Excursions

Saturday, September 13

​E1: Ausgewählte Aufschlüsse im Mesozoikum des nordwestlichen Teils des UNESCO Global Geoparks Harz . Braunschweiger Land . Ostfalen Saturday, September 13Guides: Dr. Henning Zellmer (Geopark Harz . Braunschweiger Land . Ostfalen) & Dr. Volker Wilde (Geopark Harz . Braunschweiger Land . Ostfalen / Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Frankfurt am Main)Date & Time: Saturday, September 13 | 9 -18 hPrice: 60 €Including: Transport by coach/minibus from and to Göttingen, printed field trip guide, packed lunch and entrance to “Burg Lichtenberg” (viewpoint)Personal requirements: Field boots and water-proof clothing, moderate personal fitness for intermediate walks and a helmet for the quarry (Steinbruch Baddeckenstedt) The northwestern part of the Geopark Harz - Braunschweiger Land - Ostfalen is dominated by Mesozoic sedimentary rocks which are exposed in complicated structures of halokinetic origin. The fieldtrip is designed to show some selected outcrops of typical strata and geomorphological characters of the area.Region: Lichtenberge – Mittleres Innerstetal – Hainberg – Östlicher Hildesheimer Wald-Sattel in den Landkreisen Hildesheim und WolfenbüttelStations:1. Steilstehender Unterer Muschelkakl am Innersteufer bei Grasdorf2. Ehemalige Erdöl-Fördertürme bei Hohenassel3. Osterlinde, alter Steinbruch im Rogenstein4. Trochitenkalk nahe Burg Lichtenberg5. Burg Lichtenberg (Aussichtspunkt)6. Steinbruch Baddeckenstedt (Oberkreide, Cenoman)7. Jägerhaus – Hubertuskapelle (Hilssandstein der höheren Unterkreide)8. Steinbruch an der Grabpyramide bei Derneburg  (Rhätsandstein)9. Gemeindesteinbruch Heersum (Heersumer Schichten, Malm) ​Foto: Hilssandstein an der Hubertuskapelle E2: Early Career and Student Walking Field Trip in the surroundings of Göttingen Saturday, September 13Guides: Dr. Michael Klinge (Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany)Date & Time: Saturday, September 13 | 1 - 5 pm | afterwards gathering together at Burg PlessePrice: 10 €Meeting point: Bus stop at Eddigehausen Mariaspring, Bovenden (regio bus 185 from GöttingenEnding point: Burg Plesse, afterwards joint journey to Göttingen (walking takes 0.5 hour) Join us for an exciting field trip that takes you through stunning geological features in the surroundings of Göttingen including Muschelkalk and Buntsandstein outcrops, sinkholes and hillslides. We’ll enjoy a breathtaking view of the Leinetal from the Burg Plesse.After our field trip, we’ll gather together for a drink and something to eat at the Burg Plesse before returning together to Göttingen.This field trip is fascinating for mineralogists, geologists, paleontologists and geomorphologists and offers something special for anyone interested in the local geology and landscape around Göttingen.The field trip is open to any early career scientist that takes part in the Geo4Göttingen meeting. With this field trip you get the possibility to network and to become more familiar with the young scientist’s networks of the jungeDGGV, Junge Geomorphologen, Young Mins and the Paläo-Nachwuchsgruppe. 

