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Inproceedings Reference MAS DE VIGNOLLES XIV (NIMES, GARD, SOUTHERN FRANCE): DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON LAND USE AND MANAGEMENT FROM THE PROTOHISTORY TO THE MIDDLE AGES
The enlargement of a commercial centre in the vicinity of Nîmes (Southern France) offered evidence on land occupation and exploitation, from the Iron Age to the Middle Ages. The location of the living and working areas, paths and agrarian ‘structures’ uncovered was conditioned by the problematic topography and environment (humid depression; cyclic flooding) as identified by geomorphology and malacology. The diversity of the plant cover and of land management is also recognized by malacology, which emphasizes the importance of animal husbandry and pasture during the whole sequence, in agreement with data from pollen, beetles and domestic fauna. Concentrations of cattle remains rekindle the idea of a hypothetical link between significant consumption of cattle meat and humid areas. The impact of human activities on the plant cover is recognized in the low frequencies of arboreal pollen recorded since the Iron Age; however, fuelwood was apparently readily available as suggested by charcoal data. Further information on economic activities is provided by archaeobotany. The importance of Cannabis sativa and Linum usitatissimum may explain why this “ecologically problematic” area was exploited. Access to water is essential for the processing of plant fibres. Cereal cultivation, better recognized by palynology than by archaeobotany, appears to suffer fluctuations through time. The remains of Vitis constitute the first material proof of local vine cultivation during the Middle Ages.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Inproceedings Reference THEY ALL SMELL THE SAME (THOUGH...) BUT THEIR CONTENT MAY BE DIFFERENT: LOOKING AT LATE MEDIEVAL HUMAN EXCREMENTS AND GARBAGE PITS IN THE COUNTY OF HAINAUT, SOUTHERN LOW COUNTRIES
Human excrements and garbage pits of two archaeological sites in the County of Hainaut (Southern Low Countries, Belgium) have been studied by the interdisciplinary team “Archaeo sciences” of the RBINS. Stone walled latrines dating from the 14th century have been uncovered at the site of Chièvres, while several garbage pits dating from the 12th to the 16th century were excavated at the site of “rue des Bouchers-Saint Jacques” in the city of Tournai. We are presenting the 14th century composition of the waste contexts for the two sites and a diachronic composition’s evolution for the garbage pits of “rue des Bouchers-Saint Jacques”. Archaeobotanical (seeds and fruit, wood and wood charcoal, pollen, spores and NPPs) and archaeozoological studies show that, in the majority, they contain digested food residues, food scraps and also some scarce remains of other non-food residues. The most common taxa found are vegetables, condiments, wild and/or cultivated fruits, cereals, fish and mammal remains. But if we look more closely, some cesspits contain outstanding elements such as honey (the first mention in Wallonia for the medieval period), waste of cereal processing that may have been used for the sanitation of such structures. This paper aims at: 1 / highlighting late Medieval period human food intake of the Southern Low Countries 2 / comparing data between two 14th century waste contexts and finally, 3 / showing differences in pit fillings, indicating different structure maintenance and/or different social status.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Inproceedings Reference Un manuel de terrain pour standardiser les prélèvements des restes biologiques : une nécessité ou un luxe ? trois années d’expérience belge
Sur un chantier de fouille, l’archéologue est très fréquemment confronté à des vestiges organiques, ou biorestes. Qu’ils soient visibles ou invisibles, rares ou abondants, ils sont souvent source de questionnements : que prélever ? Où, comment et en quelle quantité ? Quelles sont les conditions de stockage idéales ¬? Quelle est la marche à suivre pour tamiser les sédiments ? Confrontés à des prélèvements très disparates, souvent à vue, ou sans réelle question de recherche ainsi qu’à des méthodologies d’extraction très différentes, l’équipe d’archéosciences de l’Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique a décidé de rédiger un ouvrage visant à répondre aux questions des archéologues et à standardiser les processus d’échantillonnage afin de pouvoir disposer d’un matériel d’étude pertinent et cohérent. Nous mentionnerons les problématiques qui ont concouru à la genèse de ce manuel par quelques exemples de terrain, parcourrons rapidement ce qu'il propose et ce qu'il n'aborde pas et ferons un bilan de son impact auprès des archéologues quelques années après sa première parution fin 2016.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Inproceedings Reference Bushmeat for sale in Brussels
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Inproceedings Reference Identifying Invasive Alien Species by DNA-barcoding: possibilities, gaps and pitfalls
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Inproceedings Reference Identifying mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) from foreign deployment sites of the Belgian armed forces
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Inproceedings Reference DNA-barcoding: an efficient tool for rapid identification of native and exotic mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) intercepted in Belgium
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Proceedings Reference The LASUGEO project:monitoring LAnd SUbsidence caused by Groundwater exploitation through gEOdetic measurements.
