Abstract The benthic foraminifera have been studied from a large number of samples collected from successions both in, and close to, the Brazos River (Falls County, Texas, U.S.A.) and from the cliffs of Stevns Klint (south of Copenhagen, Denmark). The sections from the Brazos River contain extensive and nearly continuous outcrops, recording the so-called “event” deposits and the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. Micropaleontological analysis of samples taken from the Mullinax-1 core, and some of the exposures in the Brazos River (and tributaries), have been investigated for benthic and planktic foraminifera, all of which are indicative of relatively shallow shelf conditions. The benthic foraminifera suffer a significant loss of diversity at the level of the “event” deposits, which appear to predate the micropaleontological Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, but no mass extinction is recorded. The agglutinated taxa almost disappear at this level, and the faunal changes indicate that there may have been a shallowing at that time. The benthic foraminifera from Stevns Klint are very different from those recorded in Texas, being typical of assemblages in the chalk facies of northwestern Europe. At the base of the Højerup Member (previously known as the Grey Chalk) there are significant changes in the benthic assemblage, again suggestive of a shallowing event at the level of two closely spaced hardgrounds, which often merge into a single horizon. The “event” deposits of the Brazos River successions may, therefore, be related to events associated with the hardground horizon at Stevns Klint, and the evidence for this interpretation is presented. This, and other, correlations provide data for the construction of a sequence stratigraphy for the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary interval.

Abstract Rocks from the Chalk Group host important reservoirs of groundwater onshore Denmark and oil and gas in the North Sea. Fine-scale heterogeneity of rocks from the Chalk Group is investigated by stochastic modeling conditioned by first-arrival crosshole GPR traveltimes and lithology data from boreholes. The water-saturated carbonate-dominated rocks contain sharp contrasts among highly porous low-velocity carbonate, thin intercalations of flint, and hardened low-porosity carbonate of higher velocity. The stochastic simulation algorithm can model the contrasting lithologies effectively. It is found that bimodal distributions produce geologically plausible representations of the subsurface. Moreover, the variety of tested stochastic models that honors the specified data uncertainties and prior information provide a good overview of possible subsurface scenarios that the combined data set allows for. Results motivate future GPR-based tracer tests and time-lapse studies for generation of new knowledge of the dynamics of Chalk Group fluid flow.

Abstract Chalk flows are flow slides that develop under certain circumstances from falls in chalk slopes. They are characterized chiefly by the mobility of the debris, which can run out over near-horizontal surfaces for as much as five to six times the slope height. After a brief account of the stratigraphy and extent of the Upper Cretaceous exposures of northwest Europe, chalk flows are described in outline, classified, and set in context with other types of flow slides. The relevant morphological parameters are defined. The incidence of chalk flows on the coasts of northwest Europe is outlined. Such failures occur in England, to a small extent in Sussex but predominantly in southeast Kent, in France from just north of Cap de la Hève to Ault in Haute-Normandie, in Denmark at Møns Klint, and in north Germany at Jasmund, in the northeast of the Isle of Rügen. It is shown that these flows occur only in soft chalks of high porosity (>~40%), in cliffs higher than ~30 m. Their mobility is inferred to derive principally from high excess pore-water pressures generated by a process of impact collapse in the saturated or near-saturated metastable soft chalk as it impacts onto the shore platform. Where earlier saturated colluvium is present on this platform, its undrained loading by the falling debris probably also plays a role, as does the presence or absence of seawater. Desirable further research is outlined, and the hazards posed by chalk flows are described.