History of geological mapping of the Holocene Rhine-Meuse delta, the Netherlands

Abstract

A brief overview is given of the history of geological mapping of the Holocene Rhine-Meuse delta. The first accurate map of the delta, based on field observations, was made by Vink (1926). The geological map of the Netherlands, scale 1 : 50,000, made by the ‘Geologische Stichting’ (1927 – 1938) under the supervision of P. Tesch totally neglected Vink’s work, and was a step backwards with regard to the mapping of the Holocene delta. Between 1940 and 1965, the Wageningen group of soil scientists produced detailed regional soil maps, that had a strong ‘geogenetic’ component. In the 1960’s a revolutionary ‘profile type legend’ was introduced by the Netherlands’ Geological Survey. This allowed to map not only the outcropping sediments, but the whole Holocene succession, which gave more insight into the geological history. Over the past 30 years, the Rhine-Meuse delta has been studied extensively by students of physical geography at Utrecht University. More than 250,000 borehole descriptions, 1500 ¹⁴C dates and over 36,000 archeological artifacts with associated ages (collected by the National Service for Archaeological Heritage) have accumulated, resulting in the largest database of a delta in the world. The production of detailed maps has been crucial to the solution of many scientific problems. The use of GIS has greatly enhanced geological and geomorphological mapping, and subsequently, understanding of the evolution of the Holocene Rhine-Meuse delta. A new detailed digital elevation map of the Netherlands, based on very accurate laser-altimetry data, will enable us to map larger areas in greater detail, with greater accuracy, and in a much shorter period of time.