Lusatian Lakeland

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The Lusatian Lakeland and its surroundings
Section of the chain of lakes

The Lusatian Lakeland ( Lower Sorbian Łužyska jazorina , Upper Sorbian Łužiska jězorina ) is an artificially created lake area in Lusatia . By the end of the 2020s, Europe's largest artificial water landscape and Germany's fourth largest lake area will be created by the flooding of closed lignite opencast mines in the Lusatian lignite miningTemplate: future / in 5 years area.

geography

The Lusatian Lakeland is located in Lusatia in a triangle between Luckau in Brandenburg in the northwest, the Cottbus area in the northeast and Görlitz in Saxony in the southeast. The total extension of Europe's largest artificial lake district in the future is around 80 kilometers from west to east and between 32 and 40 kilometers from north to south (depending on the delimitation). However, the distribution of water bodies in this area is quite different and the new ones will merge with other, older water landscapes in this area in the future. Often the term “Lausitzer Seenland” only refers to the lakes that were created due to surface coal mining in the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century through flooding, especially of remaining open pit holes. These lakes are mainly located in a strip along the Lusatian towns of Senftenberg and Hoyerswerda, a little less in the area between Luckau, Lübbenau and Calau, northeast of Cottbus and between Finsterwalde and Lauchhammer . With the re-planning of the Taubendorfer See , Guben will form the north-eastern border of the lake district. Apart from these core zones there are a few artificial lakes, such as B. the Altdöberner See , the Halbendorfer See , the Quitzdorf dam or the Berzdorfer See , the latter marking the already quite remote end of the lake district near Görlitz. This end could grow even further, depending on how the Turow opencast mine near Zittau is dealt with.

To distinguish between lakes, it is advisable to use the terms lakeland and chain of lakes, the Lusatian chain of lakes denoting the bodies of water that are connected to one another by navigable canals. You are in the center of Lausitz between Senftenberg and Hoyerswerda .

Felixsee in the Muskau fold arch

In addition to the often large opencast mining holes, there are many other bodies of water in the entire area. The Upper Lusatian Heath and Pond Landscape Biosphere Reserve joins the central lake band near Hoyerswerda to the south of this city and to the southeast of the Bärwalder See . Its waters, especially ponds, generally have no open-pit mining background and are mostly older; they are mostly used for fish farming. With increasing duration and renaturation, the flooded opencast mine holes will often only differ superficially and visually from the ponds in their surroundings by their size and will structurally grow together with the pond landscape. There are also many ponds of the Muskau folds north of the Bärwalder See between Weißwasser and Bad Muskau . These ponds, too, generally have no open-pit mining background and are often unused ponds in the middle of the pine forest. The two areas will, however, structurally merge into one another due to the planned follow-up lakes of the Nochten opencast mine and the existing artificial lakes such as the Halbendorfer See, thanks to their increasing renaturation.

Only between Forst and Bad Muskau, between Rothenburg and Görlitz and between Vetschau and Finsterwalde are very few or no bodies of water.

In the far north, the Spreewald natural water area adjoins the lake district. Since the Spreewald hardly contains any lakes or ponds, it no longer belongs to the lake district. The two rooms are connected by the Spree, which supplies both areas with water, and the immediate vicinity.

Emergence

The resulting quarry ponds , here the Großräschener See near Großräschen in 2007

The new lake district is largely created from residual holes from former open-cast lignite mines. These are flooded and converted into lakes. Some of the emerging lakes have already reached their final water level, others will not be completely flooded for a few years.

The coal-free shore zones of the lakes

At present, extensive renovation and recultivation measures are still being carried out by the LMBV on some opencast mining lakes, their bank areas and the surrounding area . When the lake water comes into contact with overburden containing pyrite , sulfuric acid is formed in the lake water through chemical processes, which must be neutralized by lime. After completing all the work, the goal is to achieve the water quality of the natured Senftenberger See lake, which is used by those seeking relaxation.

Other lakes are artificially dammed lakes. While the Quitzdorf dam was created in order to be able to provide enough service water for the Boxberg power plant, the Spremberg dam was primarily designed for flood protection in the lake district, but was also used for service water for power plants. The Bautzen dam was also artificially created in order to be able to continuously supply the Boxberg power plant with water. However, it is located a little away from the core areas of the large open-cast mining holes, but is the last standing water in the south before the significantly different natural area on the border with the actual Lusatia, characterized by ever increasing mountains.

