Next steps in palaeogeographic mapping of the Lower Meuse Valley to unravel tectonic and climate forcing

Abstract

In the Netherlands the Meuse terrace sequence has been studied in detail since the 1960ies. The youngest, lowest levels of terraces are shown to hold remnants of glacial-stage braided plains from the Weichselian Late Pleniglacial and Younger Dryas stadials, but also of meandering channel belts of Allerød interstadial and Holocene interglacial stages. Whereas geological-geomorphological reconstructions, in principle, allow to identify interaction between river morphology and forcing factors such as climate change and tectonics, and to explore and explain temporal and spatial changes herein. In practice, however, the many studies in this area so-far each covered restricted parts of the Meuse valley and/or restricted time periods. A truly integrated reconstruction of Lower Meuse geomorphological activity since the Weichselian Last Glacial Maximum, is lacking. Because a river’s response to the same external forcing may vary along the river system, with hindsight, some regional differences along the river Meuse may have been insufficiently considered in the maps produced so far. In addition, a wealth of new data, mainly from archaeological exploration, has become available in the past years. For unravelling of tectonic (active and passive) from climatic controls in the Meuse valley an updated, consistent and detailed palaeogeographical reconstruction is needed, which this study aims at.