Salzgitter-Salder limestone quarry

52.1244 10.32883

Salzgitter-Salder quarry

The Salzgitter-Salder limestone quarry (often called the Salder quarry or Steinbruch am Hasselberg for short ) is a neglected quarry south of the Salder district of Salzgitter in southeastern Lower Saxony . As a candidate for the type locality of the lower limit ( Global Stratotype Section and Point , GSSP) of the Coniac , it is of outstanding geological importance.

Position and extent

The quarry is located around 600 m south of Salder in the northeastern part of the Hasselberg, a small hill on the eastern northern edge of the Lichtenberge , the northern section of the Salzgitter ridge running in an east-west direction . The quarry extends over an area of around 12 hectares, with a maximum length of almost 750 meters, parallel to the local strike of the layers (west-northwest-east-southeast) and around 320 meters across the strike (south-southwest-north-northeast). However, the entire northwestern part of the break is already relatively heavily overgrown and difficult to access.

geology

General

View of the west wall of the Salzgitter-Salder quarry. The Turon-Coniac limit interval is located in the deeper part of the Erwitte Formation ("gray-white alternation") on the far right in the relatively heavily overgrown part of the wall that recedes in steps to the west. Note also the steep dip in the layers.

The quarry was in limestone of layers Cretaceous created. Since the Lichtenberger ridge owes its origin to the penetration of salt from the deep subsoil towards the surface ( halokinesis ), which has vaulted the deposits above it, the layers exposed there are steep, whereby they are due to the location on the north flank of the salt saddle or . on the southern edge of the adjacent Lesser chalk trough with about 70 degrees north to north-northeast occur . Furthermore, the southern end of the morphologically largely inconspicuous Broistedt-Wendeburg salt structure is located in the subsurface north of Salder, which protrudes from the northeast into the southeast part of the Lesser Mulde.

The exposed rocks are about 200 meters thick sequence of fine-grained, relatively pure (82 to 92% CaCO ₃ ), light limestones ("Plänerkalke") alternating with darker limestone marl and / or clay marl layers (24 to 67% CaCO ₃ ). The proportion and thickness of limestone and marl layers vary in the course of the sequence z. Sometimes strong, with the limestones clearly dominating in the sequence. However, both the primary clay content in the limestones and the thickness of the exposed interval are generally higher in Salder than in the north of the Lesser Mulde ( Söhlde area ). This is attributed to a locally greater water depth in the deposition period as a result of increased halokinetic depressions (permanent increased creation of accommodation space ), triggered by the migration of salt from the subsoil towards the two neighboring salt structures.

Because of their fossil guide the limestone and marl stones can chronostratigraphically the steps Turon and Coniac (more precisely: Middle Turonian to lower-Coniac) are assigned, that is, they have a numeric age from 93.9 to 86.3 million years ago. Lithostratographically, they belong to the Salder Formation and Erwitte Formation. The rocks from Salder are more or less clay mineral rich Marine Karbonatschlämmen emerged and testify that the north of Germany in the greenhouse world from a relatively deep older Upper Cretaceous Epikontinentalmeer was covered.

Fossils

Damaged fragment of the heteromorphic ammonite Hyphantoceras reussianum from the Upper Turon of the Salder quarry (length of the scale bar : 1 cm).

Typical representatives of the Inoceramen fauna of the Salder quarry, u. a. with the index taxon of the Coniac base, Cremnoceramus deformis erectus (d).

The quarry has one of the richest and most stratigraphically long-lasting traditions of inoceramide mussels in Europe. This shows u. a. the drastic change typical of the Turon-Coniac border area from a mussel fauna, which is dominated by the genus Mytiloides , to a fauna which is dominated by the genus Cremnoceramus . The? Inoceramide genus Didymotis , which is restricted to the Upper Turon and the lower Coniac, is also common in Salder. In addition to mussels, brachiopods (including Orbirhynchia ), irregular sea urchins from the group of heart sea urchins (Spatangoida, including Sternotaxis and Micraster ) and heteromorphic ammonites (including Hyphantoceras and Scaphites ) occur, albeit much less frequently . The most common vertebrate remains are isolated bony fish teeth and scales. In theory, it is also possible to find shark or even mosasaur teeth.

