The city answered that they had requested gray basalt in large quantities for covering the surfaces in front of the new university and of the Square of the Old Synagogue and not the usual black or blue basalt from the German Eifel region.
The story boiled up again this March when an expert from Zürich (As you know, a prophet has no honor in his own country) declared: For this project, only the basalt from Vietnam is suited. It has the required quality for heavy use. During a press conference, Matthias Pliefke of Freiburg's garden and civil engineering department and project manager of the Umgestaltung des Rotteck-Rings (Transformation of the Rotteck-Ring) presented samples of the two basalts in question.
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| Gray basalt in front of the new university library (©Michael Bamberger/BZ) |
The basalt lava from the Eifel does not have the same quality as the basalt from Vietnam. The selected Vietnamese material is certified with the label Fairstone signifying that child labor is excluded. However, no foreigner can access the quarries located in prohibited military areas. Working conditions are checked by communist trade unions that, in turn, are controlled by the Vietnam government. Indeed it is instead a blue than a grey area, or as the Bavarians say: Nichts Genaues weiß man nicht (One does not know anything precisely).
Starting at the end of the 19th century, blue basalt became the material of choice for stable roadways in Germany. However, the abrasion-resistant surface showed its drawbacks with the increasing car traffic after the war. In 1950 Der Spiegel wrote: Road surfaces made from blue basalt are covered by a layer of dust and dripped-off oil that becomes slippery in rain or fog. Drivers experience this floating layer as a fun toboggan run.
As a high school graduate in Hamburg, Red Baron did not read Der Spiegel, my driver's license dated February 1954, and I had little driving experience. So I was unaware of the danger when driving in Hamburg's notorious drizzle in April of the same year when I had to brake my father's brand-new car on a downslope covered with blue basalt. I slid into the vehicle of a driving school (sic!). That was no fun toboggan run at all.
It is no excuse that in the '50s, neither the treads of tires were covered with today's intelligent rubber compounds nor was there ABS. Luckily the car had only body damage, with the left fender being crushed. When I arrived at my father's office, he ordered me to return the vehicle immediately to the workshop from where I just had come. I shall never forget the smirking looks of the people pointing to the crushed fender and the headlight in pieces. It felt like running the gauntlet. The order was that I had to stay at the workshop until a new unpainted fender had been installed. My father taught me a lesson but had confidence in me, for three days later, he asked me to drive my mother to a funeral in far Westphalia, the new fender still unpainted.
Coming back to the basalt quarrel. In Wikipedia, I learned about another much older one that has to do with creation. In the late 18th century, two groups in Europe, the Plutonists and the Neptunists, disputed the origin of basalt. The latter defended the Urozean (primeval ocean) as the origin of basalt: In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. The earth was void and empty, darkness was upon the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the water (Moses 1,1-2). Therefore water was at the origin of everything and naturally of rock formation. Water contains minerals that settle out of suspension in the sedimentation process to form the core of the planet and the continents as a series of layers. The Plutonists, however, noted that basalt does not include any fossils, and hence the stone should be of volcanic origin. The dispute was on: Neptunists and Plutonists quarreled fiercely for decades.
Why do I write this? Our national genius Goethe, Neptunist, and a geology specialist, actively participated in the debate. When, following Alexander von Humboldt's opinion in the basalt quarrel, Johann Wolfgang saw his position dashed, he did what he knew best, writing a poem, an ode dedicated to the States:
Well, is it still like this? The firm reference of the Neptunists to the bible reminded me of the ongoing dispute between creationists and evolutionists in the States. On our continent, the old, this is no issue. So it seems that we in Europe are nowadays better off than the US, at least in this kind of quarrel.
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| Matthias Pliefke showing samples of Vietnam basalt (left) and Eifel basalt lava (©Michael Bamberger/BZ) |
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| A typical road strip in Germany covered with blue basalt (©Panoramio) |
It is no excuse that in the '50s, neither the treads of tires were covered with today's intelligent rubber compounds nor was there ABS. Luckily the car had only body damage, with the left fender being crushed. When I arrived at my father's office, he ordered me to return the vehicle immediately to the workshop from where I just had come. I shall never forget the smirking looks of the people pointing to the crushed fender and the headlight in pieces. It felt like running the gauntlet. The order was that I had to stay at the workshop until a new unpainted fender had been installed. My father taught me a lesson but had confidence in me, for three days later, he asked me to drive my mother to a funeral in far Westphalia, the new fender still unpainted.
Coming back to the basalt quarrel. In Wikipedia, I learned about another much older one that has to do with creation. In the late 18th century, two groups in Europe, the Plutonists and the Neptunists, disputed the origin of basalt. The latter defended the Urozean (primeval ocean) as the origin of basalt: In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. The earth was void and empty, darkness was upon the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the water (Moses 1,1-2). Therefore water was at the origin of everything and naturally of rock formation. Water contains minerals that settle out of suspension in the sedimentation process to form the core of the planet and the continents as a series of layers. The Plutonists, however, noted that basalt does not include any fossils, and hence the stone should be of volcanic origin. The dispute was on: Neptunists and Plutonists quarreled fiercely for decades.
Why do I write this? Our national genius Goethe, Neptunist, and a geology specialist, actively participated in the debate. When, following Alexander von Humboldt's opinion in the basalt quarrel, Johann Wolfgang saw his position dashed, he did what he knew best, writing a poem, an ode dedicated to the States:
| Den Vereinigten Staaten Amerika, du hast es besser Als unser Continent, das alte, Hast keine verfallene Schlösser Und keine Basalte. Dich stört nicht im Innern, Zu lebendiger Zeit, Unnützes Erinnern Und vergeblicher Streit. | To the United States America, you're better off than our continent, the old. Neither do you sport decaying castles nor basalt rocks. Your heart is not troubled these days by useless reminiscing and empty disputes. |
Well, is it still like this? The firm reference of the Neptunists to the bible reminded me of the ongoing dispute between creationists and evolutionists in the States. On our continent, the old, this is no issue. So it seems that we in Europe are nowadays better off than the US, at least in this kind of quarrel.
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