Morassina
The Morassina is a former vitriol mine in forging (Lichtetal ) in ( Thuringia).
Today, there is a mine with many stalactites of impressive colors and shapes, which due to its uniqueness even entered in the Guinness Book of World Records 1996.
Formation of stalactites
The growth rate of speleothems is probably a thousand times the stalactite growth in Karbonatkarst. This is due to the material of the stalactites, the relatively soft substance Diadochite or mountain butter, an iron ( III) -hydroxy- phosphate - sulfate hydrate.
The mine is located in Silurian alum slate and pebbles. The dissolution process is bound to the part Microbially induced oxidative processes, that is, the oxidation with oxygen in the groundwater only leads to the formation of water-soluble substances, which are then transported away. In the pit different minerals according to the hydrochemical conditions are precipitated. There are basically sulfides, oxides, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, vanadates, arsenates, and silicates. Since this is very different substances with different colors, the stalactites have an unusual coloring.
History
The pit in " sulfur hole" was first mentioned in connection with the production of alum, iron and sulphate of copper and sulfur and earth colors in the year 1683. 1717 a first change of ownership was. The merchant Johann Leonard Morassi took over the mine and called it Morassina. In 1750 the mine was sold to the buying and trading house Frege from Leipzig. They compared the Frege because of their tenure with the Fuggers in Augsburg and the Rothschilds in Frankfurt am Main. Frege developed his mines to market leaders in Thuringia and Franconia. After one could produce cheaper chemical means around 1850 alum and Vitriolprodukte that Frege's mines quickly came to a halt. 1863 provided the Vitriolwerk Morassina the last products of the customers.
The inputs to the cavity system as the entire mine were forgotten. As 1951 miners of Wismut in search of uranium inputs aufwältigten to the cavity system, they found not a fissionable material, but stalactites and limestone formations which looked far and wide their peers and were even then regarded as particularly noteworthy. Due to the proximity to the former inner-German border, the East German authorities prevented the fitting-out of a portion of the cavities as a show mine. Only in 1989 did the Council of the District Suhl, Department of Geology green light. In 1993, the Mine Morassina was opened. It is considered, along with its underground sanatorium, the "Santa Barbara " healing cave, and its mining museum as a conglomerate of education, research, recreation and relaxation.
While it was people such as Alexander von Humboldt, August Breithaupt, or publisher of the first Konversationslexikon, Joseph Meyer from Gotha, who cared for the reputation of forging fields mining region, so it is the scientist Manfred Wolf, Dieter Wolf, G. Walter, Bernd Ullrich today and Reinhard Gaupp, the new scientific evidence provided in relation to the Mine Morassina.
The Santa Barbara - tunnel is used as a healing cave to cave speleo or therapy as side-effect free alternative or complement to conventional medicine for respiratory diseases such as asthma and bronchitis, as well as in skin disorders and allergies. The Morassina is member of the German Association of healing cave. The offer is supplemented since 2011 by the Morassina health center with a designed according to the latest medical and curative therapeutic insights sauna and Kneipp area.