GSSP of the Coniac

The Salzgitter-Salder limestone quarry was chosen in 1995 by the members of the relevant working group of the chalk sub-commission of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) as the main candidate for the "global stratotype section and point " currently in the selection process (as of 2017) . GSSP) of the Coniac , the third stage of the Upper Cretaceous . In the course of this, the first appearance ( English first appearance date , FAD) of the inoceramid mussel Cremnoceramus deformis erectus ( Meek , 1877), at that time Cremnoceramus rotundatus ( sensu Tröger non Fiege ) ^{* was} established as the primary biostratigraphic characteristic of the Coniac lower limit . At that time, Salder's advantages were the fact that the sequence had no obvious layer gaps , that it was the best investigated of all outcrops proposed so far, for which a wealth of fine stratigraphic information was documented that the quarry would be in the near future should remain accessible as well as the extraordinarily complete geological tradition of the Inoceram faunas. The relatively strong diagenetic overprinting of the primary, predominantly carbonate sediment, which had an unfavorable effect on the conservation of microfossils , and the relative poverty of ammonites , the most important macro- guide fossils of the Mesozoic Era, were considered disadvantageous .

In the meantime, a sequence of layers of the Turon -Coniac limit interval exposed in the steep bank of the Vistula in Słupia Nadbrzeżna ( Poland ) has been investigated in more detail, whereby it turned out that, while in Salder the FAD of Cremnoceramus deformis erectus in the form of a mass occurrence (English: flood occurence ), the so-called erectus -I event, the erectus -I event is about 1.5 meters above the FAD of C. d. erectus . This means that the limit interval in Salder is probably incomplete ("condensed"). Since the outcrop conditions in Słupia Nadbrzeżna are too bad to be considered as the sole GSSP, a combination of the outcrops from Salder and Słupia Nadbrzeżna was proposed as a GSSP (“composite Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point”). This proposal was largely approved by the other members of the working group for the Coniacium-GSSP, but a single exposure is still considered the most desirable variant. In this context, several outcrops in North America (see Western Interior Seaway ) and Kazakhstan have been investigated since 2013 , one of which in Coahuila ( Mexico ) was rated as promising. Due to the politically unstable conditions in this region, however, an attempt should be made to find an alternative location in Big Bend National Park in neighboring Texas to the north . A railway section north of the Pueblo Reservoir on the upper reaches of the Arkansas River in Colorado , which was once traded as a GSSP option, and in the immediate vicinity of which the GSSP for the Turon is already located, is no longer on the shortlist due to significant shift gaps.

^* However, some authors are still of the opinion that Cremnoceramus rotundatus can be differentiated “as a basal form from Cremnoceramus deformis erectus ”.

History and re-use concept

Limestone mining on Hasselberg began in 1885. Today's quarry was active until 1992 and was then owned by Fels-Werke Peine Salzgitter GmbH. The limestone was used for cement production, as aggregate for iron smelting used as well as building material for the dam and road construction. More than 10 years after its closure , in March 2005, the Natural Landscape Foundation of the BUND -Landesverband Niedersachsen bought the quarry. As part of the project “Geotopes in the field of tension between protection and use”, the BUND district group in Salzgitter worked out a concept for the future of the quarry in cooperation with the Ostfalen Open-Air and Adventure Museum (FEMO). This includes u. a. the regular implementation of measures that prevent natural succession so that the relatively extensive ( pioneer ) limestone lawn in the southern part of the quarry (see below ) is preserved. On the one hand, this serves the purpose of nature conservation, since such open locations offer a habitat to an above-average number of Red List species, and on the other hand, it accommodates the interest in geotouristic and geoscientific re- use, as the easy accessibility of the corresponding quarry areas is preserved. The Salzgitter-Salder quarry is now a "geopoint" of the Harz - Braunschweiger Land - Ostfalen Geopark and has been used by several universities for many years for teaching excursions / field exercises as part of geology courses. He is also a promising candidate for the GSSP des Coniac .

Flora and fauna (recent)

Since the final cessation of limestone mining in 1992, a mosaic of small biotopes with a high level of biodiversity has developed on the quarry site , which is described as “unique” and particularly worthy of protection in this form. The biotope mapping carried out in the course of the project "Geotopes in the field of tension between protection and use" in 2005 differentiates between nine to ten different biotope types and subtypes. The various forms of limestone grasslands in the southern part of the quarry are considered to be particularly important, both in terms of the relatively large area they occupy and in terms of the rare and / or endangered plant species for which they are located ( e.g. the common fringed gentian , Gentianopsis ciliata ), as well as the wetland in the eastern part, threatened by siltation. In the northwest of the quarry where the succession is already quite advanced, are found among the trees neophytes like the Tatar dogwood ( Cornus alba ), the Cotoneaster horizontalis ( Cotoneaster horizontalis ), the Large mock orange ( Philadelphus cf. coronary ) and staghorn sumac ( Rhus hirta ), which shows that the "recapture" of the quarry by nature was not entirely unaffected by humans: Presumably these plant species got there through the disposal of garden waste or the like.

