Peelrandbreuk op Esp | Bakel

Looking from west to east across Aspen's fields, you can see a slope in the landscape. The difference in height is 1.5 metres over a distance of 50 metres. This difference in height is caused by the Peelrand fault.

The Peelrand fault The subsoil of Gemert-Bakel contains faults 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 eastern 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. That vertical movement averages about 0.5 mm in ten years. In the long run, that still becomes large height differences. Because at the same time the descending Roerdalslenk is filled up by the wind with covering sand, there are no steep slopes and the height differences are not visible everywhere. On Aspen, however, that height difference is visible, both on the road, and on the landscape next to it. Apart from height differences, there are other phenomena by which you can recognise the location of Peelrand fault and its side faults.

A farmstead with a moat The Peelrand fault also causes points. This is a strip of marshy ground along the fault, caused by strong seepage of groundwater, which is forced to the surface at the level of the fault. There is always water in a wijst area, even in the driest summers. In the direct vicinity of the Peelrand fault, the espse farmstead was founded in the Middle Ages. It was chosen because the wijstwater always provided sufficient water in the moat.

As a result of the Peelrand fault, a height difference is visible on Esp, both in the road and in the landscape next to it.