Cretaceous 145.6 - 65 million years ago

In southern Limburg, Cretaceous deposits lie directly on top of Carboniferous strata,
with deposits from the intervening epochs (Permian, Triassic and Jurassic) missing. Over period of more than 200 million years a mountain range came into being - and disappeared again.Not until the later Cretaceous, 74 million years ago, did a shallow sea flood southern Limburg; this sea left behind thick layers of chalk. Right on top of the older deposits of Carboniferous age! The thick chalk deposits dating from the latest Cretaceous (74-65 million years ago) are locally known as mergel.

he entire sequence deposited during this epoch in places reaches more than 140 m in thickness Aken Sands, Vaals Greensands, Gulpen Chalks, Kunrade Chalks and Maastricht Chalks.
This thick 'mergel' deposit contains countless fossils which together show what Maastricht looked like at that time: a subtropical sea and islands with beautiful vegetation and magnificent beaches
.This part of the geological timescale is known worldwide as 'the Maastrichtian'.

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