250 PBOCUELINGS 0¥ THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 24^ 



did any occur to us. The transport of northern detritus southwards, 

 both over our own area and that of northern Europe, took place 

 during the later Glacial period, and does not appear to have extended 

 to this part of Belgium. 



3. Camjpine Sand. — Sables de la Campine. — In every section 

 which we saw about Antwerp, there was to be observed at the 

 surface a very uniform layer, which has been referred by the Bel- 

 gian geologists to that very remarkable sandy formation covering so 

 large a district on the confines of Belgium and Holland, the Campine, 

 or Kempenland, whence the *' Sable Campinien " of Dumont. 



About the city of Antwerp this accumulation seems to be thickest 

 where the ground is highest, as outside the Malines Gate, in the 

 direction of the roads to Schelle and Boom by Port J^o. 7. The 

 cuttings going on in this direction, beyond the " Enceinte," show 

 good sections, six feet and upwards in thickness, of fine sand; though 

 where the soil is moist, the beds have much the appearance, and 

 even character, of some of the buff-coloured Loss of Brabant. 



It is noticed by Dejardin that the limited area on which the city 

 of Antwerp stands is bare of this formation*. " Cette ville a du 

 former une ile dans la mer Campinienne." 



No fossil remains of any kind have ever been met with in this ac- 

 cumulation. 



These sandy beds extend from Antwerp over the Campine, and 

 thence into North Holland ; they form for the most part a barren 

 tract, which the Belgian Government has striven hard to bring into 

 cultivation, with only partial success, owing to the extreme lightness 

 of the sands, which are easily blown about, and are constantly 

 shifting. 



The superficial sands of Hasselt, towards the Bolderberg and 

 Beverloo, belong to the Campine formation. 



The manner in which this covering of sand follows the rise of the 

 country from north southwards, overlapping all older formations, and 

 its inconsiderable thickness compared with its great superficial ex- 

 tent, forbid the supposition of accumulation by water, or of a *' Mer 

 Campinienne." On the other hand, the aspect and uniform com- 

 position of these sands, the manner in which, when dry, they are 

 lifted about by the wind, suggest that they have originated as Dune- 

 sand, which has travelled inland from the coast-line of some former 

 condition of the North Sea. 



The age of the " Campine Sands " has often been discussed. They 

 are now* very generally referred by Belgian geologists to the " Sy- 

 steme Diluvien." 



Though the true Campine sand has never been found to contain 

 animal remains of any kind ; it overlies a surface with Elephas jpri- 

 migenius. It is certainly older than the Polder-mud deposits, and 



* M. Omalius, on the consideration that at Antwerp the Campine sands con- 

 form to the Crag, is disposed to refer them to that formation. The Antwerp 

 sections show very clearly that those sands have been spread out since the gene- 

 ral surface of the Crag sea-beds has been extensively denuded ; occasional con- 

 formity is a mere accident. 



