Bitterfeld amber

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Bitterfeld amber, frequency of the most important types of amber
Bitterfeld amber deposit, Saxon amber river and amber forest

As Bitterfelder Bernstein a is amber deposits referred to, which in the open pit Goitsche ( Bitterfelder coal mining area, Saxony-indication ) by the reduction of the brown coal was exposed and could be characterized used temporarily by mining. This amber deposit is the second largest amber deposit in the world. After the cessation of lignite mining in 1991, renovation work began, and when the open pit mine began to be flooded, amber mining had to cease in 1993. Together with the former opencast mines of Seelhausen and Holzweißig to the south-east and south , this area is called the "Goitzsche redevelopment area"; it was a reference location for the EXPO 2000 world exhibition . The remaining hole in the Goitsche opencast mine is now called the Großer Goitzschesee . The northernmost part of this open pit lake with the remainder of the amber deposit is now generally known as the "amber lake".

Discovery of the amber deposits in the Bitterfeld area

It is possible that amber was found near Bad Schmiedeberg , east of Bitterfeld, as early as the 17th century . A detailed description of the amber deposits in Bad Schmiedeberg was given by Johann Friedrich Henkel . After further individual finds in the former Golpa opencast mine, the first finds from the Goitsche opencast mine were reported in 1957 from construction site I south of the former location of Niemegk . However, the amber found was erroneously referred to as retinite . It was not until 1974 that the area of ​​the amber deposit was cut again, the exposed amber-bearing layers could be examined more closely, and extraction began as early as 1975. The discovery of the amber deposit led to an intensive search in the entire Bitterfeld-Leipzig area. A large number of individual records and another large occurrence in the Breitenfeld open-cast mine are of the same age as the Bitterfeld deposit, see image below. In addition, amber was found in much older layers, both in the intermediate middle of the Gröbers seam (lower Oligocene ) and in the silt immediately below the Bruckdorf seam (upper Eocene ), i.e. about the same age as the Baltic amber deposit in Samland . Use is out of the question, however, because they could only be extracted in connection with lignite mining, which was discontinued in the entire area after 1990.

Formation of the amber deposit

The amber-bearing strata of the Upper Oligocene and the Lower Miocene , which was exposed by lignite mining in the Goitsche opencast mine over an area of ​​5 km² and up to 10 m thick , was extensively explored . The sequence of layers is underlain by the “Bitterfeld Glimmersand” and overlaid by the “Bitterfeld Main Seam”. Amber contains the upper lagoon "Friedersdorf layers" and the basal "Zöckeritz horizon", in between the thin, embedded indigenous Goitsche brown coal seam and several meters thick sand. The spread of the sequence of layers is closely related to the structures of the base area of ​​the Bitterfeld main seam, the so-called "lying ridges". Two lying ridges that strike SW-NE are spits that were piled up from southwest to northeast when the sea level was high; they form an age sequence from southeast to northwest. The stored Goitsche seam shows a sea level fluctuation of around 15 m during the formation of the deposit. The recumbent ridges in the entire Leipzig-Bitterfeld area and the internal structure of the Upper Oligocene Bitterfeld mica sand are similar to those of the Bitterfeld deposit. Embedded autochthonous lignite seams show a eustatic sea level fluctuation of 15 to 20 m at least ten times . The sediments and amber were supplied by a river flowing into the bay, the so-called “Saxon Amber River”. Other authors have developed different genetic ideas. This applies above all to the genesis of the prone backs in the area between Bitterfeld and Leipzig. According to this idea, they are supposed to be dunes on a river delta heaped up by a flowing river . In addition, there are contradicting views on the complicated storage conditions of the amber deposit and for a long time the origin of the amber was also controversial.

Before the amber deposit became known, it appeared certain that the individual finds in the Bitterfeld area must be relocated Baltic amber. This notion was even strengthened among paleontologists after the massive accumulation of amber, because some of the animal groups found as inclusions in amber are identical to those in Baltic amber. In the meantime, it is certain that the Bitterfeld amber is not relocated Baltic amber, but the discussion about this has continued even among geologists until recently.

fauna

The Bitterfeld succinite is known for its particular richness in animal inclusions. However, this is certainly due to the fortunate circumstance that from all the inclusions arising from the amber processing, the scientifically valuable pieces could be selected and added to the museum collection in the Museum für Naturkunde (Berlin) . This made it possible to put together a rich collection within a few years. Schumann & Wendt gave a number of more than 10,000 pieces and listed finds from more than 150 families , including at least 22 new species. It is estimated that one ton of succinite from the Bitterfeld deposit contains around 4,500 animal inclusions. Günter and Brigitte Krumbiegel have published a compilation of the animal and plant organisms found in Bitterfeld amber and in other amber deposits .

