Seeberger sandstone

Keep of the Wartburg made of Seeberg sandstone

Seeberger sandstone is a sandstone of the Upper Keuper (Rätkeuper) and is assigned to the Rätsandsteinen. Its occurrence is on the Großer Seeberg near Gotha in Thuringia south of Wandersleben . Its name is derived from the Seeberg. Currently (2017) two quarries are in operation, the "Kammerbruch", which was already active at the historical time, and the new "Güntherslebener Bruch". There is also an occurrence of this sandstone near Creuzburg an der Werra, which is no longer broken today and has comparable qualities.

Occurrence

The Seeberger sandstone consists of dark clays and quartz grains that form interchangeable bearings . In this deposit there is a bench 9 to 12 meters thick made of light-colored sandstone, above 6 to 8 meters clay-bound layers and above is the work stone bench with the Seeberger sandstone with a bench height of around 12.5 meters as the main bench. The main bench is divided into individual benches about 1 meter high , which are separated by clay deposits. Marl and sandy shale lie over the main bank .

mineralogy

It is a fine-grained, quartzite-bound sandstone (95–99% quartz content). Its grain size is between 0.04 and 2 millimeters. Its brown to yellow color comes from limonite (brown iron stone), a combination of natural iron compounds. It often shows a brown vein. Its compressive strength is between 500 and 1000 kg / cm². It carries small amounts of mica . Due to its largely quartzite bond, it is very weatherproof. Its compressive strength varies between 50 and 110  MPa and its flexural strength is between 11 and 13 MPa.

Use and structures

This sandstone was mainly used for wall stones, facade slabs, garden designs and as small pavement, also as a grindstone.

Gothic portal at the cathedral of Erfurt

Buildings:

• Berlin :
  • Ministry of the Interior (old)
  • Reich Telegraph Office
  • Foreign Office on Wilhelmsplatz
• Gdańsk (Danzig):
  • Building of the High Presidium of the Prussian Province of West Prussia
• Eisenach :
  • Wartburg
• Erfurt :
  • Erfurt Cathedral
  • Collegium Maius
• Halle (Saale) :
  • Building of the Mining Authority
• Gotha
  • State regular school "Andreas Reyher"

See also

• List of sandstones

literature

• W. Dienemann and O. Burre: The usable rocks of Germany and their deposits with the exception of coal, ores and salts, Enke-Verlag, Stuttgart 1929, p. 280.
• Karlfriedrich Fuchs: stone index: natural stones from all over the world; discover, determine, apply. Callwey-Verlag , Munich 1997, sheet 208.