that even though mathematical models for reactive-transport simulations can be developed at various levels of approximation, the approach for their construction and application to the various compartments of the hydrosphere is fundamentally the same. The workings of coupled transport-reaction systems are described in more detail by means of examples, which demonstrate the similarities in the approach. Three models of the carbon dynamics in redox-stratified environments are compared: porous media flow problems in a coastal sediment and in a contaminated groundwater system; and a surface flow problem in a eutrophic estuary. Considering the interdisciplinary nature of such models, a Knowledge Base System for biogeochemical processes is proposed. Incorporation of the proposed knowledge base in an appropriate modeling framework, such as the Biogeochemical Reaction Network Simulator, proves an effective approach to the modeling of complex natural systems. This methodology allows for construction of multi-component reactive-transport models applicable to a wide range of problems of interest to the geoscientist.

More than 400 samples for paleobotanical and sedimentological investigations were collected from Late Pliocene and earliest Pleistocene beds in the open-cast lignite mine Hambach. They were analysed to obtain information about the paleoecology and paleoclimate of this time interval. The sedimentation type changed from a high-energy meandering fluvial system to floodplain, swamp and oxbow lake sedimentation. The typical Tertiary floral elements decreased with the onset of increasingly cooler climatic conditions and disappeared at the beginning of the Pleistocene to be substituted by a impoverished and coldadapted flora. These combined litho- and biostratigraphic investigations led to an improved and reproducible separation of Late Pliocene from Early Pleistocene deposits.

Solar activity, as manifested by its many equatorial as well as high-latitude components of short-term variability is regulated by the Sun’s dynamo. This constitutes an intricate interplay between the solar toroidal and poloidal magnetic field components. The dynamo originates in the tachocline, which is a thin layer situated about 200,000 km beneath the solar surface. The dynamo is a non-linear system with deterministic chaotic elements, hence in principle unpredictable. Yet there are regularities in the past behaviour, such as the Grand Maxima (example: the recent high maximum of the 2nd half of the 20th century) the Grand Minima (e.g. the Maunder Minimum between 1650 and 1710) and the Regular Oscillations such as those between 1730 and 1923. Their occurrences are described by a phase diagram in which a specific point can be identified: the Transition Point. This diagram plays an essential role in determining the future solar activity. Guided by its quasi-regularities and by recent measurements of the solar magnetic fields we find that the Sun is presently undergoing a transition between the past Grand Maximum and a forthcoming period of Regular Oscillations. We forecast that this latter period will start in a few years and will continue for at least one Gleissberg cycle and that the next solar maximum (expected for 2014) will be low (Rmax ~ 68).

We discuss the heliospheric drivers of Sun-climate interaction and find that the low-latitude magnetic regions contribute most to tropospheric temperatures but that also the influence of the - so far always neglected - polar activity is significant. Subtraction of these components from the observed temperatures of the past 400 years shows a residual series of relative peaks and dips in the temperature. These tops and lows last for periods of the order of the Gleissberg cycle. One of these is the recent period of global warming, which, from this point of view, is not an exceptional period.

Evidence-based interpretations of fluvial evolution, and especially of river-terrace formation, have advanced significantly in recent decades, with a notable contribution made by activities of the Fluvial Archives Group. Well-dated river-terrace sequences provide frameworks for the understanding of landscape evolution, since they record valley-floor levels that were higher in the past, attributable, from their patterns of occurrence, to regional uplift. The role of climate fluctuation during the Quaternary is also paramount, since this has been an important driver of the varied fluvial activity that has given rise to the staircases of terraces that characterise the temperate latitudes. This approach is contrasted with a more theoretical methodology for using rivers as recorders of landscape evolution, again with an emphasis on uplift, based on the concept of the formation of knickpoints at particular base levels and their migration upstream. Although different timescales can be explored by the two methods, the concept of headward-migrating knickpoints implies a mechanism for incision that is difficult to reconcile with the formation of the broadly parallel river terraces that are observed in many systems. Knickpoints can frequently be observed to coincide with gorge reaches, where river valleys are constricted as a result of resistant bedrock and/or the effects of localised active crustal deformation. This raises the possibility that knickpoints have generally formed in response to factors of local geology rather than migrating from downstream.

The 35.5 m thick Anisian section of theWinterswijkse Steen- en Kalkgroeve (Eastern Netherlands) comprises the Upper Röt (Upper Röt Claystone Member) to the basal Lower Muschelkalk (Oolith Member). In the section 15 terrestrial or marine influenced parasequences are recognized. A fourth order sequence shows the increasing marine influence. New marker beds, ten vertebrate track beds, three bone beds and cephalopod remains have been documented. This enabled correlation to other sections in NW Germany. The tracks found in the Winterswijkse Steen- en Kalkgroeve at the boundary Röt/Lower Muschelkalk are linked to the oldest known vertebrate skeleton remains of the Germanic Basin. It is the first time that the exact stratigraphic position of these vertebrate remains has been established. In the terrestrial influenced section of the Winterswijkse Steen- en Kalkgroeve, the well preserved vertebrate track ways and vertebrate fauna will be of international importance and will provide new data of theTriassic carbonate tidal flat megatracksite concept and reptiles living in this environment.

