Discussion

INTRODUCTION TO PAPER 7 BY DIPL.-ING. S. LANGE Brown coal mining in opencast operations in the Rhenish area leaves dumps which are used in the relocation of villages, farms, industrial enterprises, watercourses and communication systems.

The first large-scale relocation of a village to a former dumping area in the Rhineland was carried out from 1958 to 1960. Meanwhile, about 6,400 ha of land have been reclaimed for forestry purposes; some 6,440 ha for agricultural use; approximately 300 ha for communication systems; some 720 ha for water bodies; and about 690 ha for residential buildings and industrial enterprises.

One pre-condition of building on these dumps, which at present attain maximum thicknesses of 200 m, is the knowledge of a potential regularity in dump surface subsidences in order that structures may be erected and used without any stability hazards.