Cultural and Environmental Park Piesberg – Information board Quarry

The Piesberg then and now

When looking into the large quarry, one can hardly imagine that in the 1970s, the highest point of the Piesberg stood in the center of today's mining field. At that time, this area was a flat knoll that was covered with a coniferous forest. The highest point was 175.6 m (576 feet) above sea level, and the quarry operation took place mainly south and west of today's "Felsrippe" (stone cliff).
Around 1980, the expansion of the quarry began in the area of the Piesberg summit; the area was cleared, glacial cover layers were removed, and the quarried stone carried away. Thus, the mountain lost its previous highest point. Today the Piesberg’s highest elevation is said to be 192.9 m (633 feet) above sea level. This is the height of the viewing platform on the "Felsrippe". The 17-meter increase in the Piesberg’s height is due to the pile of overburden from the quarry.

The transformation of the Piesberg into a "hollow tooth" is illustrated by an old cross-sectional image. It was originally made after the 1898 cessation of coal mining, and shows the conditions before the start of the stone quarry operation (below). If one overlays today's situation on the same profile (above), it becomes clear to what extent humans have changed the landscape within a few decades.
Today, the rock quarry in the center of the Piesberg extends to a depth of more than 100 m (328 feet) below the former land surface, approximately to the water level of the Hase river. Overburden was heaped up on the flanks of the mountain and in the area of the "Felsrippe". The former quarry on the southern slope of the mountain was completely filled in from 1976 to 2005 with 7.5 million cubic meters (more than 9.8 million cubic yards) of household waste from the city and the district of Osnabrück. In the coming years, the inner heap will be piled up in front of the quarry’s north wall.