Quaternary stratigraphy of the fladen area, central North Sea: A multidisciplinary study

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Abstract
Based on detailed stratigraphic investigations on a 200.6m long core (BGS borehole No. 81/26) from the Fladen Ground area (British sector), core material from the Sleipner field (Norwegian sector) and shallow seismic profiles between the core‐sites, the following conclusions are drawn: (1) The North Sea was glaciated sometime during th elaterpart of Matuyama reversed period. A complete glacial‐interglacial‐glacial cycle is recorded in these sediments. (2) In a period of marine sedimentation in the Middle Pleistocene, a transgression‐regression cycle under boreal‐arctic regime is recorded. (3) The Fladen area has subsided between 0.9 and 0.6 m/ka through the later parts of the Quaternary (4) A major glacial event dated at between 130 and 200 ka is recorded as a thick till unit in 81/26. This till, which was deposited by ice moving from the southwest (Scotland), probably represents a period when the Scandinavian and British ice sheets coalesced in the North Sea. (5) Based on the seismic data and the stratigraphy of the Sleipner core, an ice‐free, open embayment/dry land is favoured for the central North Sea during the Late Weichselian. (6) From the amino‐acid data, it is shown that there has been an episodic style of sedimentation through the Quaternary. (7) of the investigated sediments (which span the last 1 mill. year) ca 98% have been deposited under arctic to boreal‐arctic conditions.