Waalre Formation

Code
NUWA
Status
Formal (Westerhoff & Weerts 2003).
Lithological description

Stacked fining-upward sequences. Grey ro greyish white very fine to very coarse sand, micaceous, multi-coloured with reddish particles in coarse fraction, locally gravelly (in lags). Bluish grey to brownish grey clay beds and laminae, silty to sandy, with sporadic peat layers and siderite.

Depositional setting

Fluvial and estuarine (Rhine), including high-energy channel (lags marking channel base) and point bar, as well as low-energy abandoned channel (laminated clay with interbedded sand), floodplain (humic fine-grained facies with local peat or lignite layers), levee and crevasse (intercalated sand and clay). Estuarine and lagoonal (silty clay with local organic and sand layers).

Definition of lower boundary

Locally, gravel lag. Unconformable, commonly sharp contact with paler fluvial sand and clay (Kieseloolite Formation) or glauconitic and shelly shallow-marine sand and clay (Breda, Oosterhout and Maassluis formations).

Definition of upper boundary

Commonly, sharp contact with paler small-sclae fluvial or aeolian sand (Stramproy Formation), coarser and more gravelly fluvial sand (Peize, Beegden, Sterksel, Urk and Kreftenheye formations), or shelly marine sediment (Eem Formation). Gradual transition into tidal sand and clay (Naaldwijk Formation).

Thickness indication
Up to about 140 m in the Roer Valley Graben.
Geographical distribution
Northward, gradual transition into interfingering paler and coarser deposits of northern rivers (Peize Formation; Van de Meene et al. 1988; Verbraeck 1984). Westward, gradual transition into interfingering shallow-marine sand (Maassluis Formation).
Regional correlation
North Sea: IJmuiden Ground, Winterton Shoal and Yarmouth Roads Formations, defined en mapped in conjunction with the British Geological Survey (Cameron et al. 1984); UK: not present; GER: Ältere Hauptterrassen and Tegelen (Brunnacker et al. 1978; Brunnacker 1980; Klostermann 1992); BEL: Kempen Group (Wouters & Vandenberghe 1994) with Malle and Weelde Formations.
Age
late Pliocene (Reuverian) - early Pleistocene (Menapian).
Holostratotype
Depth (thickness) AH:
126 - 154 m (28 m) below land surface
Hypostratotype
Depth (thickness) AH:
4.2 - 55.0 m (50.8 m) below land surface
Hypostratotype
Depth (thickness) AH:
53.78- 60.25 m (6.47 m) below land surface
Origin of name
Named after the village of Waalre in the southeastern Netherlands.
Previous name(s)
Merger of Tegelen Formation, excluding its Meuse deposits, fluvial deposits (Rhine) of the Kedichem Formation, and deposits of a Rhine predecessor marked by reworked easterly material (Harderwijk Formation) (cf. Doppert et al. 1975).
Reviewed by (date)
Wim Dubelaar (2018), Sytze van Heteren (2019).
References
Brunnacker, K. 1980. Exkursion I. Mittel- und Niederrhein. Tagung Deutsche Quartärvereinigung, Aachen, 110 p.
Brunnacker, K., Boenigk, W., Dolezalek, B., Kempf, E.K., Koçi, A., Mentzen, H., Razi Rad, M., Winter, K.-P. 1978. Die Mittelterassen am Niederrhein zwischen Köln und Mönchengladbach. Fortschritte in der Geologie von Rheinland und Westfalen, Krefeld, 28, 277-324.
Cameron, T.D.J., Laban C., Schüttenhelm, R.T.E. 1984. Flemish Bight: sheet 52°N/02°E. Quaternary Geology, 1 : 250 000 series British Geological Survey and Geological Survey of the Netherlands.
Doppert, J.W.Chr., Ruegg, G.H.J., Van Staalduinen, C.J., Zagwijn, W.H., Zandstra, J.G. 1975. Formaties van het Kwartair en Boven-Tertiair in Nederland. In: Zagwijn, W.H., Van Staalduinen, C.J. (eds.): Toelichting bij geologische overzichtskaarten van Nederland. Rijks Geologische Dienst, Haarlem, 11-56.
Klostermann, J. 1992. Das Quartär der Niederrheinischen Bucht. Geologisches Landesamt Nordrhein-Westfalen, Krefeld, 200 p.
Van de Meene, E.A., Van Meerkerk, M., Van der Staay, J. 1988. Toelichtingen bij de Geologische kaart van Nederland 1:50.000. Blad Utrecht Oost (31O). Rijks Geologische Dienst, Haarlem.
Verbraeck, A. 1984, Toelichtingen bij de Geologische kaart van Nederland 1:50.000. Blad Tiel West (39W) en Tiel Oost (39O). Rijks Geologische Dienst, Haarlem.
Westerhoff, W.E., Weerts, H.J.T. 2003. Beschrijving lithostratigrafische eenheid. Nederlands Instituut voor Toegepaste Geowetenschappen TNO. Utrecht.
Wouters, L., Vandenberghe, N. 1994. De Geologie van de Kempen: een synthese. NIRAS, NIROND 94-11, 208 p.
Cite as
TNO-GDN ([YEAR]). Waalre Formation. In: Stratigraphic Nomenclature of the Netherlands, TNO – Geological Survey of the Netherlands. Accessed on [DATE] from https://www.dinoloket.nl/en/stratigraphic-nomenclature/waalre-formation.