The amber forest

The amber can only have been formed in a forest. After the reconstruction of the paleogeographical conditions, the forest with the resin-producing trees most likely stood in a river valley west of Leipzig. Other authors suspect that the place of education was a swamp forest on the river delta raised by the river. The substantial identity of the dominant amber type in Bitterfeld, succinite, see picture above, with the Baltic succinite has been confirmed in particular by the same properties when processing into amber jewelry and very early on by infrared spectroscopic investigations. By Sorg & cancer but were fixed by pyrolysis - gas chromatography differences between Bitterfeld and the Baltic succinite found. During the technical clarification of succinite, different behavior at higher temperatures was reported. These differences have not yet been investigated further. It is possible that the plant of origin of succinite is not a single species , but a genus . The succinite producer has still not been found. For a long time, the assumption of ancestry from the conifer Pinus succinifera (GÖPPERT 1845) CONWENTZ 1890 dominated, in more recent times Araucarien as well as Cedrus and Pseudolarix have been considered. According to observations on the Bitterfeld succinite, the initial resin was not hydrophobic like the recent coniferous resins, but rather had the consistency of a latex-like emulsion. In addition to the dominant succinite, a further 19 types of amber have so far become known from the Bitterfeld deposit, of which glessite , Gedanite , Beckerite and Stantienite are already known from Baltic amber. The goitschite , durglessite , bitterfeldite , pseudostantienite and 11 fossil resins that have not yet been identified by name are new , see the picture gallery.

Mining and processing

By discovering the amber deposit and using it as quickly as possible, the then VEB Ostseeschmuck Ribnitz-Damgarten was freed from its predicament. Deliveries of raw amber from the Soviet Union , from the Jantarny open-cast amber mine , had declined so much that the production of amber jewelry was at risk. The announcement of the discovery of the amber deposit in May 1974 triggered hectic activity and, uncharacteristically for the clumsy planned economy, evidence of the mining was already available one year later. Improvisation had to be continued so that by 1975 more than a ton of raw amber was available for processing. As described by other authors, on the basis of the methods developed during geological exploration between 1976 and 1980, a pilot plant and two further processing plants for the extraction of the amber were set up on the open pit mine. A total of 408 tons of raw amber were extracted, the maximum annual output was 50 tons. The mining was carried out as a by-product of lignite mining by the VEB Braunkohlenkombinat Bitterfeld (BKK). The amber was processed into jewelry in what was then VEB Ostseeschmuck (successor company: Ostsee-Schmuck GmbH) in Ribnitz-Damgarten . With the beginning of the flooding of the redeveloped opencast mine in 1993, the amber extraction was stopped. In 1991, 950 tons of minable amber were still in the books as geological remnants. Due to the flattening of the end slopes, considerable amounts were blocked, so that only 700 tons in the 25 m deep water of the remaining hole are available for mining. Whether it is possible to resume extraction is currently (as of 2015) being investigated.

swell

  • Jason A. Dunlop: Bitterfeld Amber. Chapter 4 in David Penney (Ed.): Biodiversity of Fossils in Amber from the Major World Deposits . Siri Scientific Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-9558636-4-6