Sunday, September 14

​E3: Highlights of the geology of the Western Harz Mts. Sunday, September 14Guides: C.-H. Friedel, F.W. Luppold, H. Zellmer, M. ZweigDate & Time: Sunday, September 14 | 9:30 – 19:00 hPrice: 60 €Including: Transport by coach/minibus from and to Göttingen, printed field trip guide, packed lunchPersonal requirements: Field boots and water-proof clothing, moderate personal fitness for intermediate walks. Please take something to eat and drink with you. This one-day trip gives a first insight into the lithostratigraphy, facies and paleogeography of the Early Paleozoic sedimentary and volcanic sequences especially of the western, par-autochthonous part of the Harz Mountains, and includes examples of post-Variscan plutonism and Zechstein cover. ​Route (27.04.2025) ​(Stop 2) Early Carboniferous diabas (left) overlain by tuffaceous chert (Oberharz Diabas Unit, upper part of the road profile at the village of Lerbach). E4: Geomorphological evolution of the Harz Mountains: From the Pliocene to the Anthropocene Sunday, September 14Guides: Frank Lehmkuhl (RWTH Aachen), Felix Martin Hofmann (University of Freiburg), Elisabeth Dietze (University of Göttingen)Date & Time: Sunday, September 14 | 8 - 18 hPrice: 60 €Including: Transport by coach/minibus from and to Göttingen, printed field trip guide, packed lunchPersonal requirements: Field boots and water-proof clothing, moderate personal fitness for intermediate walks. This full-day excursion offers insights into the geomorphological evolution of the Harz Mountains in the geologically recent past. We will explore planation surfaces, valley development, Pleistocene glaciation, Holocene mining history, and water management, and discuss their relevance for current dynamics — among other things, for preconditioning surface processes following a forest fire in the Harz National Park. ​E. Dietze, July 2023. E5: UNESCO World Heritage Site Samson Mine (St. Andreasberg, Harz Mountains): Landscape Change, Energy Use, Resource Management & Sustainability Sunday, September 14Guides: L. Iturrizaga (High Mountain Geography, Institute of Geography, University of Göttingen), C. Barsch (Grube Samson, St. Andreasberg) & W. Ließmann (Technical University Clausthal)Date & Time: Sunday, September 14 | 8 - 18 hPrice: 55 €Including: Transport by coach/minibus from and to Göttingen, printed field trip guide, admission to Grube SamsonPersonal requirements: Field boots and water-proof clothing, moderate personal fitness for intermediate walks and climbs. The temperature in the Samson mine is around 8 degrees Celsius, even in summer, so please dress warmly! Please bring your own food and drinks for the day.Lunch at Restaurant “Roter Bär”, St. Andreasberg (not included, everyone pays for themselves). The excursion presents the outcomes of the inter- and transdisciplinary LEHA-Project “UNESCO World Heritage Upper Harz Water Management: Landscape Change and Energy Use in the Harz in the Anthropocene – A Voyage of Water from the Past to the Future” funded by Pro*Niedersachsen /zukunft.niedersachsen. We will make a voyage through 500 Mio. years of earth history, 3000 years of mining history to future societal challenges in the Harz Mountains. Key topics include geology, ore deposits, physical and human geography, montanarcheology. anthropogeomorphology,  energy use, resource management, sustainability and science communication. Excursion highlights feature the former world’s deepest mine Grube Samson in St. Andreasberg with its technical innovations and its world-famous mineral cabinet as well as the World Heritage site Oder Pond presented in the context of future-oriented approaches of sustainable development.​Water wheel in the Samson Mine, St. Andreasberg (Foto: L. Iturrizaga)  ​ Further information about visiting the Samson mine and at OderteichThe Samson mine is very easy to experience and very exciting in terms of content (https://www.grube-samson.de ). Experience has shown that even people who do not like being underground will have no difficulties.Visitors do not need a helmet, the stay in the underground area lasts a maximum of 20 minutes and can optionally be omitted without diminishing the experience, e.g. in the case of mobility restrictions. The temperature in the Samson mine is around 8 degrees Celsius, even in summer, so please dress warmly! Depending on the weather, you should also bring sturdy shoes and rainproof clothing.The visit is not barrier-free, all information on accessibility at https://www.grube-samson.de/ueber-uns/barrierefreiheitThe site at the Oderteich and Rehberger Graben is easy to walk around.

Friday, September 19

​E6: Fault and nappe tectonics and related chaotic rocks in the Harz Mts.

Friday, September 19Guides: C.-H. Friedel, B. Leiss, M. ZweigDate & Time: Friday, September 19 | 7:30 – 19:00 hPrice: 55 €Including: Transport by coach/minibus from and to Göttingen, printed field trip guidePersonal requirements: Field boots and water-proof clothing, moderate personal fitness for intermediate walks and climbs. At the Odertal water reservoir, a more strenuous climb is necessary to reach the outcrop.Coffee break at Güntersberge (c. 2 p.m.). We recommend that you take something to eat and drink with you. As in many other fold and thrust belts, the views on nappe tectonics in the Harz Mountains have changed several times in the last 100 years. Closely related to this was the different interpretation of the chaotic rock units widespread in the allochthonous part of the Harz, which for a long time were regarded only as (Variscan-deformed) olistostromes. We would like to present some examples and discuss their characteristics, which rather favour a primarily tectonic origin of the chaotic rock fabric.​  ​(Stop 1) Inverted Devonian shale sequence with tectonically brecciated Middle Devonian limestones (Sparenberg, Innerstetal at the village of Lautenthal). E7: GeoPark Grenzwelten: Climatic and stone tour in the Hanseatic town of Korbach including a visit to the Korbach fissure Friday, September 19Guides: Oliver Weidlich & Georg Bresser (Geoparks Grenzwelten)Date & Time: Friday, September 19 | 8 - 18 h
The excursion ends in Korbach - Kassel Wilhelmshöhe railway station (arrival there at 17:00).Price: 60 €Including: Transport by coach/minibus from Göttingen to Korbach, printed field trip guide, packed lunchPersonal requirements: Field boots and water-proof clothing, moderate personal fitness for intermediate walks and climbs. Building stones or dimension stones reflect the geology of a region and numerous publications captured this knowledge worldwide. In addition, building stones help to explain climate change during earth history and touch a topic which is increasingly relevant for GeoParks. For example, GeoPark Grenzwelten explains with building stones obstructed in the medieval city of Korbach how Late Permian to Early Triassic climate differs from today’s climate and draws attention to the challenge of natural vs anthropogenic global warming.​