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Syn-kinematic palaeogeographic evolution of the West European Platform: correlation with Alpine plate collision and foreland deformation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2017

W. Sissingh
W. Sissingh*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands. Email: w.sissingh@geo.uu.nl

Abstract

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Sequence stratigraphic correlations indicate that intermittent changes of the kinematic far-field stress-field regimes, and the associated geodynamic re-organisations at the plate-tectonic contacts of the African, Apulian, Iberian and European plates, affected the Tertiary palaeogeographic evolution of the West European Platform through a combination of intra-plate tectonics and fluctuations of relative sea level. A temporal sequence of first-order stages in structural, palaeotopographic and palaeohydrographic development of the platform can be distinguished from the Paleocene onwards. These formative stages are closely linked to major plate-boundary events involving the development of the Pyrenean and Alpine orogens, and can be traced throughout the West European Platform.

Keywords

Alpine Foreland BasinAquitaine BasinEuropean Cenozoic Rift Systempalaeogeographyplate-kinematicsParis BasinWest European Platform
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 85 , Issue 2 , June 2006 , pp. 131 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2006

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