Bangertshöhe, Hochstädten, Bensheim, Odenwald, Hesse, Germany

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Bangertshöhe, Hochstädten, Bensheim, Odenwald, Hessen, Deutschland

On the eastern side of the Bangertshöhe, calcite marble was mined since the early 18th century. The deposit was first worked from an open cut along the strike of the marble-bearing zone across the summit (documented in 1720 and 1773). Since around 1820, it was also worked from an underground mine consisting of three shafts and two adits. The workings were abandoned around 1880. The grid reference marks the open cut, which is now heavily overgrown, but has been a productive locality for copper ores and arsenopyrite in the past. Gneiss and pegmatites crop out on its west wall.

The cobalt ores, for which the locality is noted, were first discovered when a thin vein, only 2 cm wide, which carried much erythrite was opened up in the workings. They are associated with bismuth, nickel and silver minerals, similar to the Bi-Co-Ni-Ag associations known from other localities in the Odenwald range. In addition, the marble includes a large variety of other metallic minerals.

Where the marble contacts the host rocks, thin zones of calcic silicates (mainly wollastonite, vesuvianite, hessonite and epidote) that are up to 0.5 m wide were formed by regional metamorphosis. These minerals can still be collected from outcrops and pits of old trial workings both northeast of the open cut and along the southwest slope of the mountain.

References

- Kuhne, R. (1932): The ore-bearing marble at Auerbach. Chemie der Erde 7, 503-539 (in German).
- Der Aufschluss 1978(10), 312-313.
- Lapis 1980(7/8), 18.
- Nickel, E., and Fettel, M. (1985): Odenwald. Sammlung geologischer Führer Vol. 65, 2nd ed., Bornträger (Berlin, Stuttgart), 231 pp.
- Weiß, S. (1990): Mineralfundstellenatlas, Deutschland West. Weise (Munich), 320 pp.
- Schmädicke, E., Okrusch, M., Schubert, W., Elwart, B., and Gorke, U. (2001): Phase relations of calc-silicate assemblages in the Auerbach marble, Odenwald Crystalline Complex, Germany. Mineralogy and Petrology 72, 77-111.

Mineral List

Acanthite Annabergite Antimony Arsenic Arseniosiderite Arsenopyrite Asbolane Baryte Bismuth Bismuthinite Calcite

Chalcopyrite Diopside Epidote Erythrite Galena Glaucodot Graphite Grossular var: Hessonite Malachite Molybdenite Nickeline

Polybasite Powellite Pyrargyrite Pyrite var: Bravoite Quartz Rammelsbergite Safflorite Scheelite Silver Skutterudite

Sphalerite Stephanite 'Stilbite' Tetrahedrite Titanite Ullmannite Vesuvianite Wollastonite

41 entries listed. 38 valid minerals.