The ponds of the Upper Lusatian Heath and Pond Landscape Biosphere Reserve, which are also located in the Lake District , were created partly in the Middle Ages, but also during the GDR period for agricultural reasons, when the moorland was restructured and made usable. These very shallow waters are mostly used for fish farming.

The ponds of the Muskau arch are also located between the large open-cast mine holes. They arose from faults in the terminal moraine of glaciers from the Ice Age, also partly through the mining of raw materials such as sand, clay and coal even before industrialization. In general, these ponds are not created deliberately by humans, but rather filled with water due to the lack of drains.

Creation of the lakes

The Geierswalder See east of Senftenberg
The Poleysee south of Sallgast

In the center of the Lusatian Lakeland the connection of nine lakes with navigable canals creates the Lusatian chain of lakes, which, with around 7,000 hectares of water, is said to be of particular importance for the tourist development of Lower Lusatia. The plan is to turn the lake landscape into a nationally significant water landscape with an attractive sporting character. For this purpose, extensive investments in the infrastructure are necessary: ​​construction of beaches, yacht harbors ( marinas ), bases for water skiing , jet skiing , camping, gastronomy, etc.

The first projects are currently being implemented. A water ski facility, a sports boat harbor and a marina with floating houses are currently being built on Lake Geierswalder . A special feature will be the sea ​​airfield on the northern bank of Lake Sedlitz .

At Bärwalder See , which after its completion will be the largest lake in Saxony in terms of area, a sport boat harbor was opened on the southern shore of the lake in 2008. Further marinas are already available on the west and northeast banks.

The individual lakes were connected with bridges to enable faster flooding. The first completed bridge was the Barbara Canal in December 2003 , which connected Geierswalder and Partwitzer See. Sornoer and Rosendorfer Kanal followed in January 2006 . The bridges are navigable for use in water sports and water tourism. The navigability refers to the Lausitz measurement vessel with the dimensions 28.5 m length, 5.2 m width, 3.3 m height and 1.5 m draft.

Lakes

The accessible tower Rostiger Nagel is reminiscent of the machine-designed landscape

The following lakes belong to the future Lusatian Lakeland or are in the vicinity.

In addition to the German and possibly Sorbian names of the lakes, the names of the opencast mines from which they are or have already arisen are given (marked in brackets with Tgb. ). In addition, the water area is given in hectares and the year of (planned) completion.

Northern Lakes (all in Brandenburg)

Middle lakes

The middle area is at the same time the core of the Lusatian Lakeland and lies across borders in Brandenburg and Saxony. Therefore, the federal state is given here in brackets. The lakes within and the lakes outside of the Lusatian chain of lakes follow, subdivided again.

Lusatian chain of lakes

IBA terraces on the emerging Großräschener See

The lakes are connected by navigable canals and are located directly to the east on the A 13 between Großräschen , Senftenberg and Hoyerswerda.

Other lakes

Some of these bodies of water, which are also located in the central area of ​​the Lusatian Lakeland, are flooded gravel pits , but some have been used by tourists for over half a century and as bathing lakes by the local population. At Tornoer Teich (popularly also known as Torn'scher Teich) in the Lauta district of Torno, there is a lido and a leisure facility with mini golf , a beach volleyball court and a snack bar. There is also a holiday home complex at the Ziegelteich in Bröthen-Michalken (district of Hoyerswerda).

Southern Lakes (all in Saxony)

The Berzdorf lake near Görlitz
Disk lake near Hoyerswerda in flooding in August 2005

See also

literature

  • Torsten Richter: Lausitzer Seenland - A water paradise in the making , Agrimedia, Edition Limosa, Clenze 2008, ISBN 978-3-86037-341-5 .
  • Florian Diesing, Sebastian Weiß (eds.): Seenland Leipzig & Lausitz: The travel magazine for holidays on the water , SD Media Services, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-9812026-7-0 .

Web links

Coordinates: 51 ° 31 ′ 0 ″  N , 14 ° 12 ′ 0 ″  E

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Journal November 2012, [1] (PDF; 389 kB). Zweckverband Lausitzer Seenland Brandenburg, accessed on January 13, 2013
  2. ↑ Lusatian lake landscape (accessed on March 15, 2015)