Haselgebirge

The Haselgebirge is a composite rock composed of clay minerals, sandstone, anhydrite, rock salt and addition salts. The rock salt content varies between 10% and 70 %, so it is broken down into its occurrence areas for a long time. The best known deposits are located in the Northern Limestone Alps, others are linked to the rise of salt domes in Northern Germany salt and clay mixtures.

Term

" Haselgebirge " is an old expression that was used by miners for a mixture of rock salt, gypsum and clay, which is cemented into a breccia. Originally based only on this rock- like material designation was extended in the course of geological research on all such rock deposits and their host rocks, such as in the Eastern Alps. They called in the Eastern Alps today no single rock more, but a sedimentary and tectonic facies.

Emergence of the Eastern Alpine hazel Mountains

The training took place in the Late Permian to Skythium in shallow lagoons and endorheic sedimentary basins that formed in tectonic trenches. Short-term inflow of salty sea water from the Tethys and subsequent evaporation of the water led to the formation of evaporites in the central grave area, which were lined with sabkhas, salt clay - sandy plains and alluvial fans of the adjacent grave shoulders. This environment was hostile to life, so that fossils are missing up to isolated spores.

After their formation and coverage by younger sediments, the sediments were subject to strong leaching and salt tectonics that began to blur the original sub-parallel stratification of the sediments. Due to the strong overprint in the tectonic processes during the alpidischen orogeny and the folding of the Alps and most of the remaining stratification was lost, exacerbated by the proximity of the rocks to the base thrust of the Northern Limestone Alps and the low resistiveness of salt to tectonic forces. The rocks involved are therefore rolled heavily fractured ( brecciated ) and, in addition scattered areas of original layering fragments of dolomite and travertine. It formed a by halite cemented plastic debris rocks, a sandy, gray to greenish salt clay with inclusions of anhydrite, halite and dolomite.

Occurrence

The Haselgebirge forms the bulk of the Eastern Alpine salt deposits. In Altaussee, Bad Ischl, Hallstatt and Berchtesgaden salt mines are at the beginning of the 21st century still in operation. The establishments in Hallein and Hall in Tirol are decommissioned.

In northern Germany the Haselgebirge is similar in the Eastern Alps through the rise of salt in Salzdiapiren from great depths (2000 - 5000 m) strongly -mixed rock. The parent rock of the North German hazel Mountains form salt rocks of the Upper Permian ( Zechstein ), which consist of up to 15 layers of rock salt, the exchange store with red mudstone and sandstone packages. The distribution of the North German hazel mountain diapirs are restricted to the southern Schleswig -Holstein, the extended lower Elbe region, West Mecklenburg, East Frisia and the German Bight.

Reduction

The alpine salt deposits are leached using water that in artificially created cavities - is introduced - Laugwerke or above ground holes. This process produces one hand, an aqueous salt solution, brine, on the other hand decrease the water-insoluble components of the hazel Mountains, the laist, to the bottom of Laugwerks. The evaporation of the water content of the brine in Pfannhaus the saline will eventually won.