Field course in the Rhine-Meuse delta

The field course 'Veldwerk Laaglandgenese' involves a sound exercise in geomorphological and geological mapping (scale 1:10,000) of part of the Rhine-Meuse delta in the Netherlands, during a period of 10 weeks, including introductory courses and writing of a report with maps and cross sections. The course is renowned for its fundamental training among all the students that graduated in physical geography at Utrecht University. The fieldwork was initiated in 1959 by the late J. van Rossum, and was taken over in 1973 by H.J.A. Berendsen, who supervised it up to 2005, and adapted it to become a milestone in the curriculum. Since 2005, E. Stouthamer supervises the course.

Number of students participating in the Laaglandgenese field course in the Rhine-Meuse delta.

From 1959 to 2005, 1714 undergraduate students have participated in the Laaglandgenese field course. The number of participating students averaged approximately 10 in the period 1960-1970. In 1971 the number started to increase. In 1978 the course shifted to the first year, and the number of students rose to 78 in 1985. It reached an all-time high of 108 in 1992. After 1995 the number of participants decreased again, due to demographic effects, the shifting of the course to the second year, and the merging of the Physical Geography department with Earth Sciences in to the Faculty of Geosciences.

Together, the students carried out over 200,000 shallow handcorings (by auger, gauge, and Van der Staay suction corer) to a maximum depth of approximately 20 m below the surface. Coring density varies from 60 to 350 corings per square kilometer. All cores are described at 10 cm intervals (see core description). The borehole descriptions are stored in the Laaglandgenese database (Berendsen 2005).

The course has been supervised by:

In addition, many other staff members of the department of physical geography helped supervising the course since 1973.

Staff members that helped supervising the course since 1973. The * means that participation was not continuous (1-2 years absence). Törnqvist and Weerts participated as student-assistants, Ph.D. students, and as postdocs.

Since 1973 standard procedures for the lithological description of sediments and for geomorphological and geological mapping are used, as well as new drilling techniques, increased drilling depths, and radiocarbon and Optical Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating. Reseach of the Fluvial Group is strongly interwoven with the field course.

Picture of the introduction to the field course in the Montfoort area in 1988. At the end of each day there is a discussion and evaluation of the results with all the participating staff members, students, and assistents.
Kim Cohen explains tectonic influence on river systems during an excursion for staff members of the Department of Physical Geography (2005).

Literature

  1. Berendsen, H.J.A. & E. Stouthamer (2001), Palaeogeographic development of the Rhine-Meuse delta. Assen: Van Gorcum, 270 pp. Enclosures: 3 coloured maps and a CD-ROM.
  2. Berendsen, H.J.A. (2005), De Laaglandgenese Databank. CD-ROM, Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University.