An Introduction to the Geology of Belgium and Luxembourg

Boulvain, Frédéric; Vandenberghe, Noël

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-58239-9_2

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The Belgian black marbles stratigraphically range from the Frasnian (Upper Devonian) to the Visean (Middle Mississippian). During this period, the regional seascape follows the east–west trending southern coast of the Old Red Continent, which was bathed by the northern Rheic Ocean (Boulvain & Vandenberghe, ). The spectacular development of carbonates was probably related to a warmer climate at this time (Belgium was situated between the Equator and the Capricorn tropic).…”

Section: Geological Context and Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential Discrimination of Belgian Black Marbles Using Petrography, Magnetic Susceptibility and Geochemistry

et al. 2020

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Five varieties of Belgian black marbles are investigated in order to discriminate them. Their age ranges from Frasnian (Golzinne) to Visean (Dinant, Theux, Basècle, Lives). Three methods were used: petrography, magnetic susceptibility and geochemistry of major elements and Rare Earth Elements (REE). The petrographic analyze reveals 16 microfacies reflecting very quiet environments, sporadically perturbed by more energetic phenomena like turbidites or storms. These microfacies are integrated in two depositional models: a quiet offshore setting, below or close to the storm wave base (Salet, Basècles) and a shallow but very restricted zone, protected from waves and currents (Lives and Golzinne). The magnetic susceptibility results show that all the black marbles are characterized by very low, even slightly negative values, except the Golzinne one which shows higher values. Geochemical data allow to discriminate between the Theux black marble (low SiO 2 content), and the Basècles samples (low Al 2 O 3 , K 2 O and REE contents). These methods could be useful to determine/refine the origin of archaeological stones, even if all these analyses are destructive. Two archeologic samples were investigated in order to identify their possible origin.

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Section: Geological Context and Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential Discrimination of Belgian Black Marbles Using Petrography, Magnetic Susceptibility and Geochemistry

et al. 2020

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“…Uppermost Eocene marine sands were trapped and preserved by karst development during the Neogene and currently lie at the base of their infilling (Ertus, 1990;Dupuis and Ertus, 1994;Dupuis et al, 2003). The sea overflowed the Ardenne for the last time during the Oligocene (e.g., Demoulin, 1995;Boulvain and Vandenberghe, 2018;Demoulin et al, 2018) covering its eastern part, between the ESEM and the Hautes Fagnes area (Fig. 1) as a result of tilting of the basement towards the Rhine graben area.…”

Section: Mesozoic-cenozoic Geological Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-Paleozoic evolution of the northern Ardenne Massif constrained by apatite fission-track thermochronology and geological data

Bour

Pagel

Quesnel

et al. 2018

BSGF - Earth Sci. Bull.

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The exhumation history of basement areas is poorly constrained because of large gaps in the sedimentary record. Indirect methods including low temperature thermochronology may be used to estimate exhumation but these require an inverse modeling procedure to interpret the data. Solutions from such modeling are not always satisfactory as they may be too broad or may conflict with independent geological data. This study shows that the input of geological constraints is necessary to obtain a valuable and refined exhumation history and to identify the presence of a former sedimentary cover presently completely eroded. Apatite fission-track (AFT) data have been acquired on the northern part of the Ardenne Massif close to the Variscan front and in the southern Brabant, in particular for the Visean ash-beds. Apatite fission-track ages for surface samples range between 140 ± 13 and 261 ± 33 Ma and confined tracks lengths are ranging between 12.6 ± 0.2 and 13.8 ± 0.2 μm. Thermal inversion has been realized assuming that (1) samples were close to the surface (20–40 °C) during Triassic times, this is supported by remnants of detrital Upper Permian–Triassic sediments preserved in the south of the Ardenne and in the east (border of the Roer Graben and Malmédy Graben), and (2) terrestrial conditions prevailed during the Early Cretaceous for the Ardenne Massif, as indicated by radiometric ages on paleoweathering products. Inversion of the AFT data characterizes higher temperatures than surface temperatures during most of the Jurassic. Temperature range is wide but is compatible with the deposition on the northern Ardenne of a significant sedimentary cover, which has been later eroded during the Late Jurassic and/or the Early Cretaceous. Despite the presence of small outliers of Late Cretaceous (Hautes Fagnes area), no evidence is recorded by the fission-track data for the deposition of a significant chalk cover as highlighted in different parts of western Europe. These results question the existence of the London-Brabant Massif as a permanent positive structure during the Mesozoic.

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“…The pre‐Quaternary surface can be morphologically subdivided into three major planation surfaces (Marginal, Middle and Offshore Platforms), each bound by escarpments or slope breaks that cut across different Paleogene strata of varying resistance (De Batist, ; Liu, ; Mathys, ; De Clercq et al ., ) that were formed under marine to near‐coastal conditions (Gibbard and Lewin, ; Boulvain and Vandenberghe, ). This setting resulted in a lateral changing lithology composed of consolidated clays and sand‐silt‐clay layers locally containing sandstone layers (De Batist, ; Jacobs and De Batist, ; Le Bot et al ., ).…”

Section: Geomorphological – Stratigraphical Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A well‐preserved Eemian incised‐valley fill in the southern North Sea Basin, Belgian Continental Shelf ‐ Coastal Plain: Implications for northwest European landscape evolution

Clercq

Missiaen

Wallinga

et al. 2018

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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This paper demonstrates that the Belgian Continental Shelf and coastal plain occupy a key position between the depositional North Sea Basin and the erosional area of the Dover Strait as it is an area where erosional landforms and fragmented sedimentary sequences provide new evidence on northwest European landscape evolution. The study area hosts 20–30 m thick penultimate to last glacial sand‐dominated sequences that are preserved within the buried palaeo‐Scheldt Valley. Here, we build on the results of previous seismo‐ and lithostratigraphical studies, and present new evidence from biostratigraphical analysis, OSL dating and depth‐converted structure maps, together revealing a complex history of deposition and landscape evolution controlled by climate change, sea‐level fluctuations and glacio‐isostasy. This study presents strong new supportive evidence on the development of the incised palaeo‐Scheldt Valley landform that became established towards the end of the penultimate glacial period (MIS 6; Saalian) as a result of glacio‐isostatic forebulge updoming, proglacial lake drainage and subsequent collapse of a forebulge between East Anglia and Belgium following ice‐sheet growth, disintegration and retreat in areas to the north. The majority of the incised‐valley fill is of estuarine to shallow marine depositional context deposited during the transgression and high‐stand of the last interglacial (MIS 5e: Eemian). A thin upper part of the valley fill consists of last glacial (MIS 5d‐2: Weichselian) fluvial sediments that show a gradual decrease and retreat of fluvial activity to inland, upstream reaches of the valley system until finally the valley ceases to exist as the combined result of climate‐driven aeolian activity and possibly also glacio‐isostatic adjustment. Thus, strong contrasts exist between the palaeo‐Scheldt Valley and estuary systems of the penultimate glacial maximum to Last Interglacial (Saalian, Eemian), the beginning of the Last Glacial (Weichselian Early Glacial and Early‐Middle Pleniglacial), and the Last Glacial Maximum to Holocene. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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An Introduction to the Geology of Belgium and Luxembourg

Cited by 8 publications

References 22 publications

Potential Discrimination of Belgian Black Marbles Using Petrography, Magnetic Susceptibility and Geochemistry

Potential Discrimination of Belgian Black Marbles Using Petrography, Magnetic Susceptibility and Geochemistry

Post-Paleozoic evolution of the northern Ardenne Massif constrained by apatite fission-track thermochronology and geological data

A well‐preserved Eemian incised‐valley fill in the southern North Sea Basin, Belgian Continental Shelf ‐ Coastal Plain: Implications for northwest European landscape evolution

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