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| In Deutsch |
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| In Deutsch |
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| Image: entrance. |
| Location: |
In Bad Grund, 10km north of Osterode. A7 exit Seesen (Harz), B243 exit Bad Grund, at the B242 (Harzhochstraße) between the two exits to Bad Grund. |
| Open: | 25-DEC to 06-JAN daily 10-15:30, 07-JAN to 31-JAN Thu+Sun 10-15:30, FEB to MAR Tue-Sun 10-15:30, APR-OCT daily 9-16:30, NOV Wed+Thu 10-12:30, Fri-Sun 10-15. 01-DEC to 24-DEC Thu+Sun 10-15:30. [2006] |
| Fee: |
Adults EUR 3.50, Children (0-15) EUR 2. Groups (10+): Adults EUR 2.50, Children (0-15) EUR 1.80. Kurkarte: Adults EUR 2.75, Children (0-15) EUR 1.80. [2006] |
| Classification: |
 Karst cave,
horizontal cave, Upper Devon
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| Light: | electric |
| Dimension: |
Entrance L=13m,
Gelber Stieg L=77m,
Klingbiel-Grotto L=11.5m,
main cave L=123m,
Spatzier adit L=78m. Total: L=300m, HD=27,1m. T=8-9°C, H=100%. |
| Guided tours: |
L=220m, D=40min., St=136, HD=27m, V=62,000/a [2005].
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| Bibliography: |
Dr. S. Kempe, F. Reinboth, F. Knolle ed. (1985):
Die Iberger Tropfsteinhöhle bei Bad Grund (Harz),
Hrsg.: Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Karstkunde in Niedersachsen e.V., Osterrode am Harz, 60 pp, 20fig., map, SB.
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| Address: |
Landkreis Osterode am Harz, z. Hd. Herrn Dr. Stefan Flindt, IV.5, Herzberger Straße 5, 37520 Osterode am Harz, Tel: +49-5327-829391 (cave), +49-5327-829348, Fax: +49-5327-829496. E-mail: |
| Last update: | $Date: 2007/11/19 21:30:45 $ |
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| Image: a typical water mark on the cave wall. |
| Middle Ages | discovered during iron mining. | |
| 1734 | first described by Brückmann. | |
| 1874 | paths and stairs built, openbed to the public. | |
| 1911 | entrance adit built by Spatzier, survey. | |
| 1952 | electric light. | |
| 1982 | new survey. |
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| Image: exit. |
These caves, formed inside the Iberg mountain, have a unique anomaly. Generally caves are formed by atmospheric or biogene carbon dioxide, which is perceived by the water while it is raining down to the surface and while it seeps through the top soil. But here, the CO2 was produced locally, inside the rock, as a side product of siderite weathering.
Siderite is an iron carbonate and is transformed into iron oxide and CO2 by the oxygen in the ground water. This CO2 increases the amount of corrosion drastically. The iron oxide formed huge layers in the caverns. In the Middle Ages the area was intensively mined, and the miners were looking for the so called mulmige Brauneisenerze (brown iron ores) in the caves.
A special detail of this mechanism are the specific water marks. The transformation of siderite into iron oxide was a continuous process, and so always a certain amount of CO2 was in the water and soluted the cavern walls, even if there was no supply from the surface. Because of this the water marks make sort of steps, and the room becomes a little bigger below each water mark. In normal karst caves, water marks look more or less like horizontal ditches.
Another specialty of the cave are coloured speleothems in one chamber, coloured bluegreen by copper minerals. In many karst areas, only iron oxides are available for colouring, and most formations look white to brown or sometimes yellowish or reddish. Limestone is a marine sediment, which contains only the minerals which are typically deposited in such an environment. And thats iron and manganese. But if the limestone was alterated by a heavy tectonic action, like here in the Harz mountains the uplift of the whole area, sometimes ores are deposited in the cracks. The whole process is started by the ascension of magma forming a plutonite, like the nearby Brocken mountain. The hot lava, stuck inside the earth, heats its surroundings and the ground water, which dissolves continually small amounts of various minerals and metals and deposits ores in cracks.
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