Building Stones of Amsterdam. A Geological Walk.
17 October 2021 |
|
| Field trip leaders: | C. Wim Dubelaar (senior geologist) |
| Time: | Starting at 6 - 7.30 PM |
Description:
The Evening Stone Walk in Amsterdam will take you along several monuments and statues of natural stone. Starting at the Rijksmuseum we will take a closer look to the mineralogy, the fossil content and the colour texture of the different stone types.
At the plinth of the Rijksmuseum, built in the late 19th century, use is made of Carboniferous limestone, quarried in the Ardennes, a mountain ridge in Belgium. The bluestone shows a variety of fossil fragments, among others, crinoids stems, brachiopod shells and several types of corals that lived on the substrate of a shallow, tropical sea. At the façade, made of red bricks, we can distinguish sculptures and ornaments made out of Jurassic crinoid limestone quarried in Euville, a village in Lorraine (Northern France).
In the 17th century Lower Cretaceous sandstones were imported from Germany to be used as cladding for the dwellings of rich merchants and burgomasters. The main sandstone quarries were situated in Bentheim, a town near the Dutch border, and in Obernkirchen, a village near Hannover. The stones were transported via the river Vecht and the river Weser (and the North Sea) respectively.
During the walk we will discuss the weathering phenomena and the durability of the natural stone in the urban environment.
The tour will start at 6 PM and will last around one hour and a half. The tour ends at the starting point, the Rijksmuseum.
Main Sponsors