Polyphase karst system in Cretaceous chalk and calcarenite of the Belgian-Dutch border

Abstract

Along the Belgian-Dutch border, underground and surface quarries dug in Cretaceous calcarenite and chalk intersect many karst features as well as deep large nodes of weathered rock. Their observation allows the reconstruction of the genesis of an original karst system resulting from the merging of initially independent endokarsts and exokarsts. Deep weathering has developed within the Cretaceous formations, creating nodes of weathered chalk and closed cavities. These phenomena are expanded over time and can form interconnected voids. Near the surface, solution pipes are generated under the coarsest deposits of a fluvial terrace capping the Cretaceous formations. These pipes develop vertically and may be related to the progressive lowering of the water table in connection with the incision of the Meuse valley. Some of these phenomena cut up the older endokarsts and organize complex systems of out-flow within the chalk.