Colossus of Ostermunzel

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The not yet fully exposed boulder (August 2014)

The Ostermunzel Colossus is a boulder that was discovered in 2013 east of Ostermunzel in Lower Saxony .

Location, discovery and recovery

In autumn 2013, a contractor came across the boulder while plowing a farmer's field. The field is located on a slight hill near the district road K 253 between Ostermunzel and Dedensen . The farmer informed the municipal authorities that foundlings more than two meters in diameter are notifiable according to the Lower Saxony Implementation Act for the Federal Nature Conservation Act. The Hanover region prohibited him from the planned smashing of the stone.

After an initial investigation and assessment by the geologist Heinz-Gerd Röhling from the Lower Saxony State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology (LBEG), the boulder met the requirements for a natural monument . Not least this was the case, which itself because of its size in the glacially influenced northern Germany a geological is special. Such a find is very rare in Lower Saxony. The Hanover region , which placed it under protection in 2016, decided on its inclusion in the list of natural monuments . Because of the high costs of initially assumed 20,000 euros for the rescue, there were considerations to leave the boulder in place. The boulder was finally recovered in the spring of 2015 with a mobile crane and, after being transported on a low-loader, set up on the elevation of the Mühlenberg about a kilometer away . There is the stone, which should be given a notice board with information, at a rest area on a cycle path. Several hundred onlookers were present at the rescue and installation with a folk festival-like event. In fact, the cost of the salvage amounted to 15,000 euros, which the Hanover region paid. At the end of 2016 it became known that cracks had formed on the boulder, into which water penetrated. Sealing was considered for protection, but this is not necessary after investigation by LBEG experts.

  • Crowd of people during the rescue with a crane truck

  • Lifting the boulder

  • Storage on a low loader

  • Drive to the installation site

  • Installation at the new location

description

During the installation, on the left the farmer on whose field the boulder was lying
After the installation on the Mühlenberg

The boulder is about 2.6 meters high and around 3.2 meters wide and long, while the circumference is about 10 meters. Its weight was initially estimated at 50 tons; during the recovery, 27.5 tons were found. It is one of the 25 largest boulders registered in Lower Saxony to date. According to the Lower Saxony State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology, the stone is gneiss due to its parallel texture . The state office was only able to roughly determine the mineralogical composition with the presence of feldspars and biotite . Since, according to the authority, gneiss rock is usually not found in Lower Saxony, the boulder probably comes from Scandinavia . During the Saale Glaciation around 200,000 to 250,000 years ago, it was probably transported to the site through the inland ice , which is assumed to be several hundred meters thick. Geoscientists took on the task of investigating the history and origin of the rock. Geologists estimate its age to be 1.4 to 1.6 billion years. The area of ​​origin is assumed to be in today's Sweden .

Others

The ZDF -Wissensmagazin Terra Xpress produced a program about the foundling.

Web links

Commons : Findling (Ostermunzel)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Colossus of Ostermunzel - Recovery and presentation at the Office for Regional State Development Leine-Weser
  2. ↑ Successful recovery of the foundling from Ostermunzel ( Memento of the original from April 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at hannover.de on April 17, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hannover.de
  3. ↑ Heavy-duty crane moves the Ostermunzel natural monument ( memento of the original from April 24, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Land & Forst from April 20, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / landundforst.agrarheute.com
  4. ^ Hendrik Lullies: Region Hannover intervenes because of foundling . Radio Leinehertz 106.5 , August 15, 2014
  5. ↑ a b How a billion year old stone could solve the secrets of the Ice Age in focus.de from March 16, 2015
  6. ↑ Klaus Abelmann: Raised and moved: The foundling of Ostermunzel in: Deisterjournal
  7. ↑ Jörg Rocktäschel: This natural monument is expensive in: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung from October 31, 2014
  8. ^ Boulders and trees: Four new natural monuments at ndr.de from October 20, 2016
  9. ↑ Bernd Haase: What will happen to the giant boulder? in: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung of January 27, 2015
  10. ↑ a b Region has foundling recovered ( memento of the original from February 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at hannover.de on February 24, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hannover.de
  11. ↑ a b LBEG Lower Saxony: Rock of the Year 2015: Just in time for the honor, huge gneiss appears ( memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lbeg.niedersachsen.de archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Press release on January 13, 2015
  12. ↑ a b Colossal Brocken hike at haz.de from April 17, 2015
  13. ↑ The 27-ton stone gets rolling in: Die Welt from April 17, 2015
  14. ^ The boulder near Ostermunzel crumbles in: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung of December 22, 2016
  15. ↑ Findling does not have to be sealed in: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung of February 21, 2017
  16. ↑ Hundreds marvel at the move of the huge boulder in: Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung on April 17, 2015
  17. ↑ Ulli Kulke: How do you get rid of the giant stone? in: Die Welt from April 16, 2015

Coordinates: 52 ° 22 '36.7 "  N , 9 ° 30' 6.6"  E