Neotectonics of The Netherlands: a review

The neotectonic vertical motions in and around the Roer Valley Rift System have affected the courses of the Rhine and Meuse rivers from Pliocene times until the present. In addition, a fluvial terrace staircase developed along the Meuse river in response to the uplift of the Ardennes-Rhenish Massif and its foreland, for example near Maastricht. Furthermore, small fault scarps are present along segments of the bounding fault zones of the Roer Valley Graben: the Peel Boundary Fault Zone and the Feldbiss Fault Zone. In other parts of the Netherlands the neotectonic vertical motions have no direct expression in the morphology. Examples of possible indirect control on the morphology in these areas occur in glacial landscapes, the Zuiderzee Basin and the coastal zone.