Amsdorf opencast mine
| Amsdorf opencast mine | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| General information about the mine | |||
 |
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| Mining technology | Open pit | ||
| Overburden | approx.5,000,000 t | ||
| Funding / year | 450,000–500,000 t | ||
| Information about the mining company | |||
| Operating company | ROMONTA GmbH | ||
| Start of operation | 1958 | ||
| Funded raw materials | |||
| Degradation of | Bitumen-rich lignite / bitumen-rich lignite | ||
| Bitumen-rich brown coal | |||
| Seam I | |||
| Mightiness | 5 m | ||
| Bitumen-rich brown coal | |||
| Degradation of | Bitumen-rich brown coal | ||
| Seam II | |||
| Mightiness | 18 m | ||
| Geographical location | |||
| Coordinates | 51 ° 27 '10.8 " N , 11 ° 42' 28.5" E | ||
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| Location | Amsdorf | ||
| local community | Mansfelder Land lake area | ||
| country | State of Saxony-Anhalt | ||
| Country | Germany | ||
| District | Central German lignite district | ||
The Amsdorf opencast mine is an opencast mine operated by Romonta GmbH in the central German lignite mining district in Saxony-Anhalt . It was named after the village of Amsdorf in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz .
geography
The Amsdorf opencast mine is located in the east of the Mansfeld region, about 15 km west of Halle and 12 km south-east of Eisleben . The Mansfelder Land belongs to the southeastern Harz foreland . The area is characterized by two large geographic landscapes, the eastern Harz foreland to the north and the Querfurter Platte in the south. Both are separated by the Teutschenthaler Salzsattel .
Two different coal seams are extracted in the open pit. The upper coal seam (seam I) is about 5 m thick , the lower seam (seam II) about 18 m. The overburden is about 80 m thick and is removed in up to 5 overburden cuts . The overburden is fed to a conveyor spreader using conveyor belts and used to design the post-mining landscape .
A special characteristic of the Amsdorf opencast mine is that the lignite extracted there has an extraordinarily high bitumen content. The montan wax factory connected to the opencast mine currently covers around 80% of the world market demand for montan wax .
history
In the past, coal was extracted in civil engineering in Amsdorf , which was processed into montan wax in a factory in 1922. The open pit has been in operation since 1959.
Geology of the area
Regional geology
The Amsdorf district lies within the Oberröblinger lignite basin on the northeastern edge of the Querfurter Mulde . South will deposit from the outcrop of the Muschelkalk limited to the north and east of the hercynian trending Teutschenthal salt saddle. The formation of the deposit is closely linked to the migration of salts in the Teutschenthaler Sattel. This led to a lowering of the Querfurt Mulde. If the lignite bogs grew as fast as the subsoil subsided, seams formed; if the subsidence rate was greater, siliciclastic sediments were deposited. The maximum reduction amount is assumed to be 150 m in the deepest part of the trough. In this way, after a phase of clastic sedimentation, the two main seams were deposited, the older of which reached a maximum thickness of 10 m and the younger a thickness of up to 23 m. The seams are separated by clay or, in the edge areas of the subsidence area, sandy intermediate material . Above the two main seams, three thin upper seams alternate with clays, silts and sands. After the stratigraphically youngest upper seam, the 1st upper seam, had been deposited , the Rupel main transgression took place . Following a basal gravel layer , first fine sand (Rupelsand) and then clayey sediments (Rupelton) formed here. The 1st upper seam as well as the Rupel sand and the Rupelton are assigned to the Rupelium. Discordant Quaternary sediments have been deposited over the rupelium deposits . Since there are no younger Oligocene sediments, it is likely that parts of the Palaeogene sediments were worked up and eroded , reducing the thickness of the rupel.
The Amsdorf opencast mine is known among paleontologists for the rich marine macrofossil fauna of the Rupeltone. This consists mainly of carnivorous snails and mussels.
Oligocene cover layers
During the Rupelium , almost the entire north-east of Germany was a marine sedimentation area . The southern edge of this area is characterized by changing brackish - marine and terrestrial sediments . While in the Paleocene the marine sedimentation was mainly limited to the northern part of this area, the Eocene was characterized by a large estuary in the western part. The estuary's mouth funnel shifted from the Helmstedt area to the southwest in the direction of Leipzig Bay .