Floodplain topography and related hydraulic patterns of overbank flow constitute a major control on the amounts and patterns of sediment deposition on floodplains. We studied the differences in sediment deposition at two scales along two river branches of the lower River Rhine in the Netherlands: the Waal and IJssel River. Human alterations like levelling and embankment construction have severely impacted the floodplains along the Waal River branch (average discharge: 1500 m3·s‒1), whereas the relatively wide floodplains along the IJssel River (average discharge: 250 m3·s‒1) still exhibit their characteristic ridge-and-swale topography and natural levees. We found that, in general, the amounts of sediment deposited sediment decreases with increasing distance to the sediment source. Clay and organic matter content generally increase with decreasing floodplain elevation. These trends are, however, far less pronounced in the Waal River floodplains than in the IJssel River floodplains. Sediment deposited on the IJssel River floodplains also contains significantly more sand than the sediment deposited on the Waal River floodplains, probably because of the absence of minor embankments along the IJssel River and its higher sinuosity. Furthermore, during inundation the individual Waal River floodplains receive more sediment per unit area than the IJssel River floodplains. At the scale of the river branch, however, the conveyance losses in the Waal River are less than in the IJssel River, because of the larger surface area of the floodplains along the IJssel River relative to its water and sediment discharge during flood events. This discrepancy stresses that both the individual floodplain sections and the total river branch should be taken into account when studying the role of overbank deposition as part of a river’s sediment budget.

The youngest representatives of ‘true’ (= non-tegulated) inoceramid bivalves (Inoceramidae) are described from intervals 3-6 of the Vijlen Member (Gulpen Formation), of late early and early late Maastrichtian age, as exposed at quarries and temporary sections in northeast Belgium (CPL SA-Haccourt and CBR-Lixhe quarries) and the Aachen area (Germany), i.e. the extended type area of the Maastrichtian Stage. In total, twelve taxa are recognised from levels which are correlative with the Calcaire à Baculites of Manche (France), as well as with the Tercis les Bains section in southwest France, the Wisła (Vistula) River sections (central Poland) and the Western Interior of the United States. Associated cephalopods allow a detailed correlation between biozones based on those groups and on inoceramid bivalves.

Geothermal low enthalpy heat in non-magmatic areas can be produced by pumping hot water from aquifers at large depth (>1 km). Key parameters for aquifer performance are temperature, depth, thickness and permeability. Geothermal exploration in the Netherlands can benefit considerably from the wealth of oil and gas data; in many cases hydrocarbon reservoirs form the lateral equivalent of geothermal aquifers. In the past decades subsurface oil and gas data have been used to develop 3D models of the subsurface structure. These models have been used as a starting point for the mapping of geothermal reservoir geometries and its properties. A workflow was developed to map aquifer properties on a regional scale. Transmissivity maps and underlying uncertainty have been obtained for 20 geothermal aquifers. Of particular importance is to take into account corrections for maximum burial depth and the assessment of uncertainties. The mapping of transmissivity and temperature shows favorable aquifer conditions in the northern part of the Netherlands (Rotliegend aquifers), while in the western and southern parts of the Netherlands aquifers of the Triassic and Upper Cretaceous / Jurassic have high prospectivity. Despite the high transmissivity of the Cenozoic aquifers, the limited depth and temperature reduce the prospective geothermal area significantly.

The results show a considerable remaining uncertainty of transmissivity values, due to lack of data and heterogeneous spatial data distribution. In part these uncertainties may be significantly reduced by adding well test results and facies parameters for the map interpolation in future work. For underexplored areas this bears a significant risk, but it can also result in much higher flowrates than originally expected, representing an upside in project performance.

