... cherts from the north-west part of Saxony ...

The igneous rock basin in north-west part of Saxony, which is separated from the Erzgebirge basin by the granulite rock unit, is blessed with promising sites for chert collection of various origin. The cherts possibly formed at several places and subsequently have been widely distributed, apparently in the turmoil related to glaciation and also along ancient courses of rivers, as Mulde, Elbe, and the Altenburg river in the Tertiary. So it is not surprising that cherts are found in many gravel pits in the area.

Remarkable samples of fossiliferous cherts from primary and secondary deposits in the north-west part of Saxony are presented in the following. Unfortunately, not many of them compare with the conspicuous samples from Nova Paka or Doehlen basin known for excellent preservation, perhaps with the cherts from the Nobitz gravel pit as an exception. Although the preservation may be different, the fossil content is similar. Therefore one can hope that the poorly preserved fossils can be identified by comparison with the better preserved ones from other locations. Also one would like to locate the sites of primary chert formation and compare the samples found in-situ with the transported ones.

Loebnitz
chert from the Loebnitz gravel pit near Bitterfeld (Saxony)

Altenburg - Nobitz
chert from the Nobitz gravel pit near Altenburg (Thuringia)

Boertewitz
in-situ Chert from Boertewitz near Leisnig (Saxony)

Hainichen
chert from the Hainichen clay pit (Saxony)

Neuenmoerbitz
chert from the Neuenmoerbitz gravel pit near Kohren-Sahlis (Thuringia)

Penig - Dittmannsdorf
chert from the Dittmannsdorf gravel pit near Penig (Saxony)

Ruedigsdorf
chert from the Ruedigsdorf site near Kohren-Sahlis (Saxony)

Schoembach
chert from the Schoembach gravel pit near Kohren-Sahlis (Thuringia)