Field Trip 9: The Silesian in the Foreland Basins of Northwest Germany

7-9 August 2003

led by

Dr. Guenter Drozdzewski and Dr. Volker Wrede

of the Geological Survey of Northrhine-Westphalia

Warning: some of this is technical, most is not.

Day 1, Thursday 7 August, the Aachen Coalfield

The heat wave continues!

View of Rhine River on way to Aachen

• Aachen
1. Pfalzkapelle (Palatine Chapel), Charlemagne's church, dates from 800-1414 AD, oldest part covered by scaffolding?
2. Pfalzkapelle, another view
3. Pfalzkapelle, yet another view
4. walk through town
5. site of hot-water springs. The reasons the Romans came here was because of the hot springs, Aqua Grani, which became Aachen. There is a strong hydrogen sulfide smell near the springs. The springs are associated with faults, rain-water sinks along strata along a limb of a syncline to depths great enough to heat it. The water is then channeled up through faults along the other limb of the syncline. The photo shows a modern structure, not a Roman one.
• Stop 1.1, Bernhardshammer Quarry, looking up-section through steeply dipping strata. In the back of the quarry one can see a Dinantian pinnacle karst feature surrounded by unconformably-overlying Namurian clastic strata. Up-stratigraphic section is in front of the viewer, down-stratigraphic section is behind the viewer. Foreground is more Dinantian limestone.
• Stolberger Schloss (Stolberg Castle), modern, near Aachen. After walking through the castle, we had lunch at a restaurant at the base of the castle hill. I also had an excellent beer and a drink with beer and lemonade (I don't remember what it's called), perfect for hot weather.
1. view of castle from valley
2. walk to castle
3. Dinantian limestone outcropping along castle wall
4. view of courtyard at castle
• Stop 1.2, Gut Gedau
["Gut" means "estate."]
1. outcrop of Gedau Conglomerate, Namurian R₁-R₂ age
2. quartz pebbles in fluvial-deltaic sandstone. This is similar in composition and age to the Lee sandstones in the U.S. and to the Millstone Grits in the United Kingdom.
3. fault gouge in sandstone
• Stop 1.3, Würselen: Teuterhof railroad cut
1. vertically dipping Kohlscheid Formation, Westphalian A₂ age
2. silty claystone with calamites and seed fern plant fossils and coaly bands
• Stop 1.4, Würselen: Gut Kuckum
1. old quarry, coal-bearing clastics of the Upper Kohlscheid Formation, Westphalian A.

Wald- und Golfhotel Lottental, the restaurant is to the left and the hotel in the background to the right. We stayed for two nights at this hotel, near Bochum (their website: www.wald-und-golfhotel.de). This was during the record-breaking heat wave. My room did not have air conditioning, nor did it have a fan, neither of which would normally be necessary in this area. The setting was very nice, lots of trees and the restaurant was very good. I had jaegerschnitzel one night (with wild mushrooms), very good and another wild mushroom dish the other night, also very good. The continental breakfast at this hotel was the best of any place I stayed in Europe this year. The "golf" refers to miniature golf, as far as I could see.

