Database of old quarries and mine workings in the territories of the Bohemian Switzerland National Park and the Elbe Sandstones Protected Landscape Area

      RESULTS

• Workshop: 26 October 2022, from 10:00 AM in the Municipal Museum of Ústí nad Labem

At the workshop, the project participants will present the latest results of the inter-disciplinary research from years 2021–2022, methods used, interesting facts as well as the identified pitfalls.
The aim of the workshop is the presentation of the project at the presence of the investigators, representatives of educational institutions, nature conservationists and cultural heritage workers who pose the potential recipients of the project results. In the discussion, we intend to go through any possible requirements and suggestions towards a more effective use of application results.

PROGRAMME:

• • Workshop opening, welcome of the participants (Museum Director Mgr. Václav Houfek)
  • A brief introduction to the project and scheduled outputs (RNDr. Zuzana Vařilová, Ph.D.)
    Presentation of partial results of quarry survey and documentation (20 min. + 5 to 10 min. discussion over each contribution):
  • History of mining in the region and archival review of the model sites (Mgr. Natalie Belisová)
  • Mining techniques and preserved relics in the landscape (PhDr. Kamil Podroužek, Ph.D.)
  • Old quarries and mining sites and their function in the present landscape (PhDr. Jiří Belis)
  • Comparative analyses of sandstone samples aimed at provenance determination of the building materials (Mgr. Jiří Adamovič, CSc.)
  • Documentation of quarries using modern technologies (Mgr. Jan Horák)
  • Stability of old quarry faces (RNDr. Zuzana Vařilová, Ph.D.)
  • Presentation of results employing the ArcGIS Online map database (Mgr. Oldřich Holešinský)
  • Concluding discussion

For additional details see www.facebook.com/muzeumusti/

For a record of lectures presented at the workshop of 26 October 2022 see
https://www.youtube.com/

• Exhibition “WE QUARRIES: sandstone landscape in the hands of quarrymen” (23 June 2023 – 8 April 2024)

Exhibition curator: Zuzana Vařilová
Architectonic implementation: Jan C. Löbl
Graphic visual: Marek Fanta and Adéla Bierbaumer
Design and typesetting of information panels: Vladimír Cettl, Zuzana Vařilová
Exhibition realization: Jakub Doležel, Jan C. Löbl, Jiří Belis, Zuzana Vařilová, Martin Novák
Authors of texts: Natalie Belisová, Zuzana Vařilová, Jiří Belis, Kamil Podroužek, Jan Lokajíček
Creation of 3D models: Jan Horák
Creation of video projection: Jan Horák, Zdeněk Svejkovský
Creation of maps: Oldřich Holešinský
Author of drawings: Luděk Marks
Authors of photos: Jiří Preclík, Zuzana Vařilová, Kamil Podroužek, Natalie Belisová, Jan Horák, Václav Sojka, Ivan Peřina, Zita Tončerová, accompanying photographic documentation of the project and free works (Wikimedia Commons, Deutsche Fotothek etc.)
Specimens on display: Municipal Museum of Ústí nad Labem, private collection of Jiří Belis and Natalie Belisová, private collection of Kamil Podroužek, Bohemian Switzerland National Park Administration, Ladislav Krejza (sandstone ashlars), Association of Youth Tourist Clubs of the Czech Republic (millstone from the Oparno Mill), Vladimír Ort (quarrymen tools), field collections within the project

The exhibition, housed in three halls of the Municipal Museum of Ústí nad Labem, presents the visitors with the results of study of over 3,000 quarries which were discovered and surveyed by the North Bohemian historians and geologists in the last two years within the research project “Database of old quarries and mine workings in the territories of the Bohemian Switzerland National Park and the Elbe Sandstones Protected Landscape Area”. The exhibition points to the degree of change induded on the Elbe Sandstones landscape relief by human activity related to building-stone extraction. Hints for the identification of abandoned quarries in the landscape are provided by the photographic documentation from the field. These quarries sometimes manifest themselves only by traces after tools on the walls. In other cases, inscriptions and datings were carved by the stonemasons. Cellars used for the storage of tools, food and explosives by the quarrymen have been also preserved. Minute inconspicuous workings are encountered as well as giant quarries hundreds of metres long.