In the last decades, rapid urbanization, global climate change and uncontrolled anthropogenic transformations of the territory caused a relevant increase in geo-hazards events with huge economic and social consequences. The dramatic increase of these events with environmental degradation highlights the importance of improving ground monitoring and natural resources management with a continuous exchange of knowledge between the scientific community and authorities in charge of environmental risk management. Since the late 1990s, SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) data allow measuring slow-moving ground deformations. In the last decades, the use of spaceborne InSAR (Interferometric SAR) has increased significantly thanks to the availability of large-area coverage, millimetre precision, high spatial/temporal data resolution and good cost-benefit. For the last 3 decades, the development of Multi-Temporal Interferometric SAR techniques (MT-InSAR), commonly grouped into PSI-like (Persistent Scatterers Interferometry) and SBAS-like (Small BAseline Subset) algorithms, has changed the way radar images can be exploited for geohazard monitoring (natural gas extraction, mining activities, groundwater overexploitation, karst or landslides processes, etc.). Most of the subsidence bowls mapped by the PSI technique in Belgium have been related to strong fluctuations of an aquifer implying at the surface ground deformations (Declercq et al., 2017; 2021). Besides, the recent dry years are related to ground stability problems in large areas of Flanders. Land subsidence poses significant problems. The most affected regions lie on compressible loose sediments. Any change in the piezometric heads modifies the pore pressure, which may induce consolidation if the geological formations are compressible. Geomechanical aspects are fully coupled to groundwater flow equations. If groundwater levels and pressures are restored, a partial rebound (uplift) corresponding to the elastic part of the geological formations is observed. Consolidation and elastic rebound processes occur in confined and unconfined conditions. The most sensitive parts of the concerned aquifers contain clay, loam or peat lenses but consolidation may occur mostly in the underlying and overlying layers that are often less permeable and more compressible than the aquifer itself. In this case, it is largely a delayed process occurring as far as the pore pressure variation slowly propagates in the low permeability (aquitard) layers. We propose to confront the results of the PSinSAR technique data with hydrogeological groundwater models and two other geodetic techniques: GNSS and gravimetry. LASUGEO Geologica Belgica Meeting 2021, September 15-18, Tervuren, Belgium – Abstract Book, p. 75 focusses on ground deformations in different areas in Belgium: the deep aquifer system of western Flanders, the Tertiary aquifer system in Central Flanders, the Antwerp area, the Leuven area and the Brussels Region. The possible groundwater overexploitation needs to be established through a transient hydrogeological model considering all the stress factors applied to the aquifers. The estimated compaction in the subsiding bowls will be compared with 1D geomechanical model results. The latter will be performed using geotechnical effective stresses as deduced from the pore pressure distribution from the hydrogeological model (Dassargues et al., 1989). These different steps will be done by the partners of the LASUGEO project that are involved in the different case study areas.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Proceedings Reference Statistical imaging of the deformation over Belgium using multiple geodetic techniques.
One of the challenges of geodesy is to characterize at the sub-millimeter level the vertical deformation of the ground in response to tectonic, anthropogenic, and climatic forcing. Reaching this level of accuracy is crucial to understand the deformation mechanisms acting in Belgium and it contributes to the mitigation of geo-hazards and the operational management of the territory. To address this challenge, the LASUGEO project, aiming at identifying ground deformation caused by groundwater exploitation, makes use of the observations of three independent geodetic techniques, namely: Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Permanent Scatterers Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar (PS-InSAR), and repeated Absolute Gravity measurements (AG). Because GNSS, PS-InSAR, and AG provide independent measurements with different spatial and temporal resolutions, they are highly complementary. However, considering that each technique also comes with its own reference frames, accuracy, and source of biases, the optimal combination of these observations requires an appropriate statistical methodology. To estimate the deformation over Belgium, we performed a joint analysis of the GNSS position time series provided by the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory (Blewitt et al., 2018), the PS-InSAR time series processed at Geological Survey of Belgium (Declercq et al., 2021), and the AG measurement carried out by the Royal Observatory of Belgium (Van Camp et al., 2011). Our statistical analysis is divided in three steps: (1) trajectory modelling of each geodetic time series, that is, the model of the predictable motion (e.g., linear trend, periodic deformation, and instrumental discontinuities), (2) surface reconstruction of the subsidence/uplift rates from each technique, and (3) the comparison of the result of the different techniques. For each step, attention is paid to the realistic estimation of the model uncertainties, by accounting for the influence of the time correlated stochastic variability in the geodetic time series (Williams et al. 2003). We propose to describe the algorithms used and results obtained from the trajectory modelling and surface reconstruction of the subsidence/uplift rates. We show that, by combining a large number of observation, we are able to image vertical deformation at the 1.0 mm/yr level over Belgium (see Figure 1 for the GNSS imaging). We also discuss differences between GNSS, AG and PS-InSAR that could highlight the need to calibrate PS-InSAR relative estimates with GNSS and AG geocentric velocities.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Inproceedings Reference Silurian solid bitumen from Huy: evidences for a petroleum system in Belgium
The discovery of a bitumen bed within the Silurian Bonne Esperance Formation near the city of Huy (Belgium) is the first clear evidence for a petroleum system in Belgium. The studied section near the city of Huy (Belgium) is part of a larger structural unit called the Condroz inlier. This structural unit is a wedge of Ordovician to Silurian aged marine sediments which was thrusted up along the Midi detachment fault during the Hercynian orogeny and forming the Ardennes Massif (Adams & Vandenberghe, 1999). To understand the geological processes involved in the formation of the bitumen bed, the Bonne Esperance Formation was logged and 82 samples were collected for XRF chemostratigraphy, five samples were collected (Figure 1, pictures 1-5) for biostratigraphic purposes and one sample was taken from the bitumen itself. ICP-MS, TOC, Rock-Eval pyrolysis and Gamma-ray measurements are underway to quantify the source rock potential of the Bonne Esperance Formation. Preliminary XRF measurements already show that especially the lower part of the Bonne Esperance Formation is enriched in elements linked to anoxic conditions/enrichment of organic material, which indicates that the Bonne Esperance Formation itself is the likely candidate source rock for the bitumen. The sample from the bed which includes the bitumen has already been tested to confirm the nature of the bitumen material. The sample was crushed and heated in a vial and the released hydrocarbons were then ignited with a flame (Figure 1, picture 6C). The First occurrence of the graptolites of the Family Monograptidae was used to pinpoint the location of the Ordovician-Silurian boundary (Akidograptus Ascensus zone at sample 4) (Maletz, 2017). Given the current results and the ongoing analyses a picture emerges of the Silurian of the Condroz inlier as being Belgium’s first and to date only petroleum system.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021