Basaltsteinbrüche Hühnerberg und Eudenberg / Tongrube Eudenbach, Conservation area and quarry site in Königswinter and Hennef, Germany.
The Basalt Quarries Hühnerberg and Eudenberg along with Eudenbach Clay Pit form a protected zone of around 144 hectares with extraction areas, water bodies, and small lakes spread across two separate locations. The land is actively worked for resource extraction while serving as a nature conservation area.
Mining activity started here in the late 1800s as several small quarries opened in the area. A major turning point came in 1976 when separate operations merged into a single larger enterprise.
The area reveals how local industry shaped the land through resource extraction over many generations. Today these working sites have become habitats where rare amphibians coexist with ongoing human activity.
Access to the site is limited because active extraction and regular blasting operations take place here. Visitors should check which areas are accessible and what safety rules apply.
The Hühnerberg quarry supplied the lunar dust simulant used in the LUNA Analog Facility, a test site for Moon missions. Blasting now yields about 30,000 tonnes of basalt once a week, using 40 kilograms of explosive per blast instead of the tonnes once needed.
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