The morphology of the top-Tertiary erosion surface in the Belgian sector of the North Sea

The detailed analysis of more than 12,000 km of high resolution reflection seismic profiles has shed some new light on the morphology of the erosion surface at the top of the Tertiary substratum in the Belgian and Northern French sectors of the North Sea. This morphology seems to be slightly controlled by the lithology and structure of the Tertiary substratum. Some remarkable planation surfaces, paleovalleys and other morphological features have been identified. The main planation surfaces are well defined and, subject to later chronostratigraphical control, might yield a clue to the record of Late Pleistocene postglacial sea level rises in the southern North Sea basin. The paleovalleys seem to represent the hitherto missing link between onshore paleovalley systems and the axial paleochannel in the Southern Bight