Abstrakt: | The hard coal mines in the Upper Silesian Coal
Basin of southern Poland have highly saline waste water. In
the past, such water was often discharged into nearby reservoirs,
which would completely change the physical–
chemical properties of the reservoir water. In some cases, it
also caused permanent stratification; meromictic reservoirs
were created. This paper describes the properties of the water
in one such reservoir, in a mined out rock quarry in Katowice
(southern Poland). Three zones characteristic of meromictic
water bodies can be distinguished in the reservoir: a surface
atmosphere responsive zone (mixolimnion), a transition
zone (chemocline), and a bottom unmixed layer (monolimnion).
For comparison, baseline conditions for normal reservoir
water were assumed to be represented by the nearby
Grunfeld reservoir, which also formed in a closed quarry, but
was not used for disposal of mine waste water. |