Namurian

Carboniferous rocks had a great impact on the landscape and industrialisation of western Europe, hence a distinction between ‘Carboniferous limestone’ and ‘Coal Measures’ since the dawn of geological science. André Dumont (1852) and Omalius d’Halloy (1853) already distinguished a ‘Houiller sans houille’ (Coal Measures without coal), subsequently named ‘Namurian’ by Purves in 1883. Whereas the lower boundary was quite clear – the quick transition from carbonates to siliciclastics – the boundary of the Namurian with the overlying coal-rich Coal Measures was subject to different interpretations a... Mehr ...