The Muschelkalk yields important mineral raw materials for the industrial and building sectors. Lower and Upper Muschelkalk limestones are exploited in countless quarries and processed to bulk material like gritting stones and raw material for cement production. Dimension stones are used in building industry and landscaping. High-end quality stones like Crailsheim Trochitenkalk, Franconian Quaderkalk, and in Central Germany the Lower Muschelkalk Schaumkalk are cut and polished and utilized inside and outside buildings. The Middle Muschelkalk yields evaporites like gypsum and rock salt. The exploitation of Tripel for grinding and polishing and of non-ferrous ores has been shut down in Germany long ago. In Poland, the Middle Muschelkalk ‘Orebearing Dolomite‘ is still productive for lead and zincum. In the 19th century the Hohenlohe-Oehringen dynasty successfully ran ore mines in former Upper Silesia.
Visitors are welcomed by a cast of a Wellenkalk joint face showing the Lower Schaumkalkbank and a stone mason´s working site with historical tools. Photo B. Lattner
Lower Muschelkalk Quarry with crusher plant
Two buildingstone beds quarried for ‘Crailsheim Trochitenkalk’
Stairs and frontage of the Schlosshotel underground car park in Ingelfingen jacketed with Crailsheim Trochitenkalk. In sunshine, the cleavage planes of the crinoid columnals glitter.
Fibrous blende (lead and zincum ores) from Orebearing Dolomite of Trzebinia (Poland)
Rock salt from the 40 meters thick salt bed within the Heilbronn Formation in the Heilbronn salt mine