VUB geologists pinpoint geological age Maastricht quarries for the first time

Drone overview of the west side of the former ENCI quarry in the Sint-Pieters Berg (photo: Pim Kaskes). Researchers use new techniques to determine when limestone layers and fossils were formed during dinosaur age, 66 to 73 million years ago - Wednesday, March 30, 2022 — Geologists from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and KU Leuven, in collaboration with Maastricht Natural History Museum and Dutch conservation organisation Natuurmonumenten, have mapped the million-year-old rocks in the quarries near Maastricht. Using modern techniques, the researchers were able for the first time to determine the age of the various limestone layers and fossils much more precisely, and have dated their formation back to the last dinosaur age, 66 to 72.9 million years ago, when the region was still a lively underwater world. Their results have been published in the journal Newsletters on Stratigraphy. "By comparing changes in the chemical composition of the rocks with other locations in the rest of the world, we were able to determine much more precisely how old the limestone layers are and therefore also the fossils found in them," explains geologist Johan Vellekoop, who carried out the work during his postdoc at VUB. "Thanks to this research, we can learn more about the development of life in the subtropical seas around Maastricht millions of years ago." The area around Maastricht is geologically very interesting because there are rocks on the surface that were formed millions of years ago, when the region was still a shallow, subtropical sea.