Valley of the Zwarte Beek (upper course) - Belgium

Basic Information
Site Name
Valley of the Zwarte Beek (upper course)
Short name
Valley of the Zwarte Beek
Country
Belgium
Web Address
Zwarte Beek ANB
Zwarte Beek Natuurpunt
Operating Organisation
Natuurpunt
Agency For Nature and Forest (ANB)
Site Manager
Piet De Becker
MSc Tom De Dobbelaer
Site Description
The site comprises 10 km stretch of a stream valley managed as a private nature/state reserve some 17 kilometer North of the city of Hasselt. Since 1995,the restoration projects are carried out aiming at restoring the fen/carr ecosystem. Monitoring of the ground- and surface water dynamics and chemistry, the vegetation evolution is carried out by INBO.
Last modified
2021-11-23 11:11:43

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
1997
Observed properties
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
ILTER✔This site is a verified "ILTER" member.
LTER Europe✔This site is a verified "LTER Europe" member.
LTER Belgium✔ (LTER_EU_BE_12)This site is a verified "LTER Belgium" member.
Projects
Natura 2000
NEC Directive (2016/2284)
Photos
not defined
not defined
Geographic
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 51.1 Longitude: 5.33333333

Size
ca. 800.00ha
Elevation (average)
55.00msl
Elevation (min)
40.00msl
Elevation (max)
70.00msl
Download

Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml]
Boundaries [.shp] [.kml]
GEO-BON Biome
Fresh water lakes
Terrestrial
Biome
Deciduous Forest
Ecosystem Type
Forest
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
Grasslands
Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands
Biogeographical Region
Atlantic Bio-geographical Region
EUNIS habitat
Grasslands and lands dominated by forbs, mosses or lichens (E)
Grasslands and lands dominated by forbs, mosses or lichens (E) » Seasonally wet and wet grasslands (E3)
Grasslands and lands dominated by forbs, mosses or lichens (E) » Seasonally wet and wet grasslands (E3) » Moist or wet eutrophic and mesotrophic grassland (E3.4)
Heathland, scrub and tundra (F)
Heathland, scrub and tundra (F) » Temperate shrub heathland (F4)
Heathland, scrub and tundra (F) » Temperate shrub heathland (F4) » Dry heaths (F4.2)
Heathland, scrub and tundra (F) » Temperate shrub heathland (F4) » Wet heaths (F4.1)
Mires, bogs and fens (D)
Woodland, forest and other wooded land (G)
Air Temperature: Average Annual
10.80°C
Precipitation Annual
824.00mm
Geology
The river has cut itself some 10 meters in the western fringe of the surrounding sany campinian plateau. The matrix consists of fine relatively mineral poor sand deposits (Myocene Formation of Diest) bounded below (some 150 meter below floodplane) by a thick clay deposit. Both layers are Eocene marine deposits tilting at an angle of 2% towards the northeast.
Vegetation
Poor fen vegetations (Alno-Betuletum; Carici elongatae-Alnetum, Caricion curto-nigrae, Junco-Molinion, Ericion tetralicis and Erico sphagnion vegetations)
Soils
Dystric Rheic Sapric Histosols, Albic podzols, Gleyic podzols, Dystric Protic Arenosols, locally Eutric Fluvic Gleyic Cambisols, Dystric Fluvic Gleyic Arenosols
Hydrology
In groundwater terms this is a seepage area in the upper course of a lowland river, the groundwater is steadily flowing towards the floodplain from under neighbouring infiltration area's that are mainly under a heather and moorland vegetation cover and for al very limited part under agriculture. The exfiltration rate is some 10-15 mm/m².day. Groundwatertraveltime is 150-200 years or shorter, making this a 'slow responding' system. The valley floor is covered with a peatlayer with an average thicknes of 0,8 m and in a 'paleovalley reaching 6,5 meter, making this area one of the best preserved examples of a lowland valleys in Western Europe.
Site Type
Stationary land-based site
Design of Experimentation
no experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
plot scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
plot within catchment
Permanent Power Supply
Yes
Equipment
Data infrastructure » Data services » Data portal
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Relational database
Energy and data transmission infrastructure » Energy supply » Permanent Power Supply Location » Central station(s)
Accessible All Year
Yes
All parts of Site Accessible
Yes
Access Type
dirt road (4WD)
Permanent Operation
Yes
Operation Notes
Sampling interval: hourly/twice a day for groundwater
Site Visit Interval
1
General Data Policy
Formal acknowledgement of the dataset providers
LTER Site Classification
Regular
There is EURO-CORDEX climate scenario data available for this site:
Projected Near Surface Specific Humidity ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Precipitation ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Sea Level Pressure ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Surface Downwelling Shortwave RadiationRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Wind SpeedRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Daily Maximum Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Daily Minimum Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85

You can also download the entire climate scenario dataset for this site from the EUDAT B2SHARE data store.