Tar lake

Highly toxic industrial waste from lignite mining and the production of coke and gas was stored in tar lakes . Most of the waste consisted of tar .

Tar and phenol accumulation in the topsoil in the area of ​​the former BV Espenhain. Photo taken during renovation work in 2002

Tar lakes were located in Rositz (Thuringia), in the area of ​​the former Magdeburg gas works (Saxony-Anhalt), the Schwarze Pump gas combine (Brandenburg) and in the area of ​​the former lignite refining plant Espenhain (Saxony). In today's Duisburg-Nord landscape park , there was also a smaller, now renovated, contaminated site on the former site of the Thyssen IV / VIII mine in Duisburg-Meiderich. The State Development Corporation NRW GmbH began in 2001 on the basis of a binding recovery plan pursuant to § 13 BBodSchG with the work of Sealing of contaminated sites on the grounds of a former railway triangle. A security structure was completed after minor setbacks. The plant has to be monitored forever, since in the 1970s benzene, cyanide , mercury , heavy metals and acid resins were dumped in tank trucks . With sheet pile walls, piles driven into the ground to a depth of 35 meters and a concrete cover, groundwater flows are to be secured. Teersee shaft 4/8 was encapsulated. Open, unsecured tar lakes pose a serious threat to groundwater, soil and air, and a. by benzene and other hydrocarbons .

The renovation often costs tens of millions.

Natural asphalt lake

• In contrast to the tar lakes, the asphalt lake on the island of Trinidad is a natural bitumen deposit .

See also

• The Syncrude tailings pond is one of the numerous settling basins for the wastewater that occurs when bitumen is extracted from the Canadian Athabasca oil sands .
• Tailings

Web links

• Sachsen-Anhalt.de
• Rositz Health Study ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord: Renovation of Teersee, Emscher-Landschaftspark project database , accessed on July 14, 2013.
2. ↑ Announcement template Teersee Schacht 4/8 ( Memento of the original from April 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Ratsinformationssystem Duisburg, February 24, 2004, accessed July 14, 2013. 
3. ↑ The tar lake is under the hood, WAZ , August 3, 2007, accessed July 14, 2013.
4. ↑ OTZ: Costs of 70 million euros: Rositz tar lake renovated after 14 years .