Web links

Commons : Bitterfelder Bernstein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerhard Liehmann (ed.): Chronicle of lignite mining in the Bitterfeld district: Technology and cultural history in two centuries . Bitterfeld miners e. V., Bitterfeld 1998, 1st edition, 414 pages.
  2. ↑ Barbara Kosmowska-Ceranowicz, Günter Krumbiegel: Geology and history of Bitterfeld amber and other fossil resins . In: Hallesches Jahrbuch für Geoswissenschaften , Volume 14, Gotha 1989, pages 1-25.
  3. ↑ Ivo Rappsilber: New facts on the discovery of Bitterfeld amber . In: Excursion guide and publications of the German Society for Geosciences , Issue 249, Hanover 2013, pages 16–23.
  4. ^ Johann Friedrich Henkel: From the dug amber in the Electorate of Saxony . In: Kleine Minerologische und Chymische Schrifften , Dresden and Leipzig 1744, pages 539-553 (online) .
  5. ↑ Otto von Linstow: The geological conditions of Bitterfeld and the surrounding area (carbon, porphyry, kaolinization process, tertiary, quaternary) . In: New yearbook for mineralogy, geology and palaeontology , 33rd supplement, Stuttgart 1912, pages 754-830.
  6. ↑ G. Hasenknopf, W. Fuchs, W. Gothan: About fossil resins from the Golpa mine near Bitterfeld . In: Brown coal - magazine for extraction and utilization of brown coal , Volume 32, Issue 19, Halle / Saale 1933, pages 309-315 and 326-329.
  7. ↑ Manfred Süß: Fine stratigraphic investigations for the interpretation of the seam genesis in the area of ​​the opencast mines Goitsche, Holzweißig, "Freiheit" I and "Freiheit" IV of the Bitterfeld district . In: Freiberger Forschungsheft , Series C, No. 37, Berlin 1957, pages 109-182.
  8. ↑ a b c Roland Fuhrmann: Origin, discovery and exploration of the Bitterfeld amber deposit . In: Excursion guides and publications of the Society for Geosciences e. V. , Issue 224, Berlin 2004, pages 25-37 PDF .
  9. ↑ Roland Fuhrmann: The Bitterfeld amber deposit, just one highlight of the occurrence of amber (succinite) in the Tertiary of Central Germany . In: Journal of the German Society for Geosciences , Volume 156, Issue 4, Stuttgart 2005, pages 517-530 (online) .
  10. ↑ Roland Fuhrmann: The bitter fields amber - its origin and genesis . In: Mauritiana , Volume 20, Issue 2, Altenburg 2008, ISSN  0233-173X , pages 207-228 PDF .
  11. ↑ Roland Wimmer, Gerda Standke, Horst Blumenstengel, Frank W. Junge, Jochen Rascher: Old and new on the geology of the Bitterfeld region. In: Excursion guides and publications of the Society for Geosciences e. V. , Issue 224, Berlin 2004, pages 12-16.
  12. ↑ Roland Wimmer, Lothar Pester, Lothar Eißmann : The amber-leading tertiary between Leipzig and Bitterfeld . In: Mauritiana , Volume 19, Issue 3, Altenburg 2006, ISSN  0233-173X , pages 373-421.
  13. ↑ Gerda Standke, Roland Wimmer, Jochen Rascher: On the geology in the Bitterfeld area . In: Bitterfelder Heimatblätter , special issue 2007, Bitterfeld 2007, ISSN  0232-8585 , pages 5–20.
  14. ↑ Wolfgang Weitschat: On the age of the "Bitterfeld amber" . In: Arbeitskreis Paläontologie Hannover , Volume 25, Issue 6, Hannover 1997, pages 175-184 (online) .
  15. ↑ Wolfgang Weitschat: Bitter fields and Baltic amber from a paleoclimatic and paleontological point of view . In: Excursion guides and publications of the German Society for Geosciences , Issue 236, Hanover 2008, pages 88–97.
  16. ↑ Gerda Standke: Bitterfeld amber equals Baltic amber? - A geological space-time consideration and genetic conclusions . In: Excursion guide and publications of the German Society for Geosciences , Issue 236, Hanover 2008, pages 11–33.
  17. ↑ Hubert Schumann, Hella Wendt: On the knowledge of the animal inclusions of Saxon amber . In: Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift NF , Volume 36, Issue 1/3, Weinheim 1989, pages 33-44.
  18. ↑ Hubert Schumann, Hella Wendt: Inclusions in amber and their scientific significance . In: Scientific journal of the Humboldt University of Berlin, Mathematics / Natural Sciences series , Volume 38, Issue 4, Berlin 1989, pages 398–406.
  19. ↑ a b Roland Fuhrmann: The bitterfield amber species. In: Mauritiana , Volume 21, Altenburg 2010, ISSN  0233-173X , pages 13-58 PDF .
  20. ↑ Günter Krumbiegel, Brigitte Krumbiegel: Plant and animal organisms in amber - biological indicators of geological history . In: Michael Ganzelewski, Rainer Slotta (ed.): Bernstein - Tränen der Götter , Bochum 1996, pages 47-58.
  21. ^ Roland Fuhrmann: The amber forest in Tertiary Central Germany - alluvial forest versus swamp forest . In: Mauritiana , Volume 22, Altenburg 2011, ISSN  0233-173X , pages 61-76.
  22. ↑ Roland Wimmer, Lothar Pester, Lothar Eißmann: Geology of the Bitterfeld amber deposit taking into account new findings . In: Excursion guide and publications of the German Society for Geosciences , Issue 236, Hanover 2008, pages 34–45.
  23. ↑ M. Sorg, B. Krebs: On the application of pyrolysis gas chromatography to comparative chemical studies of fossil resins . In: Journal for Applied Geology , Volume 32, Issue 3, Berlin 1986, pages 76-77.
  24. ^ Hugo Wilhelm Conwentz: Monograph of the Baltic amber trees . Danzig 1890, 151 pages, 18 plates (online) .
  25. ^ JH Langenheim: Amber: A Botanical Inquiry. In: Science, Vol. 163, No. 3862, Washington 1969, pages 1157-1169.
  26. ↑ Christoph Lühr: Characterization and classification of fossil resins . Dissertation, Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Duisburg-Essen, 243 pages, Duisburg 2004 (online) .
  27. ^ Roland Fuhrmann, Rolf Borsdorf: The amber types of the Lower Miocene of Bitterfeld. In: Journal for Applied Geology , Volume 32, Berlin 1986, pages 309-316, PDF .
  28. ↑ Gerhard Liehmann: The lignite mining Goitsche near Bitterfeld and amber extraction . In: Michael Ganzelewski, Rainer Slotta (ed.): Bernstein - Tränen der Götter , Bochum 1996, pages 101-114.
  29. ↑ Gisela Ziegler, Gerhard Liehmann: recovery and recycling of Bitterfeld amber . In: Bitterfelder Heimatblätter , special issue 2007, Bitterfeld 2007, ISSN  0232-8585 , pages 33-42.
  30. ^ Gold rush mood on the Goitzsche: Bernstein in Bitterfeld. Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, March 19, 2015, accessed April 1, 2017 .
  31. ^ Saxony-Anhalt: Amber rush in Bitterfeld. Deutschlandfunk, April 27, 2015, accessed April 1, 2017 .