New marine warm-temperate molluscan assemblage demonstrates warm conditions during the Middle Pleistocene of the North Sea Basin. (7th February 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wesselingh, Frank P.; Meijer, Tom; Harting, Ronald; Bakker, Marcel; Busschers, Freek S.
• Is Part Of: Geologie en mijnbouw. Volume 102(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-02-07
• Subjects: marine biogeography -- Middle Pleistocene -- North Sea Basin -- stratigraphy; Geology -- Periodicals; Geology -- Netherlands -- Periodicals; Mines and mineral resources -- Periodicals; 551.05
• DOI: 10.1017/njg.2023.1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0016-7746

Abstract

Abstract: We report a marine Middle Pleistocene mollusc fauna from a borehole near Luxwoude (Friesland, northern Netherlands). The fauna contains several species, including Bittium species, Acanthocardia paucicostata and Polititapes senescens, that hitherto have been used as indicative for warm (lusitanian) conditions in the southern North Sea Basin during the Late Pleistocene Eemian (MIS5e) interglacial. However, the stratigraphic context of the Luxwoude marine fauna indicates a MIS11 or older age for this new fauna. This thermophilous fauna demonstrates very warm-temperate conditions and probably an open marine connection through the Dover Strait towards the south, during this Middle Pleistocene interglacial. In the North Sea basin, this distinctive lusitanian fauna with Bittium -dominated assemblages can therefore no longer be presumed to be of Eemian age without additional evidence.