The Quaternary Destruction of an Older, Tertiary Topography Between the Sambre and Ourthe Rivers (Southern Ardennes)

Abstract

In the southern and western Ardennes the rheno-ardennic shield is not uplifted en bloc. Fluvial morphologic investigations of the destruction of Tertiary plains and the terraces of Quaternary time show very different vertical tectonic movements for different times and regions. In the region of the Rocroi massif (west of the Meuse river), the massifs of Croix Scaille and St. Hubert (east of the Meuse river) and in the southern parts of the Dinant downfold these tectonic activities of vertical displacements had been studied by different authors. Recent tectonic movements show regions of higher uplift around Givet, in the area of the upper course of the Ourthe river and in the region between St. Vith - Bastogne - Libramont - St. Hubert-Croix Scaille. The amount of uplift decreases from the eastern to the western Ardennes, and at the southern margin of the Rocroi massif uplifting has ceased and subsidence takes place.