Osterwaldsandstein
The Osterwaldstein is one of the Wealden sandstones and occurs in a closed sandstone deposit in the Osterwald near Hameln in Lower Saxony. It is a sandstone from the Lower Cretaceous . In 2008 there were no more quarries in operation.
Rock description
It is a predominantly pebbly, fine-grain sandstone with slate inlays. Its color is white-gray to gray and pale. The Osterwald sandstone can show reddish to yellowish flamed textures. Its grain size is between 0.062 and 0.625 millimeters. It is very rarely coarse to medium-grained, its grain shape is angular and its pore volume is not insignificant. The pore spaces are kaolin-like, clayey and sericite. The occurrence varies with regard to the proportion of binder. The rock layers are 12 to 15 meters thick.
use
The Osterwald sandstone was used as a brick, steps, curbs and curbs and paving stones. From certain pebbly locations it was used as a mill and grindstone. Loose sandy and light-colored unbound masses were used to make glass. The stone was mainly used in north-west Germany and in the Hanover area there are numerous buildings made of this sandstone.
Development of the quarries
The high point of use was in the Wilhelminian era and as early as 1914 there was a decline in demand for companies with 800 to 1000 stone cutters and stone masons . In 1938 only three companies were involved in the extraction and processing of Osterwald sandstone. After 1945, individual companies were reopened, which gradually ceased their work, today no more quarries quarry Osterwald sandstone.
See also
Other sandstone deposits in the region:
literature
- Otto Sickenberg: stones and earth. The deposits and their management. Geology and deposits of Lower Saxony , 5th volume. Dorn-Verlag, Bremen, Horn 1951, p. 99f.