Elsensee - Quickborne, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
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T-Team!
N 53° 42.973 E 009° 54.508
32U E 559953 N 5952331
The Elsensee (Elsen lake) north of Hamburg is salt sinkhole and it is a nice place for a walk.
Waymark Code: WM17230
Location: Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Date Posted: 11/23/2022
Views: 3
While geocaching, I encountered this earthcache. The details on the geocaching website explain:
"The sea "Elsensee" in Quickborn is a sinkhole in the salt dome, which is going from Quickborn to Hamburg Othmarschen. The sea is also very deep.
Sinkholes and Salt Domes:
A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the surface topography caused by the removal of soil or bedrock, often both, by water. Sinkholes may vary in size from less than a meter to several hundred meters both in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms. They may be formed gradually or suddenly, and are found worldwide.
If groundwater is in contact with the halite, another factor to be reckoned with is subrosion, i.e. cavities developing due to salt leaching. This could cause the roof to collapse, or sinkholes to form on the surface of the earth. There are numerous examples of this happening in salt domes all across northern Germany. They show up as small Lakes or Bog, in this case the "Elsensee".
The long Saltdome, reaching from Quickborn up to Hamburg-Othmarschen is 4 Kilometer in Diameter and under the Hospital of Hamburg-Altona it reaches up to 1 meter under the earth Surface. Also the over 17 Kilometer far away "Bahrenfelder See" (N53 33.979 E9 53.914) in Hamburg is a sinkhole from the same Salt Dome."
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