Harz granite

Harz granite (German: Harzer Granit) is found in the Harz Mountains of central Germany. It may be divided into five types, all of which were widely used as natural stone: Knaupsholz granite, Birkenkopf granite, Wurmberg granite, Königskopf granite and Ilsestein granite. The first three granites were widely used in North Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and, later, also in East Germany. Knaupsholz granite was "for a long time one of the most important types of cut stone in the former GDR".

In 2009 only Knaupsholz granite was still being quarried.

The granitic plutons of the Harz Mountains - the Brocken, Ramberg and Oker plutons - were formed at the end of the Harz mountain building period (the Hercynian orogeny) during the Late Carboniferous about 300 million years ago. These natural stones were formed when large magma intrusions in the Brocken granite massif solidified at different cooling and crystallization rates into several differently coloured granites. The Harz granites are part of the Brocken granite complex, which is the largest granite complex in the Harz with an area of 165 square kilometres (64 sq mi). The Harzburg gabbro-norite intrusion forms part of this complex, but has a primary chemistry similar to an island-arc tholeiite, although it shows the effects of large scale assimilation of crustal rocks.

Among the large quarrying concerns operating before the Second World War in 1938 were the firms of Zureck in Wernigerode (100 to 110 employees), Hannoversche Basaltwerke mbH with its branch, the Wernigerode Granite Quarries (Granitsteinbrüche Wernigerode, 60 to 70 employees), and Braunlager Granit- und Schotterwerke G.m.b.H. (45 employees). There were also 5 to 7 medium and 15 to 17 small businesses with a combined total of 600 employees. Their market at that time comprised the entire territory of the German Reich, Belgium and the Netherlands.

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