Goals

The geology of Belgium is not enough popularized. The outstanding geological sites are however abundant and are worth knowing by a large audience. The goal of this programme is to fill this gap. It started in 2001 on the initiative of L. Dejonghe and finished in 2007 by the edition of a book entitled "Les plus beaux rochers de Wallonie : Géologie et petite histoire".

Concerned public

Few people have a real knowledge of the nature and age of the rocks of Wallonia, even though they form part of their daily place of life. The nature lovers, the naturalists, the tourist guides, the teachers, the students, etc refer sometimes to these rocks but in a very rudimentary way. It is for these persons that this book is meant in order to specify how the rocks deposited and in which circumstances they were deformed (folded, faulted, fractured, etc.) to present their current configuration.

As the rock sites are often the scenery of a history or a legend, a section is also devoted to these more anecdotic aspects. Moreover, the somewhat difficult character of the covered subject (the geology) was minimized by displaying many photographs and sketches. The book thus aims a general public.

Content

Wallonia presents a wide range of rocks of various ages. Some geological stages internationally recognized were defined from rock sites located in Wallonia : e.g. Frasnian, Famennian, Tournaisian, Visean, Dinantian and Namurian. The reader will undertake a trip which will take him back in time more than 500 million years ago. Time is, indeed, the discussion thread of the work : the 78 sites which are described are introduced in the order of the age of the corresponding rocks. Each geological period is represented, from the Cambrian up to today.