Böttinger marble

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Böttinger marble
Thermal crevice of the Böttinger volcano ( Swabian volcano group ). This colored sintered lime is a special rarity in geological, mineralogical and paleontological terms

The Böttinger marble , also called Böttinger band marble or band marble , is a special and often reddish banded thermal sintered limestone in a small quarry that is closed to the public. This quarry is located in the Böttingen district of the city of Münsingen in the Reutlingen district in Baden-Württemberg .

description

The Böttinger marble is a geological and petrographic specialty of the state of Württemberg and the National Geopark Swabian Alb . Its colors change like bark from almost white to yellowish, reddish to dark red and dark brown. The clearly banded “ marble ” was created 14 million years ago by sedimentation of lime in a vertical crevice in the region between Schopfloch ( Randecker Maar ) and Böttingen.

The rock consists mainly of calcite . Small amounts of clay and hematite have been proven. The latter is involved in coloring the structure of the rock.

Emergence

The thermal sintered limestone was formed around 14 million years ago in the Young Tertiary : Lower Miocene at the outlet point of calcareous springs or geysers of the Böttinger tuff chimney. The area around this tuff chimney is located in the landscape of the " Swabian Volcanoes ", of which in 1974 over 350 were scientifically proven.

The origin of the Böttinger marble is explained as follows: Basaltic tuffs were thrown out of the volcanic vent near Böttingen by violent explosive eruptions, some of which fell back into the vent and filled it. Earthquakes opened crevices in the chimney, through which hot water containing CO 2 rose. The waters dissolved calcium carbonate from the existing thick limestone layers. Iron components, mainly hematite (0.2 to 1.9% by volume), which caused the coloring of the Böttinger marble, were dissolved from the basaltic tuffs. The lime dissolved in the water was precipitated and layer by layer Böttinger marble was deposited on the almost vertical crevices. The thickness of these deposited layers is up to 4 meters and, depending on the iron content, they were colored differently. Another type of rock was formed. Next to the crevices in the volcanic vent, which are filled with ribbon marble, there is the so-called wall marble or wild marble in red and white 1 to 10 centimeter wide ribbons. In this wall sinter there are animal and plant fossils that indicate a forested landscape. Furthermore, the wild marble contains pieces of stone made of cavernous travertine, white Jurassic and tuff. It is assumed that in the area of ​​the "Swabian Volcanoes" similar rock formations occurred in part. However, these rocks are still sporadically and marginally available and have largely been destroyed by erosion . After the rising waters dried up, erosion set in at the volcanic vent near Böttingen and the volcanic edges of the Böttingen volcano, which rose above the landscape level, were leveled.

use

Ribbon marble

Its marble-like banding and polishability made Bötting marble a sought-after decorative stone in the late 18th and 19th centuries. It experienced its most important cultural and historical use in the 18th century when the New Palace in Stuttgart was expanded.

Böttinger marble was mainly used for wall coverings, columns, balusters, profiled cornices, vases and small art such as boxes, caskets, plates or, more recently, small sculptures and polished sample stones that emphasize the banding.

  • Until the middle of the 18th century the stone was only used locally as building material - for cellar walls, as paving stones , for doorsteps and for pigsties.
  • The altar cladding in the church in Mehrstetten and the war memorial on the town hall square in Böttingen are made of Böttinger marble.
  • During the expansion of the Stuttgart Residenzschloss (Neues Schloss, 1760 to 1762), the Böttinger marble was given stately honors: It was used for wall cladding in the marble hall and the representative stairways in this castle . After the castle was destroyed in World War II, it was possible to extract and use substitute stone in the quarry during the reconstruction (1958 and 1964). After that the quarry was closed
  • The banded stone was also occasionally used for wall cladding and table tops in the Ludwigsburg residential palace .
  • Even today, the stone is processed and polished in small quantities by hand.

Wild marble or wallsinter

The red and white banded wild marble was used regionally for masonry stones. When used to make terrazzo , it was crushed into 8 to 10 mm grains. Red-colored wild marbles in particular were preferred.

Dismantling situation

The Böttinger marble is said to have been discovered by chance in 1750 when a house was being built. It was installed in the marble hall and stairwell of the New Palace in Stuttgart in the 18th century. The dismantling was problematic because of the almost vertical storage and the small thickness of the layers. Mining took place in two quarries that stretched north-east of Böttingen. The size of the deposit is not exactly known and would have to be explored using inclined drilling. The quarrying of wild marble was stopped at the beginning of the 1960s due to low demand, and ribbon marble in 1964 after the restoration of the Stuttgart New Palace was completed. The quarry has not been accessible since mining stopped due to the risk of falling rocks.

photos

  • Wall cladding in the different colors of Böttinger marble in the stairwell of the New Palace in Stuttgart

  • The marble hall in the New Palace in Stuttgart is also lavishly clad with different colored Böttinger marble.

  • Monument to the fallen on the town hall square in Böttingen

  • yellowish pattern of the Böttinger marble with clearly recognizable banding

literature

  • Johannes Baier: The Urach-Kirchheimer volcanic area of ​​the Swabian Alb. In: Aufschluss 71 (4), 224–233, 2020.
  • Wilfried Rosendahl, Matthias López Correa, Christoph Grunert, Thilo Müller (eds.): The Böttinger marble. Colorful rock from hot springs. (= Grabenstetter Speleological Booklet. No. 6). Staatsanzeiger Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-929981-48-3 .
  • Johannes Baier: The geology of the Ulm area . (= Documenta Naturae. 173). Publishing house Documenta Naturae, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-86544-173-7 , pp. 1-44.
  • Otto Mäussnest: The eruption points of the Swabian volcano. Part II. In: Journal of the German Geological Society. Volume 125, No. 51, 1974, pp. 23-54 (Mäussnest 1974).

Web links

Commons : Böttinger Marmor  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Ulrich Sach: Böttinger Marble - Fritz Genkinger Collection . Ed .: Freundeskreis Fritz Grenkinger eV Verlag Regionalkultur eV Ubstadt-Weiher / Heidelberg / Neustadt adW / Basel 2014, ISBN 978-3-89735-817-1 .
  2. ↑ Manfred Frank: The natural building blocks and stone building materials of Württemberg . Stuttgart (E. Schweizerbart) 1944.
  3. ↑ Johannes Baier: The Urach-Kirchheimer volcanic area of ​​the Swabian Alb. In: Aufschluss 71 (4), pp. 224–233, 2020.
  4. ↑ Mäusnest, Erupting points. You literature
  5. ^ Wolfgang Werner: Böttinger marble . In: Natural stone from Baden-Württemberg - occurrence, procurement and use . Pp. 157-165. Edited by State Office for Geology, Raw Materials and Mining. Rüsselsheim 2013. ISBN 978-3-00-041100-7
  6. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Werner: Gauinger, special books and Riedlinger travertine. In: Natural stone from Baden-Württemberg - occurrence, procurement and use, p. 165. Ed. State Office for Geology, Raw Materials and Mining. Rüsselsheim 2013. ISBN 978-3-00-041100-7