The Laaglandgenese database of the Rhine-Meuse delta

All borehole descriptions collected in the Laaglandgenese field course are stored in a special room of the institute, called the Boratorium. This room contains all borehole descriptions and maps in an analog format (approximately 15 office-closets). The total commercial value of the database is estimated at 10-20 million Euro. Almost 100,000 borehole descriptions are now in a digital format and are incorporated in the so-called Laaglandgenese (LLG) database. They are available for scientific research on a CD-ROM. For use of the data see below.

In addition to the boreholes, over 1350 14C dates are now available from the Rhine-Meuse delta. These data can be downloaded. Special user-friendly software for professional retrieval of data, printing maps and cross sections was developed over the last decade, and is now widely used by Ph. D. students, together with GIS-applications.

Figure 1 Coring during the introduction phase of the field course near Montfoort (1988).

Application of the Laaglandgenese database

The unique potential of the database as a source for numerous aspects of fluvial sedimentology, fluvial geomorphology, Quaternary geology, environmental science and planning, hydrology and engineering geology has become increasingly recognized during the last decennium.

A large number of MSc. students and Ph.D. students have used the borehole data and fieldwork results to their advantage, amongst others Torbjörn Törnqvist, Mark Bierkens, Henk Weerts, Hans Middelkoop, Nathalie Asselman, Bart Makaske, Esther Stouthamer, Annika Hesselink, Jeroen Schokker, Kim Cohen, Pieter-Jan van Helvoort, Maarten Kleinhans, Roy Frings. This resulted in a growing national and international interest in the work that has been carried out in The Holocene Rhine-Meuse delta, which now ranks among the best studied deltas in the world. A list of students that participated in the field course can be downloaded.

Sand depth map of Holocene paleochannels in the Rhine-Meuse delta

In addition to scientific application, the borehole archives has been used by various planning agencies and engineering companies. A sand depth atlas (scale 1:25,000) was made for the Province of Gelderland (Berendsen et al. 2001). A digital version of the atlas is available upon request from the Province of Gelderland.

Digital geological-geomorphological map

A geological-geomorphological map of the Holocene and a palaeogeographic reconstruction of the whole delta were published by Berendsen & Stouthamer (2001). The map is also included in the Ph.D. thesis of Stouthamer (2001), who studied the avulsion history of the Holocene delta.

A digital version of the map is now available through the authors for € 500,-.

As a spin-off of recent work, Ph.D. research in other deltas of the world has been undertaken: Mississippi delta (USA), Po delta (Italy), Niger inland delta (Mali), Columbia River Valley (Canada), the upstream part of the Rhine (Germany) and the Pechora drainage basin (Russia).

Figure 2 Fragment of the Berendsen-Stouthamer (2001) map in a Geographical Information System.

Use of digital data

Requests for a licence to use the data should be addressed to Dr. H.J.A. Berendsen and Dr. E. Stouthamer. Authors rights have been transferred from Dr. H.J.A. Berendsen to the Faculty of Geosciences, Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University. This means that all users have to sign a contract with the Faculty dean to be able to use the data. All references to the database should be made as follows:

Berendsen, H.J.A. (2005), De Laaglandgenese Databank. CD-ROM, Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University.

For practical applications, payment of a licence-fee is required. For more information contact: Dr. H.J.A. Berendsen and Dr. E. Stouthamer.

References

  1. Berendsen, H.J.A., E.L.J.H. Faessen, A.W. Hesselink & H. Kempen (2001), Zand in banen - Zanddiepte-kaarten van het Gelders Riverengebied met inbegrip van de uiterwaarden. Sand-depth maps of the eastern part of the Rhine-Meuse delta (with a summary in English). Arnhem: Provincie Gelderland, in samenwerking met Rijkswaterstaat, Waterbedrijf Gelderland en Universiteit Utrecht, 53 p. Coloured maps.
  2. Berendsen, H.J.A. & E. Stouthamer (2001), Palaeogeographic development of the Rhine-Meuse delta, The Netherlands, Assen: Koninklijke Van Gorcum, 268 p. 3 coloured maps, CD-ROM.
  3. Stouthamer (2001), Holocene avulsions in the Rhine-Meuse delta, The Netherlands. Ph. D. Thesis, Utrecht University. Netherlands Geographical Studies 283, 224 p.