New atlas explores ‘underground Netherlands’

26-06-2009 On 25 June, Noordhoff Publishing and communications agency Lijn43 will publish a new atlas mapping the underground soil layers of the Netherlands. The atlas is being issued to mark the conclusion of the International Year of Planet Earth. The publication features a wide array of maps, images and charts, and was produced with input from thirty knowledge institutes, government bodies and companies, including TenneT. Fifteen copies of the atlas will be sent to every secondary school in the Netherlands.

In eight chapters, the atlas sheds light on what is normally hidden from view below our feet, whether it be soil and rock layers full of natural gas, groundwater, nutrients and soil energy, or deposits of construction sand, archaeological remains from Roman times and underground railway tunnels and electricity cables. The new atlas will help users decipher the many kilometres of soil that have accumulated under our feet over many centuries. Much of the Dutch electricity grid has been installed below ground, particular the low- and medium-voltage distribution grids. In addition, various types of high-voltage connections (with a voltage level of 110 kV and higher) have been or are currently being installed underground. Over the next few years, TenneT and Delft University of Technology will install approx. 20 kilometres of 380 kV underground cable in the Randstad conurbation – the first project of its kind anywhere in the world.