Elbe Sandstone

Its deposits border on the area of the Lusatian Massif (Lusatian anticlinal zone), the Meißner Massif, the gneiss of the Eastern Ore Mountains, the Elbe Valley Slate Mountains and the territory of the Czech Republic by the northeastern foothills of the Central Bohemian Uplands and the fringe of the Eger Graben.

Additional constituents include feldspar, glauconite and ferrous minerals of limonite ore.

In the pore space of sandstones of the Cotta type there are the fine-grained minerals of illite, kaolinite and quartz.

The most important properties of these types of ashlar are derived from the presence or absence of fine-grained constituents.

[1] Hardened sand sediments of marine origin from the Upper Cretaceous form a sequence of several strata up to 400 metres thick.

This variety from the Upper Turonian has a high strength and is used as a building stone, especially in a load-bearing role.

Elbe Sandstone, like here on the Wartturm where there has been a rockfall, can be permeated by a finely-divided "marbling".
Quarry in the Lohm valley ( Lohmgrund ) near Cotta