Open AccessThe Watten boring ‐ an Early Weichselian and Holocene climatic and palaeoecological record from the French North Sea coastal plain
Author(s) -
SOMMÉ JEAN,
MUNAUT ANDRÉV.,
EMONTSPOHL ANNEFRANCOISE,
LIMONDIN NICOLE,
LEFÈVRE DAVID,
CUNATBOGÈ NICOLE,
MOUTHON JACQUES,
GILOT ÉTIENNE
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
boreas
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.95
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1502-3885
pISSN - 0300-9483
DOI - 10.1111/j.1502-3885.1994.tb00945.x
Subject(s) - geology , holocene , stadial , fluvial , paleontology , sea level , palynology , sedimentology , coastal plain , holocene climatic optimum , oceanography , pollen , ecology , structural basin , biology
A deep boring (30 m), carried out at Watten (Nord, France) in 1990, has provided an opportunity to undertake palaeoecological studies based on stratigraphy, sedimentology, palynology, malacology and 14 C datings on Early Weichselian and Holocene deposits. The location of the site in the inner zone of the coastal plain, extending in the Aa valley from the southernmost shores of the North Sea upstream to Watten, allows the comparison between interstadials recorded in a pure fluvial environment and the overlying Holocene sediments, in which alternation of marshy, fluvial and marine deposits are observed. The Early Weichselian sequence can be correlated with the Brørup and Odderade interstadials described in northwestern Europe, and belongs within the same palaeogeographical area. At that time the conditions were already continental at Watten. However, the last (Holocene) interglacial has been characterized, at least since the Boreal chronozone, by an oceanic climate and a progressive invasion of the sea, sometimes interrupted by stillstands and withdrawals.