Geosciences | Terres, pierres et feu en vallée mosane

No other town than Andenne inherited such richness of mineral natural resources on its territory ! The Meuse Valley, connecting the Condroz and the Hesbay, permitted its extraction in quarries and mines, hosted refining industries and facilitated their export and trade abroad.

The extraction of white (derle) or coloured clays from underground galleries where raw materials for potters, tile makers and brickmakers conducted to the development of earthenware and pipe manufactories, followed by the rest of the industry. Today, many ponds testify of these past activities. Used as ornamental stones, the limestone ("pierre bleue") covers prestigious buildings and public areas. Crushed, the limestone is hidden in concrete and road foundations. The hardest limestone and dolomite rocks are heated in oven to create lime, a key material with many industrial uses. The lime industry is represented by its worldwide leaders: Lhoist and Carmeuse groups. “Amphitheatres” opened to the valley, forest-covered quarries, huge rock faces and lime kilns are all important landmarks in the landscape of Andenne. Its subsoil is rich in iron, lead and zinc – arranged in layers or in veins and extracted in mines until 1940. Sorted and crushed, these ores are first melted, then purified to create metals and alloys. The former factories Gustave Dumont and many heirs-of-medieval foundries exploited these metal deposits. The traces of the past coal mining of Andenne are faded. Yet the coal mines used to feed the households as well as the industries, eager for massive and cheap energy resources. Layers of sandstone provided the stone which gave to many villages their distinctive colours. At last, terracotta and carved stones have always inspired artists, completing in this way the rich architectural heritage.

In this multi-disciplinary book, many researchers tell the History of Andenne during the last 440 millions years up to now. Geologists describe the rocks, ores and mineral formations, underground water resources, as well as their extraction and transformation processes. Archeologists, historians and naturalists integrated Mankind, Church and Secularism in the management of the mineral resources of the territory in historical and geographical contexts. Lastly, the Museum of Ceramics, the cave of Scladina and the nature reserve of Sclaigneux are landmarks, memory transmitter promoting ancient bonds between mineral resources and Mankind.

42 articles written by different authors and co-authors are divided into 8 themes :

1. La Terre d'Andenne: des origines géologiques à la période contemporaine

   Géologie, Préhistoire, Présence romaine, Mérovingiens, Période médiévale, Evolution territoriale, Ancien Régime

2. Les calcaires et les dolomies

3. Les grès

   Sables, grès, quartzites

4. Le charbon

   Terre-houille, extraction du charbon, concessions, alun, lampes de mine

5. Les minerais de fer, de plomb et de zinc

   Minerais de plomb et de zinc, Minerais de fer, Fonderies, Minéraux des scories

6. Les terres plastiques et les sables

   Géologie, Extraction, Gisements, Sablières, Faïences et Porcelaines, Piperies, Poteries, Tuileries, Briqueteries

7. L’eau

   Ressources en eau, Fontaines

8. Patrimoine biologique et humain lié aux sites industriels

   Pierres ornementales, Eglises et saints patrons, Fluorite de Seilles, Grotte Scladina, Réserve naturelle de Sclaigneaux, Patrimoine funéraire, modifications paysagères, musée de la céramique

The book is placed under the scientific direction of Dr Sc. Eric Goemaere, geologist at the Geological Survey of Belgium.

Many colleagues (many from Andenne) contributed to it: Grégory Abrams (Andenne archeology), Dominique Bonjean (Andenne archeology), Geoffrey Cambier (RBINS), Jean Chaboteaux (Lhoist), Emmanuel Chevalier (Carmeuse), Sophie Challe (SPW), Pierre-Yves Declercq (RBINS), Bernard Delcambre (UCL), Xavier Deflorenne (SPW), Sylvie de Longueville (SPW), Richard De Nul (mineral collection and pictures), Kévin Di Modica (Andenne archeology), Léon Dejonghe (RBINS, ULB), Laure-Anne Finoulst (ULB), Eric Goemaere (RBINS), Eric Groessens (RBINS), Vincent Hallet (FUNDP), Frédéric Hanut (SPW), Léon Hauregard (honorary curator of the Museum of Ceramics), Johan Michaux (ULg, curator of the nature reserve of Sclaigneux), Yves Quinif (UMons), Simon Philippo (MHNLuxembourg), Anne Pluymaekers (Museum of Ceramics), Alain Robert (collector), Anne Robertz ("Musée de la Préhistoire en Wallonie"), Patrick Timmermans (photographer, Andenne), Vincent Vincke (SEROS), Line Van Wersch (ULg) and Philippe Wascotte (history of Andenne).