ABSTRACT
The geological evolution of the Netherlands has resulted in the development of a highly structured and surprisingly varied subsurface geology beneath a deceptively flat topography. In large parts of the Dutch subsurface, more than 10 km of predominantly siliciclastic sedimentary rocks overlie the metamorphic basement. Although several major unconformities are recorded in these strata, the geological record is represented by sedimentary rocks from the Late Paleozoic onwards. The basins, platforms and highs present in the subsurface formed in response to global reorganizations of lithospheric plates. The main tectonic events that affected the area were: 1) the Caledonian and Variscan orogenies, resulting from the assembly of the Pangea supercontinent during the Paleozoic, 2) repeated rifting during the Mesozoic, related to the break-up of Pangea, 3) Alpine inversion, resulting initially from the rotation of the Iberian Peninsula and the later collision of Africa and Europe during the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene, and 4) Oligocene to Quaternary development of the European Cenozoic rift system coupled with strong, long wavelength vertical motions resulting from the opening of the Atlantic and the convergence of Africa-Europe. Notwithstanding the high degree of diversity of these events, faults are mainly parallel to each other and form predominantly NW-SE oriented structures. The general structural model is, therefore, one of repeated (oblique) reactivation of basement faults that maintain a control of the structural grain, independent of tectonic regime and stress direction. Thick Permian Zechstein salt in large parts of the subsurface was deformed during phases of extensive salt tectonics that led to structural reorganization, and (partial) decoupling of the basin fill from sub-salt faulting. The initiation of salt movement resulted in most cases from reactivation of (deep) basement faults.
