Savonnières (limestone)
| Savonnières | |
|---|---|
 Savonnières stone on the westwork of the Aachen cathedral
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| Main features | |
| group | Sedimentite |
| Subgroup | limestone |
| Occurrence | France (Lorraine) |
| colour | light gray |
| use | Stone, sculptures
|
| Trade names | Savonnière marble |
| Dismantling situation | active breakdown |
| Division into hard and soft stone | Soft rock |
| Age | Upper Jurassic |
| Reference example | Gare de l'Est (Paris) |
| Special marks | Oolites, mussel schill |
Savonnières (French: Pierre de Savonnières ) is an Upper Jurassic limestone from Lorraine . Due to its favorable material properties, it has been used in particular for the production of sculptures since Roman times . This limestone is named after the town of Savonnières-en-Perthois, east of Saint-Dizier .
Formation and dismantling
The mostly fine-grained, very homogeneous limestone was deposited during the Upper Jurassic, in the Tithonian (150.8 to about 145.5 million years ago), in a shallow, well-ventilated sea area of the Paris Basin . Today, the Savonnières is mined in the Meuse and Haute-Marne departments in quarries near Saint-Dizier, Savonnières-en-Perthois, Saint-Mihiel and Brauvilliers . The limestone is sometimes offered by the natural stone trade under the trade name Savonnières marble . This is an unfortunate choice from a petrographic point of view, since marble is correctly used to describe a metamorphic carbonate rock .
Rock formation
Savonnières is a relatively easy-to-work, light, oolithic limestone. It is very pure and consists of 96–99% calcium carbonate . Due to its oolithic habit, the Savonnières, like similar stone from other regions, is colloquially referred to as foam limestone. The ooids are on average 0.5 mm in size and give the rock a porous appearance. Thin layers of mussel schill can be partially embedded. Depending on the iron oxide content, the color of the limestone varies from almost white to ocher.
Due to its high porosity, numerous buildings from Savonnières in the urban environment are affected by severe weathering. Thin gypsum crusts can form on the surface of the limestones , which lead to compaction and individual areas are affected by superficial karstification.
Technical characteristics of the Savonnières:
| Characteristic value | minimum | maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Bulk density | 1600 kg / m³ | 1900 kg / m³ |
| porosity | 22.8% | 40.1% |
| Water absorption | 0.5% | 0.63% |
| Compressive strength | 122 kg / cm² | 243 kg / cm² |
| Speed of sound | 2300 m / s | 3697 m / s |
| Frost protection | Yes |
use
The Savonnières is a stone that is valued throughout Europe . Due to its easy workability and homogeneity, it is particularly suitable for making sculptures. Limestone is also used in foundry technology . In Western Europe, many famous buildings were built with Savonnières or equipped with sculptures made from this limestone.
Usage examples
- Old Opera in Frankfurt am Main
- Ulm Minster
- Aachen Cathedral , u. a. Octagon, choir hall, statues of the Anna chapel
- City halls in Brussels , Leuven , Bruges and Louvin
- Hessian State Theater Wiesbaden
- Belvedere Palace in Vienna
- Vienna City Hall , balustrade figures
- Cologne Cathedral , figures and statues
- Copies of the Cologne council tower figures
- New fountain in Mainz , lion figures
- Gare de l'Est in Paris
- Gare de Reims
- Notre-Dame-en-Vaux in Châlons-en-Champagne
- Church of Our Lady in Breda
- Wittenberg Castle , statues of reformers and altar in the Wittenberg Castle Church
literature
- Johannes H. Schroeder (Ed.): Stones in German cities - 18 routes of discovery in architecture and city history . Berlin, 2009, ISBN 978-3-928651-13-4
- Albrecht Germann, Ralf Kownatzki, Günter Mehling: Natural stone lexicon: Geology and trade names. Natural stone extraction. Natural stone processing. Natural stone indoors and outdoors. Art history and architecture, Munich, 2003, ISBN 978-3-7667-1555-5
Individual evidence
- ^ HG Lorenz: Weathering behavior of the limestone Savonnières oolite Weathering of Savonnières. (No longer available online.) Building information, formerly in the original ; Retrieved January 29, 2012 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Natural stone database of the BRGM , accessed on January 30, 2012