A special “faunistic-ecological study to record the fauna of spiders and harvestmen ” commissioned in 2005 showed that 150 such species lived in the quarry during the study period, 23 of which were on the Lower Saxony Red List (21% of which were categorized as severely threatened) or Germany were listed. For heat-loving insects such as ants, the poor grassland habitats and limestone cliffs are particularly important habitats. Furthermore, numerous dragonfly species are at home in the quarry , including a. the southern rush damsel ( Lestes barbarus ). Also in the years "2009 and 2010 [...] more than 200 specimens of the legally strictly protected blue- winged sand hedge ( Sphingonotus caerulans ) were successfully relocated to the Salder quarry". Another element of the invertebrate fauna that should be emphasized is the whalemail snail ( Candidula unifasciata ) , which is rare in Germany . Due to the habitat diversity, the quarry also has a diverse bird fauna. So were u. a. Red- backed Red-backed Shrike ( Lanius collurio ) observed. In addition, breeds intermittently, one owl couple ( Bubo bubo ) in the limestone cliffs.

gallery

Individual evidence

↑ Walaszczyk & Wood: Inoceramids and biostratigraphy at the Turonian / Coniacian boundary. 1998 (see literature ), p. 397
↑ Eickhoff: Recognizability of primary clay layers in sedimentation diagenetically overprinted lime-clay alternating layers. 2002 (see literature ), p. 25
↑ Eickhoff: Recognizability of primary clay layers in sedimentation diagenetically overprinted lime-clay alternating layers. 2002 (see literature ), p. 46
↑ ^a ^b Christopher J. Wood, Gundolf Ernst, Gabriele Rasemann: The Turonian-Coniacian stage boundary in Lower Saxony (Germany) and adjacent areas: the Salzgitter-Salder Quarry as a proposed international standard section. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark. Vol. 33, No. 1–2, 1984, pp. 225–238 ( PDF 1.0 MB)
↑ ^a ^b ^c Walaszczyk et al .: The Salzgitter-Salder Quarry (Lower Saxony, Germany) and Słupia Nadbrzeżna river cliff section (central Poland). 2010 (see literature ), p. 446
↑ Walaszczyk & Wood: Inoceramids and biostratigraphy at the Turonian / Coniacian boundary. 1998 (see literature ), p. 399
↑ ^a ^b Walaszczyk et al .: The Salzgitter-Salder Quarry (Lower Saxony, Germany) and Słupia Nadbrzeżna river cliff section (central Poland). 2010 (see literature ), various p.
^ Subcommission on Cretaceous stratigraphy. Annual Report 2015. International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) ( PDF 332 kB), p. 7
^ Ireneusz Walaszczyk, William A. Cobban: The Turonian-Coniacian boundary in the United States Western Interior. Acta Geologica Polonica. Vol. 48, No. 4, 1998, pp. 495-507 ( online ), pp. 496 ff.
^ William J. Kennedy, Ireneusz Walaszczyk, William A. Cobban: The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the base of the Turonian Stage of the Cretaceous: Pueblo, Colorado, USA Episodes. Vol. 28, No. 2, 2005, pp. 93-104 ( PDF 4.0 MB)
↑ Karl-Armin Tröger, Birgit Niebuhr: Inoceramide mussels. P. 169–199 in: Birgit Niebuhr, Markus Wilmsen (ed.): Chalk fossils in Saxony, part 1. Geologica Saxonica. Vol. 60, No. 1, 2014, ( PDF 5.9 MB) p. 196 f.
↑ Zellmer & Röber: Geotopes in the field of tension between protection and use. 2008 (see literature ), p. 38
↑ Zellmer & Röber: Geotopes in the field of tension between protection and use. 2008 (see literature ), p. 30 ff.
↑ Salder Quarry. Web presence of the Harz - Braunschweiger Land - Ostfalen Geopark, accessed on September 12, 2017
↑ ^a ^b ^c Salder quarry. Web presence of the BUND district group Salzgitter, accessed on September 12, 2017
↑ ^a ^b entire paragraph, unless otherwise noted, according to Zellmer & Röber: Geotopes in the field of tension between protection and use. 2008 (see literature ), p. 26 ff.

