THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

AND

JOURNAL OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADES.

Vol. CXI.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1916.

No. 2878.

The Campine Coal Field.

Its Relation to the other Coal Fields of Belgium and North=western Europe.

P. KRUSCH

The larger portion of Belgium is occupied by the
Ardennes (including the plateau of Brabant), which
consists mainly of Cambrian and silurian rocks in the'
form of a chain (resulting from the pre-devonian
Caledonian fold) which is bordered by devonian and
carboniferous strata, the latter extending to the north-
ward, more or less over the devonian. During the
carboniferous period, as is shown by the marine horizons
and the banks of limestone, there were frequent over-
flowings of the sea.

The seismic disturbances caused during the hercynian
movement, during and shortly after the upper carboni-
ferous period, were the,cause of the main tectonic features
of the massif of the Ardennes. The strata con-
stitute a -series of folds, with a general line of strike from
east to west, their direction being influenced by faults.
The coal measures, as the most recent formation in the
pre-hercynian series, appear to be confinefl to filling up
the troughs accompanying the plateau of Brabant on
the north and south.

In the course of the protracted post-hercynian
continental period, the Ardennes became abraded, so
that now they form a pene-plain. In the permo-trias
age and.later, the sea again entered, and deposited thick
and nearly horizontal beds of sandstone, conglomerates,
schists, chalk, marls, sand and clay, which still remain
practically undisturbed.

In the first place, the permian sea conquered fl
portion of the former continent, in the northern section
of the province of Limburg, that is to say, the Campine;
and here the deposits continued until the jurassic period.
In the mesozoic period the southern slopes -of the
Ardennes, and in particular the southern portions of the
province of Luxemburg (Belgian Lorraine), were also
submerged.	'

The great chalk transgression extended over the larger
part of Belgium, and especially in the superficial depres-
sions of the palaeozoic strata, of which the Haine dis-
trict is one of the most important. Finally, during the
tertiary period, Belgium was repeatedly more or less
submerged, so that the deposits attained considerable
thickness in places.

The gradual denudation to wThich the Ardennes and
the plateau of Brabant were exposed, chiefly in the
upper tertiary period, led to the disappearance of the
post-palaeozoic rocks over a large portion of the district.

With the exception of the Haine trough, the pre-
cretaceous pene-plain forms a surface sloping northward
in a fairly regular manner. Owing to the erosive activity
of powerful streams, the underlying palaeozoic rocks have
been exposed to a considerable depth, both in the south
and in the Sambre-Meuse district further north.

The Belgian coal deposits are chiefly located to the
south and north of the plateau of Brabant, though they
also border it on the east, so that the plateau, which
belonged to the mainland in the carboniferous period,
penetrates into the coal measure district like an east-west
anticline.

Particular interest attaches to the boundaries of the
coal fields lying to the south and north of the plateau.
The map (fig. 1) and the corresponding section (fig. 2)
show the limits of the productive coal measures bound-
ing the older formations of the plateau, these limits
having been determined by the pioneer labours of Renier
and others, and by the numerous borings put down
within the last 10 years. The southern coal field is
known as the Haine-Sambre-Meuse district, and the
northern one as the Campine. The former is bounded
on the south by the great overthrust which resulted in
the older formations, such as the Silurian, overlapping
the carboniferous, so that here the coal measures extend
underneath further south than where they meet the older

“ Gluckauf.”

palaeozoic formation on the surface. In the north of the
Haine-Sambre-Meuse ‘ basin, the productive carboni-
ferous is bounded by carboniferous limestone, pre-
sumably without disturbance.

In a corresponding manner, in the north of the
Brabant plateau, the palaeozoic strata forming the
nucleus are bounded first by the carboniferous limestone,
and then by the productive coal measures.

In the Belgian coal fields, which are indicated on the
map by cross-hatching (outcropping or worked deposits)
and by simple hatching (proved by borings), there are

TREFELD

ANTWERP

HasselT

BRUSSEL

'AachEn

Mi.-Cambr.

\H-Cambr

>il -Cambn,

under

field

Coal field exposed at surface, or p:
3 Coal measures proved by borings.
3 Original coal field before erosion.
3 Barren measures.

2 Reserved by the State.

Borings in.Palaeozoic of Brabant.,
Permo-Triassic boundary.

- Approximate E. boundary of coal
“ Fault.

Overthrust

Fig. 1.

three well-defined groups, of coal deposits :—(1) The
small isolated deposits in the large devonian trough of
Dinant (the furthest -south); (2) the group immediately
north of the Haine-Sambre-Meuse trough, and (incor-
rectly) known, in the literature, as the basins of Liege,
Namur, Charleroi, and Mons, though they really form
a continuous troughand (3) the Campine coal field, in
the north of the plateau.

In the first-named group, the whole extent of the
coal measures crops out. In the second, it is covered'
by younger deposits, and is intersected only in the
valleys' of the Sambre, the Meuse, and their tributaries,
and in the network of streams in the Haine district. In
the Campine, the measures lie under cover rock, which
increases in thickness in a northerly direction.

In the Dinant region the abrasion of the Ardennes
extends to such a depth that only small isolated coal
basins are contained in the deepest folds.

The Haine-Sambre-Meuse trough, on the other hand,

is interrupted only by a transverse anticline, in the
Samson valley, extending 6kiloms. to the west of the
river, and Ikilom. to the. east.

So far as has been proved, the third district, the
Campine, seems to form an uninterrupted deposit.

As a mining proposition, the. Dinant district seems to
be of minor importance, the few small workings having
long been abandoned as unprofitable. For centuries,
the Haine-Sambre-Meuse district has been the scene of
great.mining activity; and it is only in consequence of
the irregular progress of working operations that
Belgians have become accustomed to regard the uniform
deposit a-s divided up into several basins, viz., Mons,

Centre, Charleroi, Basse Sambre, Ardenne, Huy, Li6ge,
Seraing, and Herve.

The Campine district was only discovered in 1901, and
the prospecting Work has been chiefly restricted to sink-
ing boreholes, though six double shafts have been put
down, and will soon be ready for raising coal.

The possibility of finding coal in the plateau of
Brabant, which separates the second and third groups,
has frequently been discussed, Forir and others regard-
ing the idea with favour. Existing borings (fig. 1)
demonstrate the presence of an,, old surface anti-
clinal, the core of which crops out over a considerable
area, and consists of siluro-cambrian rocks. No
productive . coal measures ' have, however, been dis-
covered; and since the chain to which this plateau