Kupferschiefer Explained

Kupferschiefer
Type:Member
Age:Late Permian
Period:Wuchiapingian
Prilithology:Black shale, marl
Otherlithology:Mudstone, limestone, copper, zinc, lead, silver, gold, platinum
Namedfor:"Kupfer" = copper, "Schiefer" = shale
Region:North-central Europe
Country:




(Kaliningrad)
Coordinates:51°N 10°W
Paleocoordinates:15.3°N 22.6°W
Unitof:Werra Formation
Underlies:Zechstein Limestone
Overlies:Rotliegend Group
Thickness:Typically 30cmto60cmcm (10inchesto20inchescm)
Max. 2m (07feet)
Extent:Southern Permian Basin
Area:600000km2
Map:Zechsteinmeer europa.jpg

The Kupferschiefer (German for Copper Shale, also called Copper Slate) or Kupfermergel (Copper Marl), (T1 or Z1) is an extensive and remarkable sedimentary unit in Central Europe. The relatively monotonous succession is typically 30cmto60cmcm (10inchesto20inchescm) and maximum 2m (07feet) thick, but extends over an area of 600000km2 across the Southern Permian Basin. The Kupferschiefer can be found in outcrop or in the subsurface straddling six countries, including parts of the southern North Sea. The lateral equivalent outcropping in England is called Marl Slate.

Despite its distinctive nature, the Kupferschiefer is not ranked as a formation but is officially declared a sub-unit of the Werra Formation, the lowest formation of the Zechstein Group, overlying the Rotliegend Group. The unit has been dated to 257.3 ± 1.6 Ma, placing it in the Wuchiapingian stage of the Late Permian.

The Kupferschiefer comprises black shales, bituminous marls, mudstones and limestones deposited mostly in an open marine setting, with the borders of its extension deposited in a shallow marine environment. At time of deposition, the area what is now northern Europe was covered by an enclosed sea; the Zechstein sea, characterized by anoxic conditions.

The Kupferschiefer is renowned for hosting one of the most important copper deposits in the world, which were mined at least since 1199 AD. Other mineral resources found in the unit include zinc, vanadium, lead and silver.

The Kupferschiefer is also an important lagerstätte; having provided fossils of early Archosauromorph reptiles, the ancestors to modern crocodiles and extinct dinosaurs, as well as pareiasaurs, many fossil fish, including Coelacanthus granulatus, Dorypterus hoffmanni and Palaeoniscum freieslebeni, flora and other fossils. Famous finds from the unit include Parasaurus geinitzi, Protorosaurus speneri, Weigeltisaurus jaekeli and Glaurung schneideri.

Description

The Kupferschiefer is a regional stratigraphic unit stretching across an area of 600000km2 in the Southern Permian Basin of north-central Europe. The unit is typically 30cmto60cmcm (10inchesto20inchescm) thick. In the Rossenray 2 shaft, the unit reaches a maximum thickness of 2m (07feet).[1] The Kupferschiefer unconformably overlies various formations of the Rotliegend Group and the Varsican basement and forms the basal unit of the Zechstein Group.[2] In some parts of the Zechstein Basin, the Kupferschiefer is underlain by the Mutterflöz Limestone, an organic-lean thin limestone unit. Despite its distinctive nature, the Kupferschiefer is not ranked as a formation but is officially declared a sub-unit of the Werra Formation, the lowest formation of the Zechstein Group. The Kupferschiefer is overlain by the Zechstein Limestone sub-unit of the Werra Formation.

The unit has been dated to 257.3 ± 1.6 Ma, placing it in the Wuchiapingian stage of the Late Permian.[3] The age of the unit corresponds to the Ilinskoe part of the Sokolki Assemblage Zone of European Russia and the Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone of the Karoo Basin of South Africa.[4]

The Kupferschiefer contains up to 30% organic matter, with variations across its extent. The basinal facies shows values of between 5 and 25% TOC, while the marginal facies present values up to 7% TOC and swell facies are much poorer in organic matter with values below 1%.[5]

Depositional environment

The Kupferschiefer was deposited in a highstand setting,[6] in a deep enclosed basin, covered by the Zechstein sea that was present on the paleocontinent Laurussia, the northern part of Pangea.[7] The basin possibly had periodic connections to the Paleo-Tethys Ocean.[8] Sedimentation rates during Kupferschiefer deposition were low, estimated at 5mm per thousand years.[9]

The climate of the Late Permian was extremely variable, with polar icecaps present near the south pole and hot and arid conditions prevailing in the tropic and paleotemperate regions of the northern and southern hemispheres.[10] The Zechstein sea in the Late Permian was located at paleolatitudes around 15 to 16 degrees north. Large areas of Pangea were covered by deserts and arid conditions also prevailed near the Zechstein sea of the time.[11]

Apatite oxygen isotope analysis has revealed that the Late Permian was characterized by a drastic increase in global temperatures, accompanied by a strong rise of eustatic sea level. The rise in oxygen isotope values was possibly related to an increase in volcanic activity.[12] The Permian-Triassic extinction event, the biggest extinction event in geologic history, is thought to have been caused mostly by large volcanic provinces of the Siberian Traps.

Mining

Prehistoric finds of slag and bronze from smelting sites on top of or immediately adjacent to outcropping Kupferschiefer ores at Wettelrode, Mohrungen, and Bottendorf in Central Germany evidence Early to Middle Bronze Age mining of the Kupferschiefer ores. The medieval mining history of the Kupferschiefer ores is documented in written sources since at least 1199 A.D. from the Mansfeld district in Central Germany. The Counts of Mansfeld developed several copper mines, smelters, and a mint at the town of Eisleben, where copper and silver coins were minted from the metals of the Kupferschiefer ores.[13]

Germany

The main mining district of the Kupferschiefer in Germany was Mansfeld Land, which operated from at least 1199 AD, and has provided 2,009,800 tonnes of copper and 11,111 tonnes of silver.[14] The Mansfeld mining district was exhausted in 1990.[15] [16]

Eisleben in the Mansfeld Land is the type locality of two minerals;[17] the nickel-arsenate maucherite,[18] and betekhtinite, a copper-lead-iron sulfide.[19] The latter mineral has a co-type locality in the Ernst-Thälmann shaft, that operated from 1906 to 1962 and produced 260,000 tons of copper; about 10% of the overall production from the Mansfeld area.[20]

Many minerals have been found in the Sangerhausen district of Saxony-Anhalt,[21] [22] which produced 619,200 tonnes of copper and 3,102 tonnes of silver as of 2012, with 860,000; respectively 4,650 tonnes as remaining proven reserves.[14]

In the Spremberg-Graustein-Schleife mining area, stretching across the Brandenburg district Spree-Neiße and Görlitz in Saxony, the Kupferschiefer is estimated to contain 130 million tonnes of ore, of which 1,486,000 tonnes of copper,[14] with a copper content of 1.47%. The mining district is about 15km×3kmkm (09miles×02mileskm) and the copper-bearing beds lie at a depth between 980mand1580mm (3,220feetand5,180feetm).[23]

The Kupferschiefer contains up to 3% copper, 10 ppm of platina and up to 3000 ppm gold.[24]

The "Im Lochborn" mine, mining from the Kupferschiefer,[25] located in Bieber, Hessen is the type locality of the mineral bieberite,[26] a cobalt sulfate named after the location.[27] The mineral rösslerite, a magnesium arsenate, also has the mine as type locality.[28]

Poland

Two main Kupferschiefer mining areas in Poland are the North-Sudetic trough, with 212,894 tonnes of copper and 756.7 tonnes of silver mined as of 2012 and an estimated remaining reserves of 1,460,000 tonnes of copper, and the Fore-Sudetic monocline, with more than 20,000,000 tonnes of copper and more than 14,085 tonnes of silver mined since 1949. Main mining districts in Poland are the Głogów industrial district, the Lubichów and Grodziec fields, and the Konrad, Lena, Lubin, Nowy Kosciół, Polkowice, Rudna and Sieroszowice mines.[14] The latter mine[29] is the type locality for the silver-quicksilver amalgame, eugenite.[30] The Polkowice mine is the type locality for two rare lead and germanium-bearing sulfide minerals;[31] polkovicite, named after the mine,[32] and morozeviczite.[33]

Paleontological significance

The Kupferschiefer has provided unique fossils of an early reptile; Protorosaurus speneri belonging to the Archosauromorpha, as well as Pareiasauria, fish, an insect and fossil flora.

As of 2014, at least 28 Protorosaurus speneri specimens are known from the Kupferschiefer in the states of Thuringia and Hesse in central Germany.[34] The type locality for the species is Glücksbrunn, Heidelberg, near Schweina in Thuringia.[35] [36] The type locality for Parasaurus geinitzi is Walkenried in Lower Saxony.[37] [38] Fossils of both species were found containing quartz pebbles in their guts.[39] [40]

Fossil fish of the species are abundantly found in different locations in the Kupferschiefer. The species epithet of the "Eisleben Shale Fish", or "Kupferschiefer Herring" refers to Johann Karl Freiesleben, the (mining inspection director) of Saxony.[41] Other fish found in the Kupferschiefer include Coelacanthus granulatus, Hopleacanthus richelsdorfensis, Acentrophorus glaphyurus, Menaspis armata, Muensterichthys buergeri, Platysomus striatus, and two species of Janassa and Wodnika.

Fossil content

Group Fossils Image Notes
Protorosaurus speneri
Weigeltisaurus jaekeli [42]
Glaurung schneideri align=center [43]
Pareiasauria Parasaurus geinitzi align=center
Fish Palaeoniscum freieslebeni
Coelacanthus granulatus align=center [44]
Hopleacanthus richelsdorfensis align=center [45]
Janassa bituminosa, J. korni align=center [46] [47] [48]
Menaspis armata align=center [49]
Wodnika althausi, W. striatula align=center
Acentrophorus glaphyurus align=center [50]
Dorypterus hoffmanni align=center
Eurysomus macrurus align=center
Globulodus elegans align=center
Muensterichthys buergeri align=center [51]
Platysomus striatus align=center [52]
Pygopterus humboldti align=center
Reticulolepis exsculpta align=center
Acrolepis sp. align=center [53]
Ctenacanthus richelsdorfensis align=center [54]
Insects Protereisma rossenrayensis align=center [55] [56]
Nautiloids Peripetoceras freieslebeni align=center
Pteronautilus seebachianus align=center
Bivalves Aviculopinna prisca align=center [57]
Bakevellia sp. align=center
Macroflora Neocalamites mansfeldicus align=center
Sphenobaiera digitata align=center
Baiera mansfeldensis align=center [58]
Esterella gracilis align=center [59]
Bhenania reichelti, Calipteris martinsi, Pseudovoltzia liebeana, Quadrocladus orobiformis, Q. solmsi, Sphenopteris kukukiana, Ullmannia bronni, U. frumentaria align=center
Crustaesporites globosus, Illenites cf. bentzi, I. cf. unicus, Jugasporites delasaucei delasaucei, J. delasaucei moersensis, Lueckisporites richteri, L. virkkiae, Nuskoisporites dulhuntyi, Pityosporites granulatus, P. schaubergeri, P. zapfei, Platysaccus papilionis align=center [60] [61]

Geologic maps

Zechstein in blue

See also

References

Bibliography

Geology
Paleontology

External links

Notes and References

  1. Bachmayer & Malzahn, 1983, p.101
  2. Paleo-ecosystems, p.2
  3. Ezcurra et al., 2014b
  4. Tsuji & Müller, 2008, p.1112
  5. Paleo-ecosystems, p.22
  6. Paleo-ecosystems, p.4
  7. Paleo-ecosystems, p.7
  8. Paleo-ecosystems, p.6
  9. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=85488 Schwarzer Philipp
  10. Paleo-ecosystems, p.9
  11. Paleo-ecosystems, p.10
  12. Paleo-ecosystems, p.11
  13. Borg et al., 2012, p.457
  14. Borg et al., 2012, p.458
  15. Borg et al., 2012, p.455
  16. Borg et al., 2012, p.475
  17. https://www.mindat.org/loc-1801.html Eisleben, Mansfeld
  18. https://www.mindat.org/min-2599.html Maucherite
  19. https://www.mindat.org/min-650.html Betekhtinite
  20. https://www.mindat.org/loc-16080.html Ernst-Thälmann shaft, Mansfeld
  21. https://www.mindat.org/loc-1896.html Copper slate deposits, Sangerhausen
  22. https://www.mindat.org/loc-208068.html Bernard Koenen shafts I and II, Copper slate deposits, Sangerhausen
  23. KSL Kupferschiefer Lausitz GmbH
  24. Drama im Kupferschiefermeer
  25. Borg et al., 2012, p.456
  26. https://www.mindat.org/loc-1808.html "Im Lochborn" mine, Bieber, Hessen
  27. https://www.mindat.org/min-664.html Bieberite
  28. https://www.mindat.org/min-3470.html Rösslerite
  29. https://www.mindat.org/loc-22924.html Sieroszowice mine
  30. https://www.mindat.org/min-1422.html Eugenite
  31. https://www.mindat.org/loc-18870.html Polkowice mine
  32. https://www.mindat.org/min-3254.html Polkovicite
  33. https://www.mindat.org/min-7183.html Morozeviczite
  34. Ezcurra et al., 2014a, p.7
  35. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=93034 Glücksbrunn/Heidelberg near Schweina
  36. Ezcurra, 2016, p.22
  37. Tsuji & Müller, 2008
  38. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=85561 Walkenried
  39. Munk & Kues, 1993, p.171
  40. Munk & Kues, 1993, p.172
  41. Palaeoniscum freieslebeni at Museum Schloss Bernburg
  42. Weichelt, 1930
  43. Bulanov & Sennikov, 2015, p.1357
  44. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=149471 Richelsdorf (Althaus collection)
  45. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=90451 Wolfsberg pit
  46. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=149464 Mansfeld, Dresden collection
  47. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=130272 Freieslebenschacht
  48. Brandt, 2009, p.16
  49. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=133433 Lonau
  50. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=130276 Hasbergen Excavation Planum II
  51. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=139229 Bodental
  52. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=130275 Hasbergen Excavation Planum I
  53. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=130277 Hasbergen Excavation Planum III
  54. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=149494 Richelsdorf Mountains
  55. Guthörl, 1965, p.229
  56. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=139720 Rossenray 2 Shaft, 415 m depth, Kamp-Lintfort
  57. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=149461 Merzenberg, near Milbitz
  58. Bauer et al., 2013, p.546
  59. Bauer et al., 2013, p.549
  60. Grebe, 1957
  61. http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?a=collectionSearch&collection_no=24194 Kupferschiefer 450 m floor Friedrich Heinrich Mine Kamp-Lintfort Germany