Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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Onder de Euregio - de verbinding tussen landschap en geologie in de Euregio Maas-Rijn
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Mandibles from Palaeolithic dogs and Pleistocene wolves at Předmostí, the Czech Republic
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Reconstruction of Gravettian food-web in Předmostí I using isotopic tracking of bone collagen
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Quaternary geological mapping on basis of sedimentary properties in the eastern branch of the Flemish Valley (sheets Boom-Mechelen & Vilvoorde-Zemst)
- Ce résumé n'est disponible qu'en anglais. Deze samenvatting is alleen beschikbaar in het Engels. Abstract This work is largely based on the author's doctoral thesis in which new graphic representations, with the accent on mapping systems, were developed in the field of fundamental and applied geology and this particular for continental deposits. Useful mapping systems for Quatemary continental deposits were indeed for the greatest part absent or still in a primary stage of development. Among certain geologists exists still the idea that the construction of a geological map is the initial step in making the survey of an area and that the understanding of the geological constitution and evolution comes only in a later stage. This specific study is than mainly based on the already surveyed map of that particular area. This idea is only tenable to a certain level when it concerns rather homogeneous deposits extended over long distances and at a particular level, for example in a superficial or outcropping position. But once the geologist is dealing with widely differing deposits, like for instance the Quatemary deposits in Belgium, the above described method is out of question. Besides, during the study it became clear that although the general Quatemary evolution is rather well known, essential elements necessary in both the fundamental and applied geology are still missing. Consequently the necessity forced itself to follow the next procedure in order to get a detailed overview of the geological build-up of the survey area. Detailed information is gathered by studying primary sedimentary structures in correlation with texture and palaeontological data obtained from palaeozoölogy and palaeobotany. The basic and largest part of information is got from undisturbed cored borings, provided by the Belgian Geological Survey, and outcrop observations, both completed by hand drillings as weIl as borehole descriptions. The latter ones are derived from the archives of the Belgian Geological Survey. This kind of information made the reconstruction of the sedimentary paleao-environments and paleao-subenvironments possible which for their part form the building blocs of the fundamental geological map called profile type map. The construction of the profile type map however is explained in this work step by step since in the present literature such a "manual" is still missing. Derived from the basic data the construction of other thematic maps is possible. An engineering geological map is introduced as an example. Usefulness and applicability of these maps are discussed in previous articles written by the author.
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Canids as persons: Early Neolithic dog and wolf burials, Cis-Baikal, Siberia
- Interpretations of dog burials made by ancient foraging groups have tended to be based upon our own relationships with such animals and modern western cosmological and ontological concepts. Osteological studies of early dogs often focus only on issues of taxonomy, and as a result very little is known about these animals’ life histories. Eastern Siberia has produced many Holocene dog burials, but these are typically not well described and the explanatory frameworks provided for them are very underdeveloped. Here we examine in detail two Cis-Baikal canid burials, one of a wolf and the other a dog, both in large Middle Holocene hunter-gatherer cemeteries. We link the mortuary treatment of these animals to other cultural practices, particularly the treatment of the human dead, and broader patterns in Northern human-animal relationships. This interpretive model is combined with detailed osteobiographies for the canids and contextual information for these and other dogs and wolves from Middle Holocene Cis- Baikal. It is argued that canids here were understood and treated in a variety of ways. We suggest that some animals with unique histories were known as distinct persons with ‘souls’ and because of this at death required mortuary rites similar to those of their human counterparts.
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Isotopic evidence for dietary ecology of cave lion (Panthera (leo) spelaea) in North-Western Europe: prey choice, competition and implications for extinction
- The prey choice of extinct cave lions Panthera spelaea was determined using bone collagen isotopic signatures in the Belgian Ardennes and the Swabian Jura between 40,000 and 25,000 years ago as well as in the Late-glacial of the northwestern Alp foreland and of the Paris Basin. More than 370 specimens of large carnivorous and herbivorous mammals from 25 sites coeval with cave lion were analyzed. The isotopic results point to an individualistic prey choice for cave lions, with some individuals more oriented on reindeer and others on young cave bears. The isotopic signatures and therefore dietary choice of cave lions did not overlap with those of cave hyenas, indicating competitive exclusion between the large predators. The most recent western European cave lions seem to have been consuming mainly reindeer until the local extirpation of this prey species, which coincides chronologically with their own extinction. This restricted prey choice may be involved in the extinction of this large predator in Western Europe.
