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2.1.12. Saint-Denis Silicite Formation- SDN

Authors:  Robaszynski (1975b).

Description: Very hard rock, in banks of severaldecimetresthickness or totallysilicified, of light grey colour, with conchoidal fracture; millstone grit used to this day the shaping of millstones. A few rare fossils with non-silicified shells.

Stratotype: Engelbienne Quarry at Saint-Denis (see Robaszynski, 1975b, p. 36).

Area: The Silicite is a lateral facies of the Hautrage Formation, only found between Ghlin and Saint-Denis, in the north of the Mons Basin.

Thickness:  2 to 7 m.

Age: Late Turonian on the basis of calcitic fossils: Micraster leskei, Sternotaxis plana, Inoceramus carpathicus, I.mantelli.

Remarks: -This is the "Meulière de Saint-Denis" of J. Cornet (1923).

- References: Brognon (1945 a, b).

Legend : Extremely resistant bluish to orange-white entirely silicified hardground, known as Meulière Saint Denis and characteristic for the Saint-Denis Silicite Formation. Engelbienne quarry, Saint-Denis (photos M. Dusar).