At the exhibition, the visitors can experience entering a sandstone quarry, having a chance to see the specific tools used by the quarrymen in their work and some of their smaller-size products, such as millstones and whetstones, architectural elements or railway milestones. With no major machinery, using mostly their hands, they managed to manipulate with large sandstone blocks. The exhibition also presents notorious monuments (e.g., St. Vitus Cathedral at the Prague Castle, the Terezín Fort, the Děčín Chateau or the Herrenhaus in Dresden) constructed from the very sandstone quarried in the Elbe River canyon and its close vicinity.

The whole explored area has an extent of 323 km², extending from Petrovice to Mikulášovice. Besides about 2,500 sandstone quarries, it also features hundreds of quarries exploiting other rocks such as sand, basalt, granite, limestone, schist, iron ores and fluorite. Even these quarries are presented in detail at the exhibition, displaying geological specimens much like detailed digital 3D models of the quarries and mining relics. In a playful manner, the exhibition also presents an example of a map database of old quarries and mine workings, which is planned to be completed and made accessible to the public in the next year.

Photo gallery from the preparation of the exhibition:
Photo gallery from the opening:
Reportage from the opening of the exhibition Youtube
Reportage by Naseveru.net
Video tour of the exhibition Youtube

• Scientific paper 1

STABILITY DETERIORATION OF CLIFF FACES DUE TO HISTORICAL MINING IN THE ELBE SANDSTONES PROTECTED AREA
Zuzana Vařilová, Kamil Podroužek, Natalie Belisová, Jan Horák
Keywords: sandstone, quarry face, stability, rockfall, hazards, risk scaling, methodology, Bohemian Switzerland

Summary:

The study presents problems of instabilities in sandstone landscapes induced by anthropogenic interventions, especially by unreclaimed old mining sites. Old quarries often pose elevated risk of catastrophic rockfalls, the preparatory phase of which is notably shortened compared to natural dynamics of rocky-slope evolution. The survey and documentation of abandoned quarries in the Bohemian Switzerland NP and Elbe Sandstones PLA involved risk assessment in quarries in selected areas into three basic grades. A more detailed risk scaling was provided for model sites. The classification criteria include slope inclination, the degree of tectonic and anthropogenic degradation of outcrops, the height of the faces, rock properties and the degree of weathering, rockfall history at the given site, the presence of naturally introduced woody plants, and especially the degree of real risk to roads/buildings/population/visitors. Besides historically documented rockfall events, several relatively recent events are described from years 2021–2023. As a part of a new map database of historical quarries, a special layer of potentially dangerous sites was established. Such sites were evaluated as prone to collapses of parts of old quarry faces into populated areas or areas frequently utilized by man. The highest concentration of unstable rock massifs lies in steep slopes of the Elbe River canyon, where intensive mining of building stone was operated between the end of the 18th century and the early 20th century. This resulted in a large-scale alteration of cliff face morphologies including commonplace undercutting and secondary degradation (e.g., by using explosives). This is evidenced by the occurrence of catastrophic rockfalls as well as the many installed technical measures (Kvádrberk or Pastýřská stěna hills in Děčín, in the reach between the Suchá Kamenice River and Belvedér, or in the Hřensko area).

 Reference: Vařilová, Z., Podroužek, K., Belisová, N. & Horák, J. (2022). STABILITY DETERIORATION OF CLIFF FACES DUE TO HISTORICAL MINING IN THE ELBE SANDSTONES PROTECTED AREA. Stavební Obzor – Civil Engineering Journal, 31(4), 516–532. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14311/CEJ.2022.04.0039

• Scientific paper 2

THE USE OF PROVENANCE ANALYSIS IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF SOURCES OF SANDSTONE BUILDING STONE FOR SELECTED HISTORICAL OBJECTS IN THE DĚČÍN AND LITOMĚŘICE AREAS
Kamil Podroužek – Jiří Adamovič – Natalie Belisová
Keywords: Provenance material analysis, Sandstone, Historical buildings, Cultural heritage, History of construction, Historical quarries, Bohemian Switzerland, Northern Bohemia

Summary:

The study presents possible application of sandstone provenance analysis to issues of cultural heritage conservation and management and history of construction. The analysis was aimed at the identification of source areas of sandstone building stone and millstone for thirteen historical objects in the Děčín and Litoměřice areas in northern Bohemia. Samples of building stone were subjected to a standard set of methods of provenance analysis, i.e., petrographic analysis, phase analysis and pore space analysis using helium pycnometry and mercury porosimetry. The same methods were also applied to sandstone samples retrieved from historical quarries in the Děčín area. For all buildings and other historical objects, the source of sandstone material could be traced down to the level of quarry areas, and even to the level of individual quarries in some cases. In the conclusions, the study points to the need of an Open Access database of provenance-sensitive characteristics of sandstones with the practical aim to identify materials used in historical buildings. The use of authentic material in the reconstruction of objects of historical importance is one of the necessary preconditions for maintaining their authenticity, hence also their historical value.

Reference: Podroužek, K., Adamovič, J. Belisová, N. (2023). VYUŽITÍ PROVENIENČNÍ ANALÝZY PŘI ZJIŠTĚNÍ ZDROJŮ PÍSKOVCOVÉHO STAVEBNÍHO KAMENE NA VYBRANÝCH HISTORICKÝCH STAVBÁCH DĚČÍNSKA A LITOMĚŘICKA. Monumentorum Custos, časopis pro památky severozápadních Čech, 16(1-2), 57–92. 

Full text of the article: Využití provenienční analýzy při zjištění zdrojů pískovcového stavebního kamene na vybraných historických stavbách Děčínska a Litoměřicka

• MAP DATABASE (a set of maps with professional contents accompanied by an information database)

Web application of the map database of old quarries and mining sites: HERE

 Collection and processing of geolocation and descriptive data for the quarries and mining sites was designed using the methods of collaborative mapping. The infrastructure of data and applications was created in the ArcGIS Online cloud environment of the ESRI company. This is a complex map and analytical solution, which provides environment for the configuration and administration of 3D databases, an interactive web-based map browser, tools for sharing the contents through data-management services, environment for a central administration of identities and accesses of the users, licences and contents of the organization. Besides the web-based maps, the work with data made use of a fully integrated ArcGIS Online with applications ArcGIS Pro (use of advanced GIS tools) and ArcGIS Field Maps (browsing and collection of data in the field, support of offline editing with controlled synchronization of contents).

Data collection was realized by using thematic geodatabases – quarries (points for individual quarries and mining sites, polygons for areally extensive quarries and quarrying areas); relicts (points and lines representing recovered remains after mining-related human activities – e.g., chutes, road network, constructions, technological background of quarries, half-finished products, carvings etc.); evaluation of stability – risk (points containing the evaluation of hazard and risk in abandoned quarries in selected parts of the area of interest). The layer of model sites displays 10 representative mining sites or areas described in the register card and in appendices in such detail which goes well beyond basic documentation (reg. cards, detailed description of mining history, plans and 3D models of the mining sites and other documentation). A special category is represented by potential quarries, which meet the criteria for an abandoned quarry or mining site although no evidence of mining is factually available: data, archived materials and undisputed identification traces in the field are missing.

A specific data model (scheme) and numerical categories were applied to each of the themes solved. The essential parameter of the characteristics of the mining sites is the type of the material/mineral exploited (“material”), which is also reflected in the basic colour scale of the documentation points /polygons in the map project.

Besides professional attributes, each element of the database is accompanied by identification particulars of the record administrator and by the appendix with visual documentation. Recordings of positions in the field were primarily based on localization of mobile devices through integrated GPS receivers, and the precision of the positions was further enhanced using the digital elevation model.

The set of accompanying topographical and thematic maps consisted especially of publicly available browsing services: Basic topographic map of the Czech Republic, Orthophoto of the Czech Republic, DEM 5G, Registry of Territorial Identification, Addresses and Real Estate (RÚIAN), GeoČR 50 and the Central Register of Nature Conservation (ÚSOP).

Data within the agreed extent can be shared in formats ESRI File Geodatabase, Shapefile, GeoJSON, Geopackage KML, CSV or via browsing services. One of the methods to make data accessible is through an interactive web map application. Publication of two types is presumed: a basic one with browsing functions for the wide public and an advanced one allowing work with data for professional institutions. (Moreover, a layer of relicts is accessible to selected users and institutions).

Tutorial how to use the database