The National Commission for Stratigraphy has the task to organize the stratigraphic nomenclature of the Belgian geology according to international standards and conventions. The National Commission for Stratigraphy therefore works in close cooperation with the International Commission on Stratigraphy which is installed by the International Union of Geological Sciences. Furthermore the National Commission for Stratigraphy promotes the collaboration between all geoscientists involved in the Belgian stratigraphy and the Commission can take initiatives to improve the understanding of stratigraphy within the geoscience community.
The National Commission for Stratigraphy in Belgium is formally installed by the National Committee for Geological Sciences which depends on the National Academy of Sciences of Belgium.
The National Scientific Committees, like the National Committee for Geological Sciences (NCGS), are organised by the ‘Klasse der Wetenschappen’ and the ‘Classe des Sciences’ of the two Royal Academies, which are both national members of International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). A national committee such as the NCGW-CNSG can be organised on condition that in the scientific field of this committee an international scientific union is a member of ICSU. In our field of geology, the IUGS is such international scientific union.
In the present stage the NCS has as primary objective the development of a lithostratigraphic nomenclature, now at the formation level and gradually working to the member level. This nomenclature needs to be the reference for the use of stratigraphic terms in the regional geological databases Databank Ondergrond Vlaanderen and the Carte géologique de Wallonie.
Developing stratigraphic nomenclature is an iterative exercise. On the one hand stratigraphic subdivisions orient mapping and diverse other geological studies, and on the other hand stratigraphy can only be built up by mapping and geological studies. Therefore a close cooperation is required between the National Stratigraphic Commission and the mapping teams, the regional authorities for natural resource management and geoscientists in general. This concern is reflected in the composition of the National Commission for Stratigraphy and in its procedures.
Detailed research and correlations with the chronostratigraphy will be made later.
The NCS also wants to promote international cooperation and coherency in nomenclature across national boundaries.
The internal organization of the NCS is explained in Organisation and Board of the NCS where also the contact coordinates of all board members can be found. You can also consult the meeting reports of the NCS, and those of the subcommissions at their respective pages.