The information on this page is a summary description.
The full formal description is available here: Pittem Member
| Abbreviation | GePi |
| Parent unit | Gentbrugge Formation |
| Child units | Hooglede Sandstone Bed |
| Lithological description | The Pittem Member consists of a bedded alternation of thin, dm scale, layers of silty clay and clayey fine glauconitic sand, locally cemented into thin sandstone and siltstone beds which can be microporous after dissolution of sponge spiculae and fossils. Bioturbation is common. Tidal gullies have been reported by Geets et al. (2000). The thickness of the Pittem Member is about 15 to 20 m. Traces of lignite have been reported in the Pittem Member occurring between Knokke and Kruibeke in the north of West and East Flanders by Fobe (1993). The lower boundary is easily distinguished from either the underlying Merelbeke Member, the Egem Sandstone Bed or the Egem Member. The often reported gradual transition between Pittem Member and the overlying Vlierzele unit in boreholes, is erroneous and due to a confusion between the Pittem Member and clayey parts of the Vlierzele unit sensu Fobe (1995) (Fobe, 1995 p 143). Also, in typical cases, the limit between the clayey sediment of the Pittem Member and the overlying Vlierzele Sand can be traced with reasonable confidence in the geophysical log correlation profiles by Welkenhuysen and De Ceukelaire (2009). Fobe (1997) reports that in the subsurface of northwest Belgium the upper part of the Pittem Member is a conspicuous horizon, brown coloured by lignitic material. |
| Age | |
| Thickness | |
| Area of occurrence | The Pittem Member occurs almost continuously in a small zone north of a line Torhout‐Tielt‐Oudenaarde‐Ninove and in West Brabant but subcrops over a larger area north of this line. South of this line it occurs only in the South Flemish hills. Towards the south the Pittem Member becomes more sandy. On the geological maps 1:40 000 the Pittem Member is represented by the P1c unit and in the stratigraphic register (1929, 1932) as part of the Y2 division. On the 1: 40 000 maps of the Kortrijk area, clayey deposits of the Tielt Formation have been incorrectly interpreted as P1c. The name ‘sandy clay of Anderlecht’ is a synonym. |
| Type locality | Geets (1979) considered the now abandoned Claerhout extraction pit in Pittem (topographic map 21/5‐6, Izegem‐Wakken, X = 74.250, Y = 187.540, Z = + 46 m) as the reference section for the Pittem Member. An identical section is exposed in the Ampe/Egem pit – 053W0060 between +43.5 and +40 m T.A.W (topographic mapsheet 21/1 Wingene x= 70.150, y= 190.150, z= +44m) above the X‐stone Bed. |
| Alternative names | |
| Authors | Steurbaut, E., De Ceukelaire, M., Lanckacker, T., Matthijs, J., Stassen, P., Van Baelen, H. & Vandenberghe, N. |
| Date | 09/01/2017 |
| Cite as | Steurbaut, E., De Ceukelaire, M., Lanckacker, T., Matthijs, J., Stassen, P., Van Baelen, H. & Vandenberghe, N., 2017. The Pittem Member, 09/01/2017. National Commission for Stratigraphy Belgium. http://ncs.naturalsciences.be/lithostratigraphy/Pittem-Member |
