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Geological Magazine; January 2009; v. 146; no. 1; p. 92-112; DOI: 10.1017/S0016756808005438
© 2009 Cambridge University Press (CUP)
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Pliocene dinoflagellate cyst stratigraphy, palaeoecology and sequence stratigraphy of the Tunnel-Canal Dock, Belgium

STIJN DE SCHEPPER*,*, MARTIN J. HEAD{dagger} and STEPHEN LOUWYE{ddagger}

* Cambridge Quaternary, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge CB2 3EN, UK
{dagger} Department of Earth Sciences, Brock University, 500 Glenridge Avenue, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada
{ddagger} Palaeontology Research Unit, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 – S8, B-9000 Gent, Belgium

* Author for correspondence: present address – Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Universität Bremen, Postfach 330 440, D-28334 Bremen, Germany; e-mail: sdeschepper{at}uni-bremen.de

Dinoflagellate cysts and sequence stratigraphy are used to date accurately the Tunnel-Canal Dock section, which contains the most complete record of marine Pliocene deposits in the Antwerp harbour area. The Zanclean Kattendijk Formation was deposited between 5.0 and 4.4 Ma during warm-temperate conditions on a shelf influenced by open-marine waters. The overlying Lillo Formation is divided into four members. The lowest is the Luchtbal Sands Member, estimated to have been deposited between 3.71 and 3.21 Ma, under cooler conditions but with an open-water influence. The Oorderen Sands, Kruisschans Sands and Merksem Sands members of the Lillo Formation are considered a single depositional sequence, and biostratigraphically dated between 3.71 and c. 2.6 Ma, with the Oorderen Sands Member no younger than 2.72–2.74 Ma. Warm-temperate conditions had returned, but a cooling event is noted within the Oorderen Sands Member. Shoaling of the depositional environment is also evidenced, with the transgressive Oorderen Sands Member passing upwards into (near-)coastal high-stand deposits of the Kruisschans Sands and Merksem Sands members, as accommodation space decreased. Applying sequence stratigraphy to our section implies that the Kattendijk/Lillo Formation boundary corresponds to the sequence boundary (SB) Za2 (4.04 Ma), the Luchtbal/Oorderen sands boundary to SB Pia1 (3.21 Ma), and the top of the Merksem Sands to SB Pia2 (2.76 Ma). Finally, the Belgian deposits are compared with marine Pliocene deposits of eastern England.

Key Words: dinoflagellate cyst • palynology • Pliocene • North Sea • sequence stratigraphy






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