Thanks Berlin_Freeper. Eugene Shoemaker identified the Ries Basin as a 15 million year old impact structure, and the shocked quartz and such found in the local stone -- including the building stone used for the church -- was formed by that event.
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Posted on 11/28/2017 2:57:15 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
As I climbed the narrow staircase of the gothic church tower in Nördlingen, Germany, the worn stone steps appeared to glimmer in the sunlight, bringing unexpected flashes of light to what should have been a dark, grey climb to the top.
“That’s because the entire tower is made out of suevite stone, and enclosed in it are small diamonds,” Horst Lenner, the tower watchman, told me enthusiastically.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Have you learned to understand the schwabisch dialect? When I encountered them years ago it was the most difficult to comprehend.
The German Scottish.
The trainer (coach) of the German National Soccer Team sounds like that.
The depression is interpreted as a meteorite impact crater formed about 14.3 million–14.5 million years ago in the Miocene.[1][2] The crater is most commonly referred to simply as the Ries or Ries crater. The original crater rim had an estimated diameter of 24 kilometers (15 mi). The present floor of the depression is about 100 to 150 m (330 to 490 ft) below the eroded remains of the rim.
Truly interesting!
This reminds me of certain dark stones in NYC which have these sort of sparkles. Like subway steps. Just wondering if it is from the same impact effect.
With most folks thinking that the Carolina Bays come from meteor impacts, no telling what else is in the region.
Impact zones seem common around the world.
"Daddy, there's a man at the front door who is speaking in an incomprehensible dialect".
;)
"Pidgin" German?
OK, bad pun...
;)
“Certainly possible. Much of the building material in NYC cams from the Appalachians, so lots of hard rock there that may contain quartz crystals.”
The shiny stuff in Appalachian rocks is quartz, feldspar, mica and some garnet.
Never knew about the Carolina Bays so I’ll have to talk to my daughter-in-law and find out how close they are to son’s home. VERY COOL! I also loved going to my grandmother’s in NYC and climbing the marble steps to her apt. Walls lined with it, too. Most colonial homes in Bucks Cty PA sparkle, too. Amazing planet!
Makes you want to pull out Thirty Years War (SPI) and play a game of “Nördlingen” One of histories few battles fought in a meteor crater.
Thanks Berlin_Freeper. Eugene Shoemaker identified the Ries Basin as a 15 million year old impact structure, and the shocked quartz and such found in the local stone -- including the building stone used for the church -- was formed by that event.
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This Wiki article is a little confusing. First it writes of impact breccia containing shocked quartz, then later it speaks of tiny “diamonds.” So which is it quartz, or diamonds formed from carbon? Also, this made me think of the fine quartz crystals found in Herkimer, NY which are called Herkimer “diamonds.” Now I am wondering about the origin of those little “gems.” Too late to search now. Must sleep.
The geologic history of these crystals began about 500 million years ago in a shallow sea which was receiving sediments from the ancient Adirondack Mountains to the north. The calcium and magnesium carbonate sediments accumulated and lithified to form the dolostone bedrock exposed as the Little Falls Dolostone today.[3] While buried, cavities were formed by acidic waters forming the vugs in which the quartz crystals formed. While the dolostone unit is Cambrian in age the quartz within the vugs is interpreted to have formed during the Carboniferous Period.[4] Waxy organic material, silicon dioxide and pyrite (iron sulfide) was present as minor constituents of rock made of dolomite and calcite. As sediment buried the rock and temperatures rose, crystals grew in the cavities very slowly, resulting in quartz crystals of exceptional clarity. Inclusions can be found in these crystals that provide clues to the origins of the Herkimer diamonds. Found within the inclusions are solids, liquids (salt water or petroleum), gases (most often carbon dioxide), two- and three-phase inclusions, and negative (uniaxial) crystals. Anthraconite is the most common solid inclusion.
So the Herkimer diamonds are probably not the same as the Nördlingen diamonds. The German diamonds were formed via impact concussion, whereas the Herkimer diamonds were grown quartz crystals.
So sayeth wiki.
Except that the Wiki article referred to both breccia with shocked quartz, and then further down talked about tiny “diamonds.” Thus my confusion or THEIRS?
Thanks for the ping Civ.
I wish I knew this back when I was stationed in Mannheim in “74”, I would have made it a point to visit the town.
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