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Cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) from Chamber B of the Goyet Cave in Belgium
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Le chien, un ami de 32000 ans
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Palaeolithic dogs at the Gravettian Předmostí site, the Czech Republic
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Virtual biomechanical analysis of the lower limbs of a Neandertal
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A vision and strategy for the virtual physiological human in 2012 and beyond
- European funding under Framework 7 (FP7) for the virtual physiological human (VPH) project has been in place now for 5 years. The VPH Network of Excellence (NoE) has been set up to help develop common standards, open source software, freely accessible data and model repositories, and various training and dissemination activities for the project. It is also working to coordinate the many clinically targeted projects that have been funded under the FP7 calls. An initial vision for the VPH was defined by the FP6 STEP project in 2006. In 2010, we wrote an assessment of the accomplishments of the first two years of the VPH in which we considered the biomedical science, healthcare and information and communications technology challenges facing the project (Hunter et al. 2010 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 368, 2595–2614 (doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0048)). We proposed that a not-for-profit professional umbrella organization, the VPH Institute, should be established as a means of sustaining the VPH vision beyond the time-frame of the NoE. Here, we update and extend this assessment and in particular address the following issues raised in response to Hunter et al.: (i) a vision for the VPH updated in the light of progress made so far, (ii) biomedical science and healthcare challenges that the VPH initiative can address while also providing innovation opportunities for the European industry, and (iii) external changes needed in regulatory policy and business models to realize the full potential that the VPH has to offer to industry, clinics and society generally.
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Contribution à la tephrostratigraphie du Quaternaire et son application a la géomorphologie
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Les dinokystes des craies du Campanien au Danien a Halembaye, Turnhout (Belgique) et a Beutenaken (Pays-Bas)
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La détermination du sexe grâce à la méthode probabalistic diagnosis dans un environnement virtuel
- The hip bone is one of the most reliable indicators of sex in the human body due to the fact it is the most dimorphic bone. Probabilistic Sex Diagnosis (developed by Murailet al., 2005) is a method based on a worldwide hip bone metrical database and relies on the actual physical bone for analysis. Sex is determined by comparing specific measurements taken from each specimen using sliding calipers and computing the probability of the specimens being female or male. In forensic science it is sometimes not possible to sex a body due to corpse decay or injury. Skeletinization and dissection of a body is a laborious process and desecrates the body. The current study aimed to see if it was possible to virtually utilise the DSP method to avoid this process. Forty-nine innominate bones of unknown sex were obtained from ULB. Bones were analysed by two researchers using the manual DSP method and a good correlation was found between researchers. CT scans of available bones were analysed to obtain three-dimensional (3D) virtual models using a commercially available software (Amira, www.amiravis.com). Available models were imported into a customized software programme called lhpFusionBox (developed at ULB from the MAF open-source library). lhpFusionBox is an advanced musculo-skeletal software which includes many operations relevant to Biomechanics. It also enables distances to be measured via virtually- palpated bony landmarks. DSP measurements were then obtained from the located bony landmarks. There was 100% accuracy between the manual and virtual DSP analysis. To further test the method 30 virtual bones of known sex were analysed (researchers had no prior knowledge of sex before analysis). There was found to be a 97% accuracy rate with only one bone leading to a wrong determination. These
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Les Formations du Devonien inférieur du Massif de la Vesdre, de la fenêtre de Theux et du synclinorium de Dinant (Belgique, France)
- The authors describe twenty-one Lower Devonian formations from the Vesdre Massif, the Theux Window and the Dinant Synclinorium, in Belgium and France. This work is combined with the geological remapping prograrn of Wallonia (scale 1/25 000). Seventeen of these formations (Fépin, Mondrepuis, Oignies, St-Hubert, Mirwart, La Roche, Pesche, Vireux, Chooz, Hierges, Fooz, Solières, Wépion, Burnot, Marteau, Bois d'Ausse and Acoz) are weIl known frorn the standard literature on the Lower Devonian of the Ardennes and are revised. The Villé and Nonceveux Formations have been introduced more recently, respectively in 1982 and 1992. The Pèrnelle and Hampteau Formations are new. Each formation is presented in a file giving a brief historical account, location of the reference sections, lithology, limits and thickness at the stratotype, lateral variations, age and eventual uses. Furthermore, each formation is documented by the location of the outcrops on a portion of the relevant topographic map (scale 1/10 000) and by a cross-section or stratigraphic log of the stratotype or other reference sections. Résumé Ce travail rassemble les descriptions de vingt-et-une formations caractérisant le Dévonien inférieur du Massif de la Vesdre, de la Fenêtre de Theux et du Synclinorium de Dinant, en Belgique