Netherlands Journal of Geosciences — Geologie en Mijnbouw |94 – 2 | 157–183 | 2015 doi:10.1017/njg.2015.4 Holocene landscape reconstruction of the Wadden Sea area between Marsdiep and Weser Explanation of the coastal evolution and visualisation of the landscape development of the northern Netherlands and Niedersachsen in five palaeogeographical maps from 500 BC to present P.C. Vos1,∗ &E.Knol2 1 Deltares, Department of Applied Geology and Geophysics, PO Box 85467, 3508 AL Utrecht, the Netherlands 2 Groninger Museum, PO Box 90, 9700 ME, Groningen, the Netherlands ∗ Corresponding author: Email:
[email protected] Manuscript received: 7 August 2014, accepted: 12 January 2015 Abstract This paper describes the background of five palaeogeographical maps between the Marsdiep and the Weser River, and discusses the natural and anthropogenic processes driving the coastal changes during the last part of the Holocene. Before 2500 BC, during the first half of the Holocene, tidal basins were formed in the lower lying Pleistocene valley system as a result of the Holocene sea-level rise. The tidal basins were filled during the second half of the Holocene and on the deposits from the Pleistocene in the hinterland large coastal peat bogs developed. These peat bogs were vulnerable and sensitive to marine ingressions when the peat surface subsided due to drainage, compaction and erosion. During the Subatlantic (450 BC to present), the different ingression systems in the coastal area between Marsdiep and Weser had their own histories in timing and evolution. The ingressions were naturally caused by lateral migration of coastal barrier and tidal-inlet systems or by changes in the natural drainage system in the hinterland.