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CLAY
In the
course of a lifetime every human being consumes about 29 tons of
clay. The enormous importance of clay as raw material is caused by
its versatile ways of being used: above all clay is being used in
ceramic industry as well as in refractory industry, beside that it
is important for construction industry (Pembauer), for various
branches of technology (insulation, catalysts, rinser etc.), for
environment engineering (building of disposal sites), horticulture
(additive to the soil), for medical engineering (dental implants,
bone substitutes) and for chemical, pharmaceutical and food
industry (filler).
Clay as a
raw material belongs to the so-called shapeable ceramic resources,
which give ceramic materials its characteristic plasticity and
processability. On the other hand so-called non-shapeable ceramic
recources ( e. g. Quartz, feldspar), used as additives, define the
burning properties of ceramic materials.
From a
petrological point of view sediments are being considered as clay,
when the predominant components show a grain-size of less than 2µm
(2 thousandth millimeter). Mineralogically, clay mainly consists of
clay- and mica-minerals and smaller parts of finer-grained quartz,
feldspar and partially even carbonates, sulfates, sulfides,
iron-hydroxin and organic substances.
Clay is
being deposited in stagnant water zones, either in freshwater
(„limnic clay“ in lakes, flooding-areas and old arms of
rivers) or in the ocean („marine clay“). Depending on
the mineral deposits or the mineral features there are different
kinds of clay, e. g. Illitic-kaolinitic and smekitic (betonitic)
clay (see below).
You can find
clay-deposits all over Germany. The regional deposits differ by
their specific quality of clay. Depending on the constitution and
composition particular kinds of clay can be used for different
means.
The largest
clay-deposits in Germany are situated in the area of the
Westerwald. Surrounded by the rivers Rhine, Lahn, Dill and Sieg the
Westerwald is home to the most important clay-terrritory in the
European Community. The deposits cover an area of 50 to 60 km
between Höhr-Grenzhausen in the south-west to Haiger in the
north.
Clay-layers
in a single clay-trough can extend to a size of 15 to 70 meters.
But usually the clay is overlapped by layers of spoil, which in
worst case can reach a size of up to 40 meters. These layers can,
for instance, consist of mud, pebbles, sand or even basalt. Before
the open-pit mining of the clay can be run, the spoil has to be
cleared away largely and must be stored until the mine has been
recultivated.
After the
clay has been extracted, usually the aim is to fill and recultivate
the former areas of mining so that it can be used for the purpose
it had been used before, mainly agriculture and forestry. In the
course of that the typical elements of the regions landscape should
be restored; oftenly in some parts of the area stagnant water zones
are built. Mines that are located close to villages or situated in
densely populated regions are often used as trade- or
building-areals.
When the
recultivation of a mine is planned, there are many aspects of
nature conservancy that must be considered, such as ecological
improvement that has to be realised for some parts of the area. On
the sites of clay-extraction there are usually extreme ecological
conditions, for example a lack of water, moisture and temporary or
permantent stagnant waters, dense soil and strong warming of the
surface by sunlight.
In a very
small and restricted area there is a huge diversity of all kinds of
living spaces. Extreme sites like this have a very important
meaning for nature conservancy, because they provide appropriate
living conditions for specialized species. This is why you can find
a very high number of diverse species in former mine-areas that
have been renatured under optimal conditions. Typical inhabitants
of former sites of extraction are amphibians like frog, newt or
salamander.
At the
coordinates mentioned above you find yourself in front of the
museum of clay mining Westerwald
(http://www.tonbergbaumuseum.de)..
Here you can
retrace the almost unknown history of clay mining from a
bell-shaped shaft to today´s high-tech open-cast mining. The modern
museum-pavilion illustrates the developement from the geological
formation of clay repositories to the recultivation of the
acreage.
The
current exposition is structured as follows:
- Geology of clay
repositories: Geological formation with maps for exploration
(geological specificities are presented to the visitor on the basis
of maps and photographies)
- Clay mining in ancient
times (the historical developement from a bell-shaped shaft to
high-tech open-cast mining which can be visited
nearby)
- Subsequent use of open-cast
mining (recultivation) described by the example of the former mine
„Straubinger“ near the village of
Moschheim
- Outdoor-area with numerous
exhibits around the machinery of a clay pit
- Museum-train (particularly
interesting for the little ones!)
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