Vol. 8 (2005): Structural analysis of the Rubjerg Knude Glaciotectonic Complex, Vendsyssel, northern Denmark

Stig A. Schack Pedersen

The coastal cliff (99 m high at its highest point) at Rubjerg Knude on the west coast of Vendsyssel, northern Denmark. The lower two-thirds of the cliff, beneath the prominent dark sub-horizontal surface, forms part of the cross-section through the Rubjerg Knude Glaciotectonic Complex displaying imbricated thrust sheets composed of the Lønstrup Klint Formation (bluish-grey colour) and the overlying Rubjerg Knude Formation (yellow colour), both of Late Weichselian age. The thrust sheets are truncated by a glaciotectonic unconformity (the prominent surface), upon which the Kattegat Till Formation is only preserved as a boulder bed due to subsequent aeolian erosion of the till matrix. The upper third of the cliff comprises recent aeolian dune sands that have accr eted over the last 100 years and now encroach on the Rubjerg Knude lighthouse, the top of which is just visible above the clifftop.