In the Rupelium, the entire area was flooded by the sea. The marine deposits from this period can be traced as far as southern Saxony-Anhalt. This transgression created the connection to Tethys via the Hessian Basin , the Mainz Basin and the Rhine Valley Trench . Thick, lithologically very different sediments were deposited. Due to the foraminifera content , the rupel can be divided into 4 zones. During the first, stratigraphically oldest zone, Rupel 1, the Oligocene Epicontinental Sea, also known as the North Sea in literature, was probably flat and rich in islands and mostly exhibited sandy sedimentation and relatively strong currents. This constellation was not very favorable for a species-rich fauna . In Rupel 1, species-poor fauna consisting of fish remains and agglutinants are dominant. The more species-rich fauna of the Rupel 2 suggests a deepening of the sea, the same can also be deduced from the marly deposits that are now widespread . Since these deposits are the most widespread Rupel sediments, Rupel 2 is also seen as the climax of the Oligocene transgression . The Rupel 3 is characterized by a short-term regression . The most common microfossils here, just like in Rupel 1, are sand bowls and fish scraps. In Rupel 4 the sea level rose again and thus again created more favorable conditions. As in the Rupel 2, the fauna is again rich in species and individuals.
The Amsdorf opencast mine is the only exposed occurrence of marine rupels west of Halle (Saale), which is of particular interest because of the suspected island location of the Harz Mountains and the connection to the Hessian Depression and the Mainz Basin. The discussion about the stratigraphy of the Oligocene, in particular the position of the Latdorf and the Eocene-Oligocene border, is considered to be ongoing.
Properties of coal
Amsdorf coal is particularly rich in bitumen . In open-cast mining, this is shown by light bands in the seam.
technology
In the Amsdorf opencast mine, the coal is exposed via an overburden belt operation using a bucket wheel excavator and a spreader. The coal is extracted using mobile technology.
Large devices in pre-cut operation
- Belt wagon 820 BRs 1400
- Spreader 1091 ARs-B 2500.50
- Bucket wheel excavator 1447 SRs 1200a
Accidents
The first and so far only serious accident in the pit occurred on the night of January 5th to 6th, 2014. On the southern slope of the opencast mine, the embankment slid below a spoil dump and with it the conveyor belt. People were not harmed. The open-cast mine was completely shut down until the damage was repaired and the cause was clarified by experts from the State Office for Geology and Mining . At the end of October 2014, the damaged belt spreader was repaired and overburden operations were resumed. Until the continuation of coal production on April 1, 2015, the 1,500 tons of lignite, which are required daily to maintain the raw montane wax production and power generation in the company's own power plant, had to be delivered by truck from the United Schleenhain opencast mine .
See also
- List of German lignite opencast mines
- List of active mines in Germany, section lignite opencast mines
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ How the montan wax and the location came about. ( Memento from July 19, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ H. Blumenstengel, L. Volland: Geological exploration documentation for lignite opencast mining in Amsdorf. Unpublished Ber., GLA Saxony-Anhalt, Halle (Saale) 1993.
- ↑ R. Lehmann: The geological conditions of the mine fields of A. Riebeck'schen Montanwerke. The story of a central German mining company. Publishing house F. Bruckmann, Munich 1933.
- ↑ H. Blumenstengel, M. Thomae, H. Frellstedt: Das Tertiär von Röblingen. Excursion.fu publ. GGW, 216, Berlin 2002, pp. 1-51.
- ↑ G. Standke, P. Suhr: Volcanoes-Rivers-Coastal Moors. The facies diversity on the southern edge of the North-West European Tertiary sink . Excursion A10, GEO-Berlin `98, Terra Nostra. 98/4, Berlin 1998, pp. 79-98.
- ↑ D. Spiegler: Biostratigraphy of the Rupel due to foraminifera in northern Germany. In: Geol. Yearbook. 82, Hannover 1965, pp. 447-486.
- ↑ D. Spiegler: Biostratigraphy of the Rupel due to foraminifera in northern Germany. In: Geol. Yearbook. 82, Hannover 1965, pp. 447-486.
- ↑ H. Blumenstengel, J. Welle: Der Tagebau Amsdorf. In: Terra Nostra. 96 (5), Leipzig 1996, pp. 118-126.
- ↑ J. Welle, J. Nagel: The mollusc fauna of the Magdeburg sand (Rupelium see str.) From the urban area of Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt). Part I: Bivalvia and Scaphopoda. In: Dep. U. Ber. f. Natural 26, Magdeburg 2003, pp. 33–111.
- ↑ ostkohle.de
- ^ Wolfram Bahn: Accident in Amsdorf: A giant slips. on: mz-web.de , January 7, 2014.
- ↑ Wolfram Bahn: The excavators are working again in the opencast mine. on: mz-web.de , November 7, 2014 (updated January 5, 2015)
- ^ Wolfram Bahn: landslide near Romonta in Amsdorf, restart after a mine accident. on: mz-web.de , March 31, 2015.
- ↑ Wolfram Bahn: After the mining accident near Romonta: trucks bring the coal. on: mz-web.de , January 8, 2014.