Schwermetallrasen auf Hüttenstäuben am Weinberg bei Hettstedt- Burgörner (Mansfelder Land)1: Ergebnis jahrhundertelanger Kontamination und Herausforderung für den Naturschutz

Abstract

Baumbach, H.; Volkmann, H.K.M.; Wolkersdorfer, C.: Metallicolous vegetation at soils impacted by smelter emissions at the Weinberg hill near Hettstedt-Burgörner (Mansfelder Land) – The result of decades of contamination and challenge for conservation issues. – Hercynia N.F. 40 (2007): 87–109.For almost 800 years copper shale smelting in the Mansfeld region (Sachsen-Anhalt, Central Germany) was a serious source of soil pollution through metals as well as arsenic and aluminium. A tertiary metalliferous soil site originating from decades of emissions of a copper, lead, and zinc smelter downwind of the site is described here for the first time. This site is located at the Weinberg hill in Hettstedt-Burgörner (Mansfelder Land). First damages of the vegetation at this site resulting from smelter emissions were reported in 1870. The current vegetation at the Weinberg hill is not only due to (semi-)metal contamination but also to sulphur dioxide emissions of the former Kupferkammerhütte smelter located in the north and northwest, the smelter Kupfer-Silber-Hütte with Bessemer converters located in the southwest, and the rolling mill located in the west. The total area influenced by the emissions of the smelter covers approximately 11 hectares. At the western slope the top soil is covered by a dust layer up to 25 cm with high amounts of (semi-)metals. Therefore it is characterised by extended metallicolous vegetation (Armerietum halleri), which is poor in plant species and dominated by Armeria maritima ssp. halleri, Minuartia verna ssp. hercynica, and Silene vulgaris var. humilis. Some locally extreme amounts of (semi-)metals were found in the soil surface horizon at the middle slope (14,192 mg/kg Zn, 16,019 mg/ kg Pb, 3,601 mg/kg Cu, 1,097 mg/kg As, and 293 mg/kg Cd). The Weinberg hill is the largest area with metalliferous vegetation in the Mansfeld region known to date. We propose to protect this area to allow long-term observations of regeneration processes in biocenoses at (semi-)metal-contaminated sites.