Harz dolomite
The Harz dolomite , also called Nüxeier dolomite or Nüxeier marble , formed a rock deposit in the southern Harz near the hamlet of Nüxei near Steina not far from Bad Sachsa in the Göttingen district . This occurrence originated in Zechstein from the Werra and Staßfurt cycle.
Occurrence
About the formation of the Harz dolomite : The Staßfurt carbonate was deposited between Herzberg and Bad Sachsa in a relatively small shallow water zone and formed a 30-meter-thick rock bank.
A 3.50 meter thick work stone bench was being mined under the overburden of karstified dolomite about 3 meters high. The raw blocks that were extracted in the quarries were approximately 2.50 × 0.80 × 0.40 meters in size. It was dismantled to a height of 5 to 10 meters. There were several breaks in the area of the so-called Wolfskuhle between Nüxei and Osterhagen .
Rock description
It is a fine-grained and hardly recognizable, parallel- layered natural stone . It consists of 99 percent dolomite and about 1 percent calcite . Its colors are light brownish to gray, sometimes blending to whitish and has dark veins. It contains numerous stylolites with a few remains of mollusks . In general, dolomites are very resistant to weathering, they are very resistant and, if they are installed outdoors, will bleach slightly and show slight surface dissolution. Its water absorption is only 4 percent. Due to its tightness, the Harz dolomite can be polished; and since it was polishable, it was also known as Nüxeier marble before the Second World War .
use
Harzer dolomite was used for solid buildings, floor slabs, window sills, stair and wall coverings, monuments, stone carving . This dolomite has been used in northern Germany since the 12th century: the ruins of the Walkenried monastery and Protestant church in Zorge in the Harz Mountains, internal stairs in Duderstadt town hall , facade of the main post office in Braunschweig . In addition, it used to be used as plastering mortar and grout, so its importance for natural stone extraction is low.
Similar rocks
Only a few dolomite rocks are broken in Germany. They are:
- Wachenzeller Dolomite : Wachenzell near Eichstätt
- Small goat fields dolomite : Small goat field in Upper Franconia
literature
- Wolf-Dieter Grimm: picture atlas of important monument rocks of the Federal Republic of Germany. Published by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation, Lipp-Verlag, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-87490-535-7 .
- Jochen Lepper: Naturstein 3/98, p. 76
- Otto Sickenberg: stones and earth. The deposits and their management. Geology and Deposits in Lower Saxony, 5th volume Dorn-Verlag, Bremen, Horn 1951, p. 259
Web links
- Information on the Nüxeier dolomite quarry (PDF file; 280 kB)
- Nüxei dolomite quarry at karstwanderweg.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Grimm: Denkmalgesteine, p. 214