CYCLIC SEDIMENTATION IN TERTIARY LOWER-RHINE BASIN (GERMANY) - THE LIEGENDRUCKEN OF THE BROWN-COAL OPEN-CAST FORTUNA MINE

In the Lower-Rhine Basin, at the northwestern headlands of the Schiefe rgebirge in western Germany, the Oligocene-Miocene Koln Formation once was splendidly exposed in the former Fortuna mine, one of the open-ca st mines of the regional brown-coal mining industry. There, a complex 60 m thick elastic marine shoreline succession was studied. Coastal ma rine sediments were formed along a high-energy coast in the basal sedi ment-fill of the basin. Due to repeated ingressions of the Tertiary No rth Sea, a number of subtidal to supratidal coastal onlap cycles devel oped. This study provides first knowledge about cyclic sedimentation i n the Tertiary of the Lower-Rhine Basin.