Insectivore remains are not common in the Lower Oligocene of Europe. For this reason, the study of the earliest Oligocene insectivore fauna (MP 21) from Boutersem and Hoogbutsel, all together yielding nine species, representing five families, constitutes an important progress in the knowledge of the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene insectivore evolution. Some of the genera discovered in Belgium are known from upper Eocene sites (Saturninia, Amphidozotherium, Euronyctia, Eotalpa), whereas others are not known before the Oligocene (Butselia, Tetracus, Heterosoricinae ind.). The co-occurrence of primitive species of Nyctitheriidae with modern forms belonging to the Plesiosoricidae, Talpidae and Erinaceidae at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary suggests a transition fauna. Between the Priabonian (Late Eocene) and the Rupelian (Early Oligocene), the endemic European insectivores were in competition with the new immigrants. This faunal turnover is generally accepted as the ‘Grande Coupure’ event (the MP 21 event).

From Upper Campanian turbiditic marls at Beckum in the Münster Basin (NW Germany) the anterior portion of a mosasaurid premaxilla with abutting fragments of the left and right maxilla is described and referred to the genus Clidastes. It shows the process of tooth replacement very well. This taxon is recorded for the first time from Germany. Clidastes co-existed in central Europe with other mosasaurids such as representatives of the genus Leiodon and Mosasauridae indet.

To date, igneous rocks, either intrusive or extrusive, have been encountered in the Palaeozoic-Mesozoic sedimentary series of the Netherlands in some 65 exploration and production wells. Following 17 new isotopic K/Ar age determinations of the recovered rock material (amounting to a total of 28 isotopic ages from 21 different wells), analysis of the stratigraphic distribution of the penetrated igneous rock bodies showed that the timing of their emplacement was importantly controlled by orogenic phases involving intra-plate wrench and rift tectonics. Magmatism coincided with the Acadian (Late Devonian), Sudetian (early Late Carboniferous), Saalian (Early Permian), Early Kimmerian (late Late Triassic), Mid-Kimmerian (Late Jurassic), Late Kimmerian (earliest Cretaceous) and Austrian (latest Early Cretaceous) tectonic phases. This synchroneity presumably reflects (broadly) coeval structural reorganizations of respectively the Baltica/Fennoscandinavia-Laurentia/Greenland, Laurussia-Gondwana, African-Eurasia and Greenland/Rockall-Eurasia plate assemblies. Through their concomitant changes of the intra-plate tectonic stress regime, inter-plate motions induced intra-plate tectonism and magmatism. These plate-tectonics related events determined the tectonomagmatic history of the Dutch realm by inducing the formation of localized centres, as well as isolated spot occurrences, of igneous activity. Some of these centres were active at (about) the same time. At a number of centres igneous activity re-occurred after a long period of time.

Preliminary stable oxygen isotope data are presented from the southern North Sea Basin successions, ranging from the Lutetian to Rupelian. Analyses were performed on fish otoliths, nuculid bivalves and benthic foraminifera and are presented as bulk δ18O values relative to a well established regional sequence stratigraphic framework. The most significant positive shift in δ18O values clearly falls at the top of the regionally recognised Bassevelde 3 sequence, which base corresponds to the Eocene-Oligocene GSSP boundary. The here documented δ18O shift is closely associated with the base of the traditional Rupelian unit-stratotype and is tentatively correlated to the globally recognised Oi-1 event.

The regional subsurface temperature field at the transition between the Palaeozoic Variscan Basement and the Cenozoic Lower Rhine Basin in Dutch, German and Belgium territories was mapped up to a depth of 1000 m. Temperature data from 66 wells and 11 coal mine subcrops were available. In 46 wells, temperature logs, covering a cumulative depth interval of 6600 m, were measured for this study.

In the Netherlands, mineral extraction by means of dredging or quarrying meets with considerable societal resistance. Land surface lowering prior to large land reconstruction projects may raise fewer objections. We have calculated the potential yields of sand and gravel from land surface lowering embedded in planned building and construction projects, and in nature, farmland and recreation area development. Our primary data sets were a compilation of spatial plans for the period 1995 – 2005 and about 95,000 borehole descriptions. Even if embedded consistently, land surface lowering would contribute modestly (up to 5.4 Mio m3/a) to the filling sand provision (annual demand 45 – 50 Mio m3/a).

Spacio-temporal distribution patterns of North Sea Basin Early Oligocene (Rupelian) pteropoda (holoplanktonic gastropods: Mollusca, Gastropoda, Euthecosomata) are studied. These patterns indicate three short term invasions of a single pteropod species during the Rupelian. These invasions are indicated here as Clio blinkae Event, Praehyalocylis laxeannulata Event and Clio jacobae Event. The conspicuously short occurrences of the species, their abundances and some lithological features of the pteropod bearing strata lead to the conclusion that these plankton events are linked to sea level high-stands allowing currents from the worlds oceans to enter into the North Sea Basin.

This paper presents the results of a detailed rock magnetic and magnetostratigraphic study of the Lower Oligocene Rupelian unit-stratotype. Notwithstanding the relatively low intensity of the natural remanent magnetisation and the diverse and often unstable behaviour during demagnetisation, close-spaced sampling and accurate polarity determinations allowed us to determine the magnetic polarity zonation. The recognition of the characteristic magnetic polarity and the correlation with the standard magnetobiochronologic time scale yields an accurate chronostratigraphic dating of the Boom Clay Formation. The boundary between the geomagnetic chrons C12n and C12r nearly coincides with the lithostratigraphic boundary between theTerhagen and Putte Members. Rock magnetic techniques point to magnetite and probably also iron sulphides as the main magnetic remanence carriers. These magnetic minerals could, however, not be identified with classical mineralogical techniques performed on magnetic extractions. The failure to detect them may be due to the low concentration of these minerals, the small grain size, and the close physical relation with pyrite.

The investigation of foraminiferal assemblages from a series of Oligocene borehole sections allowed paleoenvironment and paleoclimate reconstructions for the Rupelian and Chattian (Lower and Upper Oligocene) Stages in their type region, the southern North Sea Basin. A striking feature coinciding with the Rupelian-Chattian (R-C) unconformity is the major change in paleotemperature and paleobathymetry. The shallow marine to restricted marine subtropical fauna at the base of the Chattian is in strong contrast with the deeper marine and cooler upper Rupelian assemblages. This study suggests that the early Chattian transgression is genetically related to a widespread major warming pulse, known as the Late Oligocene Warming Event.

The classical problem of the nature and age of the Rupelian-Chattian (Early-Late Oligocene) unconformity in its type region is here approached using organic walled dinoflagellate cyst (dinocyst) correlations between the North Sea Basin and well-calibrated central Italian (Tethyan Ocean) sections. Useful Oligocene dinocyst events are the last occurrence of Enneadocysta pectiniformis (~29.3 Ma), and the first occurrences of Saturnodinium pansum (~29.4 Ma), Distatodinium biffii (~27.9 Ma) and Artemisiocysta cladodichotoma (~26.7 Ma).The latter event marks the earliest Chattian. The improved correlations indicate that the Rupelian-Chattian (R-C) boundary is associated with the so-called ‘Oligocene Glacial Maximum’. This phase of important global cooling and glacio-eustatic sea level fall is genetically related to the unconformity between the classic Oligocene stages. Subsequent global warming (so-called ‘Late Oligocene Warming Event’), induced a major sea level rise, leading e.g. to the time-transgressive deposition of the typical basal Chattian glauconitic sands. The oldest of the Chattian units have a GPTS age of-26.7 Ma. It further appears that a hiatus of ~500 kyrs spans the classic Rupelian-Chattian unconformity.