Abstract
GEOLOGY OF BELGIUM AND THE NORTH OF FRANCE.—M. Mourlon of Brussels has just published a work devoted to the general geology of Belgium. It describes the formations in chronological series, and is illustrated with maps, sections, and plates of the microscopic structure of rocks. A useful feature in it is a full bibliography of Belgian geology brought up to date. The new Government Geological Survey of Belgium has just published three sheets of maps, with sections, and explanatory notices. The maps, on a scale of 1/20000 are printed in chromo-lithography and on a novel plan. The ordinary topographical features—roads, fences, trees, houses, &c, are printed in different colours, according to the tertiary formation lying underneath. Thus the Weminelien (Eocene) areas are at once recognisable by an orange topography, the Oligocene tracts by one in slate colour and the Anversian (Miocene) by one in crimson. The quaternary deposits overlying these formations are expressed by broad tints of colour. The maps are accompanied by “Notices Explicatives,” which in the case of the Hoboken and Contich sheets appear as a well-printed 8vo pamphlet of 256 pages, and a sheet of superficial sections on a scale of 1/40000 for length and 1/1050 for height. The country delineated and described lies on the low ground drained by the Escaut and Rupel, where, as little can be seen at the surface, a large series of borings has been made. The work has been accomplished by the Baron O. van Ertborn, with the co-operation of M. Cogels. Prof. Gosselet of Lille has just issued the first fasciculus of an essay on the geology of the North of France and the neighbouring regions. It deals with the palaeozoic formations, and is accompanied with an atlas of plates of fossils, maps, and sections. No one is so competent as M. Gosselet to describe the older formations of that district which he has so sedulously studied for many years. His volume will be welcomed not only by students in Belgium and the North of France, but by geologists in other countries, who will find in it an admirable rhumi of all that is known on this subject up to the present time, and references to the more important original memoirs where fuller information can be had.
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Geological Notes . Nature 22, 348–349 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/022348a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/022348a0