Petrology of the Paleocene Sedimentary Rocks of Denmark

Abstract

As the works on the petrology of the Danish sediments are only few and far between in the literature, the author of the present work has commenced upon an examination of these sediments. The author has made a commencement with the Paleocene, owing to the interesting sedimentary-petrological problems connected with it. In the Cretaceous we have sediments which mostly are organogenous or chemical calcareous rocks; in the Paleocene on the contrary the rocks are for the most part terrigenous elastic sands, marls and clays. Therefore, as the Paleocene lies transgressively over the Cretaceous, the boundary between the two represents a turning-point, both palaeogeographically and petrologically. Many characteristics in the series and the rock-types prove to be connected with this circumstance. Great weight has been attached in this work to a thorough analysis of the rocks, and consequently the greater part of it treats of the outcrops, from which abundant material could be procured for the investigation. The material from borings through the Paleocene has been employed for elucidating the facies-variations in the series in different parts of the country.