A selection of reflection-seismic lines from the southern part of the Central European Basin System and its southern margin were used to establish the spectrum of extensional and compressional deformation structures and to calibrate the timing of these events. The lines are arranged in a N-S and an E-W transect running across the Pompeckj Block and the Lower Saxony Basin in Northern Germany. The structural record provided by the seismic data points to an interplay between far-field horizontal stresses and vertical movements of the basin floor, the latter only weakly correlated with the development of seismic-scale tectonic structures. A detailed seismo-stratigraphic analysis indicates that Late Triassic-Jurassic extension has been the principal control on the structure of the E-W profile, whereas the N-S profile is dominated by compressional structures associated with Late Cretaceous inversion. Overprint effects of extension and inversion tectonics can be classified among a few distinct tectonic events accompanied by movements of the Upper Permian salt: firstly, an episode of subsidence and diapiric rise in the Keuper; secondly, a clear Jurassic-to-Early Cretaceous extension recorded by normal faulting and differential subsidence. The latter was interrupted by a major episode of Late Jurassic uplift. Thirdly, a Late Cretaceous-Early Paleogene basin inversion was associated with approximately N-S compression; and fourthly, recurring extension during the Cenozoic associated with diapiric rise and collapse. The Mesozoic extension is expressed in a number of normal faults that were most active during the Early Cretaceous localised subsidence within the Lower Saxony Basin. The deformation associated with the Late Cretaceous inversion was partly decoupled along the salt. The compressional deformation at the southern margin of the basin was thick-skinned in style, characterized by folding and faulting of the Mesozoic sedimentary fill and pre-Zechstein strata. Further north, towards the centre of the basin, folding and reverse faulting were mostly concentrated above the salt. The tectonic evolution of the investigated area suggests the presence of a zone of crustal weakness along the SW margin of the Central European Basin System which allowed strain localization in response to a favourable oriented stress field.

The coversands along the Bree fault escarpment, NE Belgium, were investigated by a combined dating approach including infrared optically stimulated luminescence (IRSL), thermoluminescence (TL) and radiocarbon methods. Four trenches were excavated cutting the fault scarp near the village of Bree in northeast Belgium. Altogether 17 luminescence samples and seven radiocarbon samples were investigated in order to set up a more reliable and precise chronological frame for the local coversand stratigraphy and the timing of Late Quaternary earthquake events. The chronological results indicate at least five accumulation periods for the coversand units in the area of interest. The oldest coversands were deposited during Saalian or Early Weichselian followed by coversands deposited during the Early and/or Middle Weichselian. At least three coversand units can be distinguished for the time span of the Late Weichselian to Holocene. Significant TL age underestimation of more than 20% compared to IRSL was found for samples from Trench 4. Most of the IRSL age estimates are in agreement with radiocarbon dates from the same section.

At the locality of Heidebos (Moervaart area, N Flanders, Belgium), a sedimentary core was taken in the Maldegem-Stekene coversand ridge and dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). The study aimed at contributing to an improved understanding of the evolution of the physical landscape around archaeological settlements in this area. The core comprised a 7 m thick series of laminated and massive aeolian sands, in which several organic layers were intercalated. From this sequence, 11 samples were collected for quartz-based SAR-OSL dating; an internally consistent dataset was obtained. The ages of the lowermost 1 m of the sedimentary sequence (15.5±1.1 ka and 17.3±1.3 ka) imply that these sediments may represent the time-equivalent deposit of a deflation phase that occurred during the Late Pleniglacial and led to the formation of a widespread desert pavement, regionally known as the Beuningen Gravel Bed. However, a significant part of the sediments (at least 4 m) was deposited later, i.e. during the Allerød and/or the Late Dryas. As such, the results allow establishing the genesis of the coversand ridge at the Heidebos locality on the basis of direct age information. The relatively high sedimentation rate and the absence of extensive soil formation in the record reflect periods of pronounced aeolian activity and landscape instability during the Late Glacial, which provides part of the environmental framework for human occupation in the area.

Recent core drillings, carried out during water-economic exploration in the area of Mannheim/Ludwigshafen/Schifferstadt (Rhine-Neckar region, Germany), have produced a more differentiated stratigraphic division of the Pleistocene sediments of the northern Upper Rhine Graben. Pollen analytical investigations as well as malacological, heavy mineral, palaeomagnetic and lithological research have led to a stratigraphic reinterpretation of the gravel layers and intermediate horizons. Based on the results of the pollen analyses, the Mannheim interglacial period in the upper intermediate horizon (Oberer Zwischenhorizont, OZH) cannot be assigned to the Eemian as stated earlier. The occurrence of Fagus, Celtis and Azolla, along with the results of malacological analyses, indicate a Cromerian age for the Mannheim Interglacial. In addition, a pollen sequence from a different interglacial in the core sediments from Schifferstadt could also be assigned to the Cromerian. The Schifferstadt Interglacial is divided into a lower optimum phase with high values of Ulmus, Quercus and Corylus while Carpinus is completely absent, and an upper optimum phase with low values of Carpinus. Fagus is absent in the whole sequence. The OZH comprises not only the two interglacial pollen sequences described above but also parts of at least four Middle Pleistocene Interglacials. In the lower part of the drillings in Schifferstadt and Ludwigshafen, which are assigned to the Early Pleistocene, pollen assemblages with Fagus are likely to correlate with parts of the Tiglian A substage. There is a clear change to a Tertiary type of pollen flora at 91 m at Schifferstadt and at 186 m in Ludwigshafen.