The Upper Rotliegend Group in the Netherlands offshore is reevaluated with (1) a sequence stratigraphic analysis and correlation over 150 wells throughout the Netherlands offshore, and (2) a high-resolution cyclicity analysis of each sequence.

Climate change was the driving force controlling the sequence development and sedimentary facies distribution in the Upper Rotliegend continental basin. Sequence boundaries represent the maximum rate of increasing aridity causing rapid fall of the lake level and groundwater table, followed by a period of lowstand of the lake. Maximum flooding surfaces represent the maximum rate of increasing humidity causing rapid rise of the lake level and groundwater table, followed by a period of highstand of the lake. The systems tract is characterized by the bounding-surface type, the position within the sequence, and the climate-controlled sedimentary facies patterns. With this concept, 12 third-order sequences, which belong to five supersequences, have been discerned and correlated in the Upper Rotliegend of the Netherlands offshore. Their distribution shows a successive onlapping onto the basin flank.

Spectral analysis reveals a number of higher-order cycles (wavelengths 1 to 10 m) within the third-order sequences. The ratios between these wavelengths are very close to the ratios between Milankovitch periods for the Early Permian; therefore, these higher-order cycles are linked to the Milankovitch cycles. Using this approach, most third-order sequences can be estimated to have a duration of 0.7-1.4 m.y. and net sediment accumulation rates of 6-11 cm/k.y. The Upper Rotliegend of the Netherlands has a time duration of 10.7 m.y. (266.8-256.1 Ma), i.e., within the Artinskian and the Kungurian stages.

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