Petrology of Recent Sands of the Rhine and the Meuse in the Netherlands

Abstract

ABSTRACT The sands which the Rhine deposited during the Pleistocene to Recent reflect the geological history of the river. The picture presented by the mineralogy of the Rhine sands is a chaotic one, due to the fact that sands of three sources occur side by side and are mixed. The Meuse-sands, too, show an entirely different picture from the one to be expected on general grounds. The southern part of the stream contains sand with a mineral association (Eysden-province) derived from the hinterland, the Ardennes. In the middle part of the stream this material is already getting into the background and is giving way to sand from the Pleistocene terraces belonging for the greater part to the Limburg-province. In the lower part of this river the Eysden-material has become very unimportant and the sand shows especially the characteristics of young-Pleistocene Rhine-sands, which correspond with the geological situation of the surroundings. The Netherland rivers transport no sand to sea, the estuaries sand up from the sea, and the river sand comes to rest about 30 km. from the coast.