2026-03-24
William James Kennedy, Simon R. A. Kelly, Simon Schneider
Newly collected ammonites from Campanian and Maastrichtian strata in East and North-East Greenland are described. An early early Campanian fauna from Hold with Hope includes Neophylloceras, Pseudophyllites, Gaudryceras (Gaudryceras) mite (Hauer 1866) and Baculites . A latest early Campanian fauna from Geographical Society Ø comprises Pseudophyllites latus (Marshall 1926), Hoploscaphites cobbani (Birkelund 1965), and Baculites sp. Late Campanian assemblages from Geographical Society Ø and Traill Ø include Hoploscaphites greenlandicus (Donovan 1953) and Hoploscaphites compressus (Roemer 1841). In the Kangerlussuaq Basin, East Greenland, an early early Maastrichtian fauna contains Acanthoscaphites (Acanthoscaphites) tridens (Kner 1848), together with Anagaudryceras politissimum (Kossmat 1895) and other taxa. A later fauna is characterised by Discoscaphites angmartussutensis Birkelund (1965). Generally, early Maastrichtian faunas of the Kangerlussuaq Basin are dominated by Diplomoceras cylindraceum (Defrance 1816), and also contain Anagaudryceras, Saghalinites , and Baculites , together with the nautiloid Eutrephoceras . Maastrichtian faunas also occur reworked into the Paleocene. Most of these taxa are reported for the first time from eastern Greenland in this study, and their occurrence supports the existing stratigraphy.
2026-01-23
Jun Liu, Julian Koch, Simon Stisen, Lars Troldborg, Raphael Schneider
Most operational flood forecasting systems provide predictions of pluvial and fluvial floods, often neglecting groundwater flooding. Groundwater-induced floods can occur when prolonged rainfall, high river stages or elevated sea levels raise the groundwater table above the surface of the land, often occurring in low-lying areas or areas with specific soil and land-surface conditions. This study presents an operational, national-scale, integrated flood forecasting system that combines surface water and groundwater components – such as river discharge and high groundwater levels – to assess flood risk in Denmark. The system has been proven to effectively capture peak river flows and elevated groundwater levels, as it did across the country during the winter of 2024, and provide local-scale insights, as exemplified during a specific flood event in Varde, west Denmark. This study demonstrates how groundwater flooding, often neglected in operational forecasting, can be effectively incorporated at a national scale to support more informed flood management.
2025-11-06
Lærke Therese Andersen, Stig A Schack Pedersen
This study provides a detailed structural analysis of a selected part of the Fanø Bugt Glaciotectonic Complex in the south-eastern part of the Danish North Sea. The 200 km2 study area was mapped in 3D using high-resolution, 2D multichannel seismic data. The interpretation of seismic profiles demonstrates an architecture markedly separated into a lower and an upper thrust fault level, separated by the upper décollement surface. The lower level is characterised by >15 thrust sheets, with crests that form subsurface ridges with reliefs up to 150 m, scattered over c. 15 km. The upper level is characterised by thrust sheets grouped in imbricate complexes with thrust faults connecting to the upper décollement. The structural style changes in the direction of transport, possibly related to the position of the ice-sheet margin responsible for the thrusting and changes in the properties of the basal décollement. The structural style is generally large-scale thrusting and folding, suggesting proglacial deformation. However, the hinterland of the upper thrust fault level displays heavily folded layers or a chaotic reflection pattern associated with subglacial deformation. Special attention is drawn to two exceptional structural frameworks containing a hidden hill-hole pair: SF1, an imbricate thrust fault fan in a 5 km long and 2.5 km wide basin, developed above an extensional normal fault imbricate, and SF2, a frontal ramp uplifting an imbricated fan c. 90 m above the average level of thrusting. Restored cross-sections demonstrate a shortening of the lower thrust fault level between 9–43% and 44–49% of the upper level across SF1 and SF2, respectively. We suggest that the glaciotectonic complex was formed proglacially due to gravity spreading in front of an ice margin. Gravity gliding due to an inclined décollement surface of 0.5° and elevated porewater pressure at the décollement might also have facilitated the deformation.
2025-08-28
Denitza D Voutchkova, Ingelise Møller, Lærke Thorling, Anders R Johnsen
Pesticides and degradation products are a major challenge for groundwater management in Europe, and in Denmark where drinking water relies entirely on groundwater. To protect drinking water resources, local Danish authorities must take groundwater-protective measures in areas designated as sensitive to pollution; however, official zonation for pesticides is lacking. Nitrate-sensitive groundwater abstraction areas have been used instead. The goal of our study was to test the appropriateness of this groundwater protection strategy. We used Køge municipality (Denmark) as a focus area and tested how our findings upscale to the national level. The data for Køge municipality included 1070 individual groundwater samples, analysed for at least one of 366 pesticide compounds during the period 2012–2022, which were aggregated at the well-screen level by the median. Four pesticide compounds (2,6-dichlorobenzamide (BAM), desphenylchloridazon (DPC), N,N-dimethylsulphamide (DMS), 1,2,4-triazole) and three pesticide groups (phenoxyalcanoic acids, triazines and dimethachlor and its metabolites) were found with the highest detection frequency in the study area. We found that groundwater pollution with pesticide compounds was not limited to nitrate-sensitive areas in Køge municipality or in Denmark as a whole. Therefore, nitrate-sensitive areas can only be used partially for identifying pesticide-sensitive groundwater abstraction areas. The management implication is that placing protective measures only within nitrate-sensitive areas would be insufficient to fully address the risk of future groundwater pesticide pollution. We identified knowledge gaps and discussed a potential way forward with a more integrated management of groundwater protection in Denmark.