Not far from the open-air theater in Spaubeek is a gravel pit. It is popularly called 'Groeve Houben'. In 1965 they started excavating sand and gravel from this quarry.
Today the quarry is a geological treasure trove. You can read the history of the region from it. Due to the excavations, the various sand and gravel layers have been nicely exposed and you can clearly distinguish them here. Under a layer of cultivated soil of about half a meter, from top to bottom, lie a five-meter thick loess package, a million-year-old layer of sand and gravel from the Pleistocene about ten meters thick, and below that a nine-meter thick layer of sand from the Miocene, that is five to twenty-five million years old and is also called silver sand.
The layer from above contains a lot of material that was brought in by the Meuse from northern France, Belgium and Germany at the time. The oldest rock is quartzite, originating from the Cambrian, about 500 million years ago. Some of the large Maas boulders at the Annakapel further away come from this quarry.
The gravel pit is no longer active today. Together with the owner of Groeve Houben and the owner of Groeve Bruls, located in Schinnen, we look at how this wonderful geological area remains invaluable for people and nature. The aim is to make the quarries experienceable and accessible for walkers, cyclists and restaurants with respect for nature.
This text has been automatically translated using an online translation service.
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