Climate proxies recorded in sediments from borehole Hank, Netherlands, for the Pliocene of the North Sea

Here, we present a multi-proxy record of Pliocene climate change in the coastal Southern North Sea Basin (SNSB) based on the sedimentary record from borehole Hank, the Netherlands (drilled by TNO, Dutch Geological Survey). We present the stable oxygen and carbon isotope (δ18O and δ13C) measurements of the endobenthic foraminifera species Cassidulina laevigata, and present a new age model for the late Pliocene of the Southern North Sea.

This results in a tuned age framework for the SNSB for the Late Pliocene (~3190-2770 ka). Our multi-proxy climate reconstruction for this interval includes biomarker-based SST reconstructions (TEX86, UK37, LDI).