Reclamation of Post-Mining Wasteland on the Example of Silesia Park in Chorzów

Abstract

The paper presents information on the reclamation of the post-mining area, where a complex of objects was built in Chorzów, belonging to the Silesian Park (formerly the Voivodeship Culture and Recreation Park). The history of the Park's formation, geological and mining conditions in its area and threats related to the possibility of a sinkholes creation on the surface have been characterized in the paper. Today's area of the Park was originally a farmland, where there were also several water reservoirs. Because of the abundant reso - urces of shallow hard coal deposits