Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
-
Where and why: using a structural framework to contextualise and improve the understanding of processes leading to mineral occurrences
- The societal development towards climate neutrality and the ambition for economic growth and well-being in Europe rely on mineral raw materials. Mineral occurrences can be seen as manifestations of specific geological processes that happened in the subsurface, or geomanifestations. Locating and better understanding mineral occurrences and deposits in Europe is crucial for future informed decision making on local resourcing. The GeoConnect³d project is developing a multi-scale structural framework in which geological maps and 3D models can be inserted and related to. In our novel approach, the structural framework reorganises geological information in terms of geological limits and geological units. Limits are defined as broadly planar structures that separate a given geological unit from its neighbouring units, e.g. faults (limits) that define a graben (unit), or an unconformity (limit) that defines a basin (unit). Geomanifestation data are then added to the structural framework model aiming to show where and how processes and structures may be linked. This approach was tested in Belgium, where a structural framework was created at different scales, from most detail at 1:250,000 to more generalised at 1:2,000,000. Mineral occurrence data from the Minerals4EU database were used to test the model. As an example, a spatial link between Pb-Zn deposits and structural framework elements is identifiable in the Herve-Vesdre and Landenne areas. Although the deposits are located within the Variscan orogenic front, deposition is post-Variscan and spatially associated with transverse NNW-SSE faults part of the Rhine graben network (Dejonghe, 1998). With a combination of database attributes and SKOS vocabulary, the information of deposition age and time of activity of faults displayed in the structural framework helps to quickly place these deposits in the context of the Lower Rhine embayment. Therefore, the structural framework can translate highly technical scientific knowledge by using an interactive tool that presents information in a more understandable way. We consider the outcomes of this test promising to fulfil one of the main goals of GeoConnect³d: preparing and disclosing geological information in a way it is more useful for stakeholders. We also consider this as the way forward towards pan-European integration and harmonisation of geological information, where the ultimate challenge is to correlate or otherwise link information from different geological domains and of different scales. This will be beneficial for the identification and better geological understanding of European mineral resources. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 731166. Reference: Dejonghe, L., 1998. Zinc-lead deposits in Belgium. Ore Geology Reviews 12, 329-354.
-
Brug en toegangspoort tot kasteel
-
Interdisciplinary study of horticultural practices in late medieval Brussels
- Over the last decades a series of sites attesting the presence of ancient crop fields and gardens were discovered in the historical center of Brussels. Well aerated crop field and garden soils with a high biological activity, are often not suitable for the preservation of organic plant remains. In most cases, their studies yielded only small quantities of more resistant seeds and fruits. The identification of the cultivated plants relied therefore mainly on phytolith analysis.Recently, a Holocene peat sequence was excavated in the lower part of the city in a quarter that is historically documented as a horticultural area (rue des Boiteux, BR295). Micromorphology showed that the upper layers of the peat sequence were drained during the late Middle Ages and subsequently converted into horticulture. In this poster the potential of studying these contexts will be discussed. Thanks to the prevailing wet conditions of the soil, higher densities of waterlogged macrobotanical remains could be analysed. Remains of divers cultivated plants and garden weeds were found, most probably partly from the local vegetation and local cultivated crops. The archaeobotanical and archaeozoological studies also shed light on manuring practices.
-
Untangling a mess of worms: Species delimitations reveal morphological crypsis and variability in Southeast Asian semi-aquatic earthworms (Almidae, Glyphidrilus)
-
Re-description of the type species of the genera Ganesella Blanford, 1863 and Globotrochus Haas, 1935; with description of a new Ganesella species from Thailand (Eupulmonata, Camaenidae)
-
Abeilles de Belgique et des régions limitrophes (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Apoidea) Famille Halicitidae
-
Body distribution of toxic peptides in larvae of a pergid and an argid sawfly species
-
NGS-barcodes, haplotype networks combined to external morphology help to identify new species in the mangrove genus Ngirhaphium Evenhuis & Grootaert, 2002 (Diptera: Dolichopodidae: Rhaphiinae) in Southeast Asia
-
The phylogeny of the African wood mice (Muridae, Hylomyscus) based on complete mitochondrial genomes and five nuclear genes reveals their evolutionary history and undescribed diversity
-
Stratigraphy of an early-middle Miocene sequence near Antwerp in Northern Belgium (Southern North Sea Basin)
-
High concentration of long-snouted beaked whales (genus Messapicetus) from the Miocene of Peru
-
New discoveries of fossil toothed whales from Peru: our changing perspective of beaked whale and sperm whale evolution
-
A new species of the fossil beaked whale Beneziphius (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Ziphiidae) from the ocean floor off Galicia and biostratigraphic reassessment for the age of the type species
-
Earliest mysticete from the late Eocene of Peru sheds new light on the origin of baleen whales
-
Neogene and Quaternary fossil remains of beaked whales (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Ziphiidae) from deep-sea deposits off Crozet and Kerguelen islands, Southern Ocean
-
A relative of the beluga and narwhal (Odontoceti, Monodontidae) from the Early Pliocene of the North Sea
-
Tusk-bearing beaked whales from the Miocene of Peru
-
A new pithanodelphinine dolphin from the Miocene of Peru and the origin of modern delphinidan families
-
A new genus and species of Pliocene dolphin (Cetacea: Odontoceti: Inioidea) from North Carolina, U.S.A.
-
New insights on the brain, tooth development, and feeding specializations of the sirenian Miosirenkocki(Trichechidae, Sirenia) as revealed by CT
