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| Delta Works in the Netherlands to help prevent storm surges and floods. (Holland, 16/10/16) There is an old Dutch saying that goes "While god created the Earth, the Dutch created the Netherlands"(Rosenberg, M., 2015). The dutch are an interesting people with a unique culture, language and way of life. But the single most interesting thing about them is their ability to overcome nature and successfully retake land back from the ocean. |
A Small History Lesson
Around 400 BCE the first settlers to the Netherlands were the Frisians. They created what they called terpen. This was one of their terms for villages and what it meant was series of houses built on earth mounds to elevated them from the risk of floods. These terpen still exist in the Netherlands today. Small dikes were built around the terpens to add more protection. Unfortunately on December 14th, 1287, this protection did nothing against the North Sea as it flooded the area, killing over 50,000 people (Rosenberg, 2015).
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It wouldn't be wrong to say the Netherlands are one of the most innovative countries in the world. They simply have had to be, to survive. A quote from the Netherlands Ambassador really backs this statement up, saying;
“It’s no exaggeration to say that innovation is in our DNA. We’re always willing to try new things, to find a better way to do something, and if something doesn’t work, we’ll keep trying until we find something that does. If necessity is the mother of invention, then the Netherlands is the father of innovation.” (Holland, 16/10/16).
Geology Of The Area
The geology of the Netherlands is quite intricate due to a number of times it has been underwater, only to be brought back to the surface again. It is also hard to say when the Netherlands became as we know them today, which is why it is broken up into three periods; the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic (Deltawerken, 2004).
Paleozoic - The oldest rocks, which can be found in the Heimans Quarry, originate from the Carboniferous period. In the north and south of the Netherlands, this strata layer lies 4 km below the surface. This layer is no longer found above ground now due to erosion (Deltawerken, 2004). The next layer on top is comprised largely of sandstone and has natural gas reserves. This layer is around 250 Mya (Million years ago).
Mesozoic - The following rocks were all created during this time period; sandstone, evaporates (which are sediments that were created through of evaporation of water), chalk, dolomite, shale and gypsum (Deltawerken, 2004). Due to erosion, the majority of all the shale has now disappeared. During the Jurassic period, rocks that could contain petroleum were formed. In the Cretaceous period, the meteorite which hit the Yucatan peninsula caused an average warming of the oceans by 10 degrees celsius. Also during this time, the Netherlands were completely submerged by the ocean, which resulted in the formation of the chalk (Deltawerken, 2004). This is also most likely when the gypsum and dolomite were formed as they need marine environments to deposit.
Cenozoic - As we enter this time period, more layers are accumulating. The next one is the clay layers that originated in the Oligocene. After that comes the Miocene where quartz and coal were formed in the eastern part of the Netherlands (Deltawerken, 2004). Now comes the ice ages. The first one was during the Elsterien period which didn't really do much except cover the Netherlands completely in ice. The second one, however, changed the landscapes radically in the Saalien period. This was due to the deposition of lateral moraine and boulder clay. Massive boulders were transported all around the country which inevitably in the 2000BC were used to build megalithic tombs. These are above ground tombs that are made of boulders in which the dead reside. They look as rustic as it sounds, take a look at figure 1. But this is how the Stone Henges originated.
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| Figure 1: Megalithic Tombs in the Netherlands http://thefairytaletraveler.com/2014/05/15/europe-megalithic-route/ |
Holocene - For the last 10,000 years the Netherlands have mainly been influenced by sea level rise and Human involvement.
How The Hydrosphere Is Influenced
The Netherlands are dominated by human construction in an attempt to reclaim stolen land from the sea. Most of the western half of the Netherlands is below sea level (shown in figure 2) and the eastern section comprises of shallow and deep aquifers. Vries (2007) states that the western area of the Netherlands is like a "patchwork of polders, each with its own set of an artificially controlled level of surface water and groundwater." Polders are tracts of low-lying land that have been reclaimed by the land. They are surrounded by dykes to protect it from flooding or attempts from the sea to take the land back. Vries (2007) then goes on to state that the total number of 1700 million m3 of fresh water is annually extracted in the Netherlands and of that amount, 60% of this is used for public water supply. Across the Netherlands, the water table varies like all other systems but it is extremely shallow in certain parts. The groundwater is present in the pores and fractures of the sedimentary rocks on and off the shore.
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Figure 2: Surface topography of the Netherlands; elevation relative to NAP (= Normaal Amsterdams Peil = Dutch ordnance datum, approximate average sea level) (Vries, 2007).
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| Figure 3: Floating Greenhouse in Naaldwijk (Holland, 16/10/16). I guess the point to this post is that there is always an answer to everything if you are Dutch? The innovation and determination of the people of the Netherlands are highly admirable. |
References
Deltawerken, 2004, Geology of the Netherlands, viewed: 16/10/2016, http://www.deltawerken.com/Geology-of-the-Netherlands/112.html
de Vries, J.J., 2007, 'Geology of the Netherlands', Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 295-315.
Holland, The Netherlands: Fertile ground for innovation, viewed: 16/10/2016, http://nlintheusa.com/fertile-ground-for-innovation/
Rosenberg, M., 2015, Polders and Dikes of the Netherlands, viewed: 16/10/2016, http://geography.about.com/od/specificplacesofinterest/a/dykes.htm
Bibliography and Recommended Reading
http://www.hydrology.nl/images/docs/dutch/key/Groundwater_De_Vries.pdf
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