Geologica Belgica

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André DELMER, Michiel DUSAR & Bernard DELCAMBRE

Upper Carboniferous lithostratigraphic units (Belgium)

(volume 4 (2001) — number 1-2 - Guide to a revised lithostratigraphic scale of Belgium)
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Abstract

Upper Carboniferous, Namurian to Westphalian coal measures in Belgium form part of the Variscan Foredeep in northwestern Europe, with maximum preserved thickness over 3500 m. Despite post-depositional separation of the Wallonian and Campine coal basins by the Brabant Massif and different tectonic styles, a common lithostratigraphic nomenclature can be applied. The stratigraphic subdivision is based on the distinction between a carbonate-dominated marine "Dinantian" and siliciclastic continental, coal-bearing "Silesian". Basal units testify of a marine transgression, locally continuous with Dinantian carbonate sedimentation, elsewhere drowning an emergent karst landscape. Progressive advance and uplift of the Variscan orogenic belt caused rapid subsidence in the foreland and transition from prodelta mudstones to upper alluvial plain conglomerates, with fewer marine incursions. The Belgian Coal Measures Group encompasses this complete tectonically-driven sedimentary succession.

Keywords : Upper Carboniferous, Belgium, coal, lithostratigraphy

To cite this article

André DELMER, Michiel DUSAR & Bernard DELCAMBRE, «Upper Carboniferous lithostratigraphic units (Belgium)», Geologica Belgica [En ligne], volume 4 (2001), number 1-2 - Guide to a revised lithostratigraphic scale of Belgium, 95-103 URL : https://popups.ulg.ac.be/1374-8505/index.php?id=1933.

About: André DELMER

Honorary Director of Geological Survey of Belgium, Avenue Colonel Daumerie, 16, B-1160 Brussels.

About: Michiel DUSAR

Geological Survey of Belgium, Jennerstraat 13, B-1000 Brussels.

About: Bernard DELCAMBRE

Carte géologique de Wallonie, Université catholique de Louvain, Place Louis Pasteur 3, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve; delcambre@geol.ucl.ac.be