et en France. Il s'intègre dans le cadre du programme de renouvellement des cartes géologiques de Wallonie à 1/25000. Dix-sept de ces formations (Fépin, Mondrepuis, Oignies, St-Hubert, Mirwart, La Roche, Pesche, Vireux, Chooz, Hierges, Fooz, Solières, Wépion, Burnot, Marteau, Bois d'Ausse et Acoz) sont bien connues dans la littérature classique du Dévonien inférieur de l'Ardenne et font l'objet d'une révision. Les Formations de Villé et Nonceveux sont moins familières, ayant été introduites respectivement en 1982 et 1992. Les Formations de Pèrnelle et de Hampteau sont nouvelles. Chaque formation est présentée dans une fiche comprenant un bref historique, la localisation des sites de référence, la lithologie, les limites et l'épaisseur au stratotype ou dans les sites de référence, les variations latérales, l'âge et les usages éventuels. En outre, chaque formation est documentée par un extrait de carte topographique à 1/10 000 localisant les affleurements cités et par une coupe ou une colonne stratigraphique du stratotype ou d'autres sites de référence. Samenvatting ln dit werk worden éénentwintig Onder-Devoon formaties beschreven uit het Vesder Massief, het Venster van Theux en het Synclinorium van Dinant, in België en Frankrijk. Het is in overeenstemming met het programma voor de hernieuwing van de geologische kaarten van Wallonië (schaal, 1/25000). Zeventien van deze formaties (Fépin, Mondrepuis, Oignies, St-Hubert, Mirwart, La Roche, Pesche, Vireux, Chooz, Hierges, Fooz, Solières, Wépion, Burnot, Marteau, Bois d' Ausse en Acoz) zijn goed gekend uit de klassieke Onder-Devoon litteratuur van de Ardennen en hun definitie wordt herzien. De Formaties van Villé en Nonceveux zijn minder gebruikelijk, zij werden meer recent ingevoerd, in 1982 en 1992. De Formaties van Pèrnelle en Hampteau zijn nieuw. Voor iedere formatie worden volgende gegevens verstrekt : een bondige historiek, lokalisatie van de referentie ontsluitingen, de lithologie, de grenzen en dikte in het stratotype of in andere referentiepunten, de laterale variaties, de ouderdorn en het eventueel gebruik. Iedere formatie wordt bovendien gedocumenteerd met een detail van de topografische kaart (schaal, 1/10000) met lokalisatie van de vermelde ontsluitingen en met een profiel of een stratigrafische kolom van het stratotype of andere referentiepunten.
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Economics of single chain EOR projects
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A GIS-based methodology for creating 3D geological models in sedimentary environment: application to the subcrop of Brussels
- In order to meet the requirements established by the European Directive (2006/118/EC) on the groundwater protection, the Geological Survey of Belgium (GSB) has started a new Geographic Information System (GIS) project called Hydrobrux. The aim is to create a thorough three-dimensional geological model of the subcrop of Brussels. The latter will be used to produce a hydrogeological model of the Brussels Formation aquifer composed of sands and covering 126 km2 in the eastern part of the Brussels-Capital Region and subsequent deeper aquifers (Palaeocene and Upper Cretaceous). The GIS 3D model is built by superposition of interpolated surfaces, which represent the top surface of each modelled geological layers. Eleven top surfaces are generated independently and are based on the interpolation of 5169 points. This high density of information is provided by 2426 boreholes, water wells, outcrops, cone penetration tests (CPT) and other sources of stratigraphic data that were collected and structured in a relational database under Microsoft Access. The data were exported to ArcGIS for the geostatistics (2D mapping) and validation parts and subsequently to ArcScene for the construction and the visualisation of the 3D model.
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Is CCS a feasible option in developing countries? Presenting CCS as a realistic choice for Kazakhstan
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Les reptiles marins du Toarcien (Jurassique inférieur) belgo-luxembourgeois
- Deze samenvatting is niet beschikbaar in het Nederlands. Résumé Les affleurements toarciens (Jurassique Inférieur) de Belgique et, surtout, du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ont livré de nombreux fossiles de reptiles marins Ichthyosauria, Thalattosuchia et Plesiosauria. Leur bon état de conservation permet, dans de nombreux cas, une détermination spécifique et la description de caractères anatomiques mal connus chez ces animaux. L'étude des ichthyosaures a nécessité une révision systématique du genre Stenopterygius. Une synthèse paléogéographique des reptiles marins toarciens est proposée. Des différences quantitatives importantes ont été observées dans la composition des faunes de reptiles marins découvertes dans la région du Württemberg (Allemagne), du Yorkshire (Angleterre) et du Luxembourg. Cette dernière faune se caractérise par une nette prédominance de formes bien adaptées à la vie en pleine mer. Abstract Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) outcrops have yielded many marine reptiles Ichthyosauria, Thalattosuchia and Plesiosauria in Belgiurn and, principally, in Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. Their preservation allows a determination at a specific level as also the description of badly known anatomical characters. The study of ichthyosaurs required a systematic revision of the genus Stenopterygius. A palaeogeographical synthesis of Toarcian marine reptiles is proposed. Important quantitative differences can be observed in the composition of marine reptiles' faunae from Württemberg (Germany), Yorkshire (England) and Luxemburg. This latter fauna is characterized by a predominance of animal weIl adapted for the life in open sea.
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Etude sédimentologique de la Grande Brèche viséenne("V3a") du Bassin de Namur - Dinant
