The information on this page is a summary description.
The full formal description is available here: Gent Formation
Abbreviation
Gt
Parent unit
Child units
Lithological description
The Gent Formation was introduced by Paepe (1976; p. 28) to include all coversands deposited during the Weichselian. Gullentops et al. (2001) extended the chronostratigraphic meaning of the Gent Formation to all sandy aeolian coversand deposits dating from the Middle Pleistocene to the Holocene. In the classification here proposed, the Gent Formation not only includes the coversands but all types of aeolian sand deposits present in the coastal area, the coversand area and the so-called transitional area, the latter lying in between the coversand and the loess area. Compared to those in the coversand area, aeolian deposits in the transitional area are characterised by an increase in the silt fraction. This new classification is based on lithological characteristics only, in contrast to former schemes that also used chronostratigraphical and geomorphological criteria. The usage of terms as coversand and dune sand is therefore abandoned, as they refer to aeolian sands that drape the landscape in a more or less continuous way (coversands), or to distinct morphological shapes (dunes). The present classification uses macroscopic features (including soil horizons, cryogenic structures, etc.) to rank the sediments; in sections of sediment successions, these features can be diagnostic for the different chronostratigraphical periods that the sediment units represent. The Gent Formation is subdivided in 5 Members.
Age
Thickness
Area of occurrence
Type locality
Alternative names
Authors
Beerten, K., Bogemans, F., Heyvaert, V., Vandenberghe, D. & Van Nieuland, J.
Date
15/01/2016
Cite as
Beerten, K., Bogemans, F., Heyvaert, V., Vandenberghe, D. & Van Nieuland, J., 2016. The Gent Formation, 15/01/2016. National Commission for Stratigraphy Belgium. http://ncs.naturalsciences.be/lithostratigraphy/Gent-Formation
