Recent exploration in pre-permian rocks around the Brabant Massif in Belgium, the Netherlands and the federal republic of Germany

Abstract

The palaeogeographic evolution of NW Europe during the Pre-Permian has been controlled by three important orogenic periods since the Late Precambrian. Since the end of Cadomian times, a blockfaulted platform seems to exist to the southwest of the Fenno-Scandian Shield: the Belgo-Dutch Platform. One of the main structural elements in this platform is the London-Brabant Massif that was uplifted by the Late Caledonian movements. The Brabant Massif and its surrounding areas form the best-known part of the Belgo-Dutch Platform. Recent geological work in this area has focussed, e.g. on the extension of the allochthonous thrustsheets south of the Brabant Massif (Dinant Nappes), the rapid lateral facies and thickness changes in the Devono-Dinantian carbonate deposits (e.g., in the St.-Ghislain and Visé-Puth areas, respectively south and east of the Brabant Massif), and the Upper Carboniferous (Silesian) coal deposits to the north and northeast. The present review is meant as a preliminary synthesis of the state of these exploration projects.