Helling in de Haveltweg | Handel

If you look from west to east across the Haveltweg, you will see a slope in the road. The difference in height is 2 meters over a distance of less than 200 meters. This difference in height is caused by the Breuk van Handel, a lateral fault of the Peelrand fault.

In the subsoil of Gemert-Bakel there are fractures in the earth's crust. The Peelrand fault is the most important of these. Side faults are the Breuk van Gemert, the Breuk van Gemert-zuid, the Breuk van Handel and the Breuk van Milheeze. The soil on the east side of this fault system slowly rises. This is the so-called Peelhorst. The soil on the west side is slowly descending. That is the so-called Roerdalslenk. This vertical movement averages about 0.5 mm in ten years. In the long run, this will become large differences in height. Because at the same time the descending Roerdalslenk is filled by the wind with covering sand, there are no steep slopes and height differences are not visible everywhere. At this place on the Haveltweg, however, that difference in height is visible. Besides differences in elevation, there are other phenomena by which you can recognize the location of Peelrand fault and its side faults.