Day 2, Friday 8 August, the Ruhr Coalfield

• Stop 2.1, Hagen: Vorhalle Quarry
1. Ziegelschiefer Formation, claystones, silstones and sandstones, Namurian B age
2. close-up of tempestite bed
• Stop 2.2, Herdecke: Schiffswinkel
1. clastics of the Ziegelschiefer and Kaisberg formations, Namurian B age
2. another view with attendees
3. box fold
4. old mine in Sengsbank coal(?)
5. sign about geology of the area
• Stop 2.3, Wetter: Gut Schede
1. freestone sandstone of Kaisberg Sandstone, Namurian age. This is probably fluvial in origin and reminds me of the distributary mouthbar sandstones of the Magoffin Member near Hindman, Kentucky. Could also be a crevasse splay sandstone.
• Stop 2.4, Witten: Rauen Quarry
1. Sprockhövel Formation, Namurian C age, marine to fluvial-terrestrial in origin. A very hot walk, upper 30's.
2. bivalve bed, upper part of quarry, fresh-water origin?
3. wild Summer lilac, very nice smell
4. coal bed in Sprockhövel Formation, largely covered??
5. clastics and coal beds, plant-fossil bearing, coal bed is in upper part
• Stop 2.5, Witten-Bommern: Muttental, Westphalian Museum of Technology
[I don't have a web address for this museum. Can anyone help me?] While in the main museum, I saw several fossil tree stumps from coal mines. I was talking to the museum staff about how these were called "kettle bottoms" and that they caused the deaths of many miners when the stones fell on them. I noticed several plump, rosy-cheeked women giggling at me. Volker later told me that the ladies thought I was a cowboy from Kentucky.
1. Nachtigall tunnel, Witten Formation, Westphalian A age. Tunnel used to transport shales from next valley for brick making??
2. inside the tunnel, what you can't see are the different cribbing techniques and roof support features.
3. old engine near tunnel
4. hoist?, I forgot what this was
5. another old engine at the museum
6. view of Witten Formation from adjacent valley (other side of tunnel), Dünkelberg Quarry (background)
• Stop 2.6, Bochum-Querenburg: "Geological Garden"
1. outcrop near entrance, I forgot what he was looking at
2. Bochum Formation, Westphalian A age
3. Bochum Formation
4. Essen Grünsand, Cretaceous age, unconformably overlying the Bochum Formation
• Münster
1. a church, I don't recall which one
2. the same church, different view
3. the Dom, the Münster cathedral, dating from 13^th - 16^th centuries
4. the Dom, another view
5. the Dom door
6. the Rathaus, where the Treaty of Münster was signed
7. another church, I don't know this one either
8. street view, I love that hat. His wife gave it to him before the trip.

Day 3, Saturday 9 August, the Ibbenbüren-Osnabrück Coalfield (Ibbenbüren Horst)

The hottest day of all, probably topping 40 degrees.

• Stop 3.1, Ibbenbüren: Schwabe Quarry
1. fluvial sandstones and coal-bearing shales, Upper Westphalian C age
2. fluvial, point bar sandstones, Upper Westphalian C age
3. fluvial sandstones cut into slabs for building stone, for facing of buildings
4. sandstone slabs being cut from boulder
5. cutting slabs from a boulder
6. yet another boulder being cut
7. cut slabs
• Ibbenbüren
1. lunch
2. restaurant where we had lunch
3. old church, what church is it?
4. old church, another view
• Stop 3.2, Ibbenbüren: DSK
1. coal-burning power station and site of world's deepest coal-mine shaft, 1500 meters deep and 50 degrees centigrade at depth
2. vertical lycopod tree stump, mine shaft in background
• Stop 3.3, Ibbenbüren: Kälberberg Quarry
1. overview of quarry, Upper Westphalian D age clastics
2. red debris-flow deposits, Upper Westphalian D age
3. red debris flows
4. more clastics, same age, note reddish tinge
• Stop 3.4, Osnabrück: Piesberg Quarry
1. overview of quarry, unfortunately, it was necessary to take most of the photos looking towards the sun (looking westward in the afternoon); note windmills
2. overview of quarry
3. quarry, similar view
4. quarry
5. fluvial sandstones, Westphalian C & D age
6. bedding surface of strata at bottom of quarry, Stigmaria root and many long rootlets
7. anthracite, unusually high rank for this region, probably due to local thermal conditions, exact conditions are controversial
8. anthracite, same specimen, note metallic sheen
9. bed of anthracite at head-level of geologist
10. another outcrop at base of quarry, note beds of coal

After the final stop, we got back on our air-conditioned bus and headed back to Utrecht via Enschede and Apeldoorn (I think).

At this point I'd like to praise our bus driver, Frans R. Bianchi. Not only was he a very capable bus driver, able to negotiate very narrow quarry roads and country lanes, he was able to discuss details of the geology. He has a Masters of Science in Geology and has worked with many of the world's top geologist in the field. With his in-depth knowledge, outgoing personality and excellent driving skills, he would be the perfect driver for any natural history field work or field trips. You can contact him by e-mail at bianchi@planet.nl or at Enkhuizerzand 12, 1274 HV Huizen, Netherlands.

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