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Rock and soil samples; setting up and managing collections

The Bavarian State Office for the Environment (LfU) is building up working and voucher collections as a central collection point for rock and soil samples from Bavaria and will continue to do so on an ongoing basis.

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Bayerisches Landesamt für Umwelt

Street address

Bürgermeister-Ulrich-Str. 160
86179 Augsburg

Postal address

86177 Augsburg

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Procedure details

Extensive collections of documents have long been kept to document the geoscientific survey in Bavaria.

The collection of the Geological Survey ("Geowissenschaftliche Sammlung"), which currently contains a total of around 120,000 objects that are recorded in a database, is the focus of interest. The collection consists of several parts, including a collection of documents relating to the geological survey of Bavaria, a collection of deposits, a collection of Bavarian natural stones as well as palaeontological, petrographic and mineralogical collections.

Particularly noteworthy are the mineralogical collection of the first Bavarian geoscientist, Mathias von Flurl (1756-1823), the collection of specimens from the geognostic survey of the Kingdom of Bavaria (Gümbel collection) dating from the second half of the 19th century and an extensive collection of local fossils from more recent times (Hölzl collection).

Around 18,000 rock thin sections are kept in a separate collection. Material from important deep boreholes in Bavaria, including the KTB itself, is kept in two drill sample archives at the Drill Core and Raw Material Analysis Center in Hof a. d. Saale and at the Kontinentale Tiefbohrung (KTB) in Windischeschenbach/Oberpfalz for detailed investigations of the subsurface and for the documentation of research results.

The drill core archive in Hof currently holds around 80 km of drill core, 25,000 flush samples and 250 pallets of soil samples. The boreholes can be searched online by anyone in the "UmweltAtlas Bayern" (see "Further links"). This archive also houses a collection of samples from mining law proceedings and pedological projects for the purpose of preserving evidence as well as a natural stone collection to document former or still active extraction sites. Of increasing interest is also the soil sample bank with almost 65,000 samples to document the current state of soils in Bavaria.

Personal pre-registration

Depending on the scope of the service used (according to the environmental fee schedule).

  • Geological information and data; retrieval

    The State Office for the Environment carries out the state geological survey by means of its own geological investigations and on the basis of geological investigations by third parties and ensures that the data is made available to the public.

  • Geological survey; display
    Before starting a geological survey in Bavaria, the State Office for the Environment must be notified and the data obtained must be submitted after completion of the work.
  • Geotope register; geotope research
    The Bavarian State Office for the Environment (LfU) records important geotopes throughout Bavaria, assesses their worthiness of protection and, if necessary, initiates suitable protection, conservation and maintenance measures.
  • Rocks and soils; carrying out laboratory tests

    The State Office for the Environment carries out chemical and physical laboratory tests on rocks and soils. At the Raw Materials Analysis Center, solid and loose rocks are examined with regard to their suitability as raw materials.

Status: 23.05.2025
Editorially responsible for prodecure description: Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz
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