Slochteren Formation

Code
ROSL
Status
Formal (Van Adrichem Boogaert 1976). Amended (NAM & RGD 1980).
Lithological description

Sequence of usually red to pale red-brown, occasionally yellow or grey, sandstones and conglomerates with subordinate amounts of intercalated dark red, red-brown or green-grey silty claystones. The sandstones show a wide range of grain sizes, textures and sedimentary structures. The uppermost tens of metres, immediately below the contact with the Zechstein Group, may show a massive, fluidised or brecciated, intensely cemented character (Mijnlieff et al. 2011, Appendix B).

Depositional setting

Aeolian - dunes and sand flats (dry, damp and wet). Water-laid - fluvial channel fills (low- and high-sinuous, highly ephemeral to perennial) and sheet floods. The associated fine-grained deposits have been attributed to lakes, interdune ponds and sabkha mudflats.

Definition of lower boundary

Unconformably overlies the Limburg Group (or locally volcanics of the Lower Rotliegend Group). In the area of Ameland and Terschelling it conformably overlies a tongue of the Silverpit Formation (Hollum Member or Buren Member).

Definition of upper boundary

Overlain by either red-brown claystones of the Silverpit Formation or black bituminous shales of the Coppershale Member of the Z1 (Werra) Formation.

Thickness indication
Up to 522 m.
Geographical distribution
Regional correlation
UK: Leman Sandstone Formation; GER: Dethlingen Formation and Hannover Formation; BEL: -.
Age
Capitanian - Wuchiapingian.
Holostratotype
Well:
Depth (thickness) AH:
2709 - 2856 m (147 m)
Hypostratotype
Well:
Depth (thickness) AH:
2949 - 3041 m (92 m)
Hypostratotype
Well:
Depth (thickness) AH:
3058 - 3167 m (109 m)
Origin of name
Named after the municipality of Slochteren, where the well Slochteren-1 discovered gas in the Upper Rotliegend Group in 1959, and consequently, the giant Groningen gasfield.
Previous name(s)
None.
Reviewed by (date)
Harmen Mijnlieff (2017).
References
Van Adrichem Boogaert, H.A. 1976. Outline of the Rotliegend (Lower Permian) in The Netherlands. In: Falke, H. (ed.), The continental Permian in Central, West, and South Europe, 23-37.
NAM & RGD 1980. Stratigraphic nomenclature of The Netherlands. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Nederlands Geologisch Mijnbouwkundig Genootschap 32, 77 p.
Cite as
TNO-GDN ([YEAR]). Slochteren Formation. In: Stratigraphic Nomenclature of the Netherlands, TNO – Geological Survey of the Netherlands. Accessed on [DATE] from https://www.dinoloket.nl/en/stratigraphic-nomenclature/slochteren-formation.