Summary - Bricks geography - second year - Unit 4 - 5 paragraphs
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Course
Aardrijkskunde
Level
VWO / Gymnasium
English: Dutch: a nice simple summary about how the Netherlands got its different types of soil and how they came into being. It is based on the theory of Bricks geography. The summary is in English because the method is in English.
From Mario and Jasper. (3Vwo)
There is a huge variation in the landscape of the Netherlands for it is man-made.
The earth's crust mainly consists of sediments. From the east to the coast the layer of
sediments will become thicker. This is because most of the sediments were deposited by the
sea from the ocean (500 metre thick).
The upper 2 metre is called the soil → 4
types: sand, loess, clay and peat.
Interglacial → warm climate
Glacial →cold climate
During a glacial period, one big ice cap reached
the Netherlands which created the utrechtse
heuvelrug and the veluwe. This is done by push
moraines.
These ice caps moved big Scandinavian rocks which are now holmen (hunebedden). In the
northern parts of the Netherlands, rocks were pulverised to form boulder clay under the ice
sheets.
During the weichselien, Wind blew sand and loess - a very small sediment comparable with
dust or very fine sand - from the bottom of the North Sea over our land, covering large areas
with this sediment.
Holocene→ sea level rose → brought sea clay with him so it covered different
lower parts of the Netherlands.
In the lower parts of the Netherlands wetlands were created. In these wetlands,
plants that died fell into the water. Due to lack of oxygen, these plants did not
erode. In this way, thick layers of peat were formed → used as fuel.
During the twelfth century, people lived in the Netherlands building dikes to protect them
from floods. So the land couldn’t keep up with the rising sea level.
Sand and clay soil = irregular
In the 19th century most of the landscape was man-made. Because of population growth
and specialisation and mechanisation the landscape changed. Only 2% of the surface area
of the Netherlands consisted of buildings and infrastructure in 1900; by the year 2000 this
figure was up to 13%.
, Paragraph 4.2 - The sand landscape
In the last glacial period, northwestern winds blew sand from the north-sea to the province of
south-Limburg and Germany. Most of the sand landscape in the east and south of the
Netherlands stayed at the surface. Because the wind formed little dunes, the sand
landscape is not flat, but has a sloping surface. In the lower west and north of the
Netherlands, the sea level rose and brought new layers of sediment on top of the sand.
Sand advantages: Higher up, easy to build on.
Sand disadvantages: Cannot hold nutrients, water easily seeps through, hard for agriculture.
Farmers found a way to beat the agriculture problem, they let sheeps graze beside the field
of their crops. By grazing they turned the field into a heath (heide). In the afternoon they
returned the sheeps and used their faeces (shit) for manure on the fields.
In the nineteenth century the fertiliser replaced the animals' faeces. The heats turned into
farmland and the heaths where the soil was too hard turned into pine woods. The fields
became much larger so big machinery could be used. Farmers specialised in crops and
machinery. But livestock farming became the biggest purpose.
The way dunes are formed is this: The waves of the sea bring sand to the beach. Wind
blows the sand from the beach into the dunes behind the beach. This sand can easily be
taken up by the wind again, if plant roots do not hold the sand grains together. On many high
dunes next to the beach, marram grass was planted to hold the sand and protect the dunes.
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