page_title: Geology of the Netherlands
section_title: Sedimentary succession
hierarchical_section_title: Geology of the Netherlands / Sedimentary succession
context_page_description: The geology of the Netherlands describes the geological sequence of the Netherlands. Large parts of the Netherlands today are below sea level and have in the past been covered by the sea or flooded at regular intervals. The modern Netherlands formed as a result of the interplay of the four main rivers and the influence of the North Sea. The Netherlands is mostly composed of deltaic, coastal and eolian derived sediments during the Pleistocene glacial and interglacial periods.
  Fairly all of the west Netherlands is composed of the Rhine-Meuse river estuary, but human intervention greatly modified the natural processes at work. Most of the western Netherlands is below sea level due to the human process of turning standing bodies of water into usable land, a polder.
  In the east of the Netherlands, remains are found of the last ice age, which ended approximately ten thousand years ago. As the continental ice sheet moved in from the north, it pushed moraine forward. The ice sheet halted as it covered the eastern half of the Netherlands. After the ice age ended, the moraine remained in the form a long hill-line. The cities of Arnhem and Nijmegen are built upon these hills.
caption: Map of the Netherlands