literature

Ina Eickhoff: Recognizability of primary clay layers in sedimentation diagenetically overprinted lime-clay alternating layers. Dissertation. Department of Earth Sciences and Geography, University of Hanover 2002 ( PDF 3.6 MB)
Ireneusz Walaszczyk, Christopher J. Wood, Jackie A. Lees, Danuta Peryt, Silke Voigt, Frank Wiese: The Salzgitter-Salder Quarry (Lower Saxony, Germany) and Słupia Nadbrzeżna river cliff section (central Poland): a proposed candidate composite Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Coniacian Stage (Upper Cretaceous). Acta Geologica Polonica. Vol. 60, No. 4, 2010, pp. 445–477 ( online )
Ireneusz Walaszczyk, Christopher J. Wood: Inoceramids and biostratigraphy at the Turonian / Coniacian boundary; based on the Salzgitter-Salder Quarry, Lower Saxony, Germany, and the Słupia Nadbrzeżna section, Central Poland. Acta Geologica Polonica. Vol. 48, No. 4, 1998, pp. 395-434 ( online )
Henning Zellmer, Stefan Röber: Geotopes in the field of tension between protection and use - nature protection and visitor guidance in selected geotopes of the National GeoPark Harz, Braunschweiger Land, Ostfalen. Open-air and adventure museum Ostfalen eV (FEMO), Königslutter 2008 ( PDF 8.1 MB), pp. 24–38

Limestone quarry Salzgitter-Salder (alternative names of the lemma)
Salder limestone quarry; Salzgitter-Salder quarry; Salder limestone quarry; Quarry at Hasselberg

52.1244 10.32883Coordinates: 52 ° 7 '27.8 " N , 10 ° 19' 43.8" E

[walaszczyk_&_wood_98:397-1] Walaszczyk & Wood: Inoceramids and biostratigraphy at the Turonian / Coniacian boundary. 1998 (see literature ), p. 397

[2] Eickhoff: Recognizability of primary clay layers in sedimentation diagenetically overprinted lime-clay alternating layers. 2002 (see literature ), p. 25

[3] Eickhoff: Recognizability of primary clay layers in sedimentation diagenetically overprinted lime-clay alternating layers. 2002 (see literature ), p. 46

[wood_et_al_1983-4] Christopher J. Wood, Gundolf Ernst, Gabriele Rasemann: The Turonian-Coniacian stage boundary in Lower Saxony (Germany) and adjacent areas: the Salzgitter-Salder Quarry as a proposed international standard section. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark. Vol. 33, No. 1–2, 1984, pp. 225–238 ( PDF 1.0 MB)

[walaszczyk_et_al_2010:446-5] Walaszczyk et al .: The Salzgitter-Salder Quarry (Lower Saxony, Germany) and Słupia Nadbrzeżna river cliff section (central Poland). 2010 (see literature ), p. 446

[walaszczyk_&_wood_98:399-6] Walaszczyk & Wood: Inoceramids and biostratigraphy at the Turonian / Coniacian boundary. 1998 (see literature ), p. 399

[walaszczyk_et_al_2010_nopage-7] Walaszczyk et al .: The Salzgitter-Salder Quarry (Lower Saxony, Germany) and Słupia Nadbrzeżna river cliff section (central Poland). 2010 (see literature ), various p.

[8] Subcommission on Cretaceous stratigraphy. Annual Report 2015. International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) ( PDF 332 kB), p. 7

[9] Ireneusz Walaszczyk, William A. Cobban: The Turonian-Coniacian boundary in the United States Western Interior. Acta Geologica Polonica. Vol. 48, No. 4, 1998, pp. 495-507 ( online ), pp. 496 ff.

[10] William J. Kennedy, Ireneusz Walaszczyk, William A. Cobban: The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the base of the Turonian Stage of the Cretaceous: Pueblo, Colorado, USA Episodes. Vol. 28, No. 2, 2005, pp. 93-104 ( PDF 4.0 MB)

[11] Karl-Armin Tröger, Birgit Niebuhr: Inoceramide mussels. P. 169–199 in: Birgit Niebuhr, Markus Wilmsen (ed.): Chalk fossils in Saxony, part 1. Geologica Saxonica. Vol. 60, No. 1, 2014, ( PDF 5.9 MB) p. 196 f.

[12] Zellmer & Röber: Geotopes in the field of tension between protection and use. 2008 (see literature ), p. 38

[13] Zellmer & Röber: Geotopes in the field of tension between protection and use. 2008 (see literature ), p. 30 ff.

[14] Salder Quarry. Web presence of the Harz - Braunschweiger Land - Ostfalen Geopark, accessed on September 12, 2017

[bund_SZ_web-15] Salder quarry. Web presence of the BUND district group Salzgitter, accessed on September 12, 2017

[zellmer&röber2008:26ff-16] tire paragraph, unless otherwise noted, according to Zellmer & Röber: Geotopes in the field of tension between protection and use. 2008 (see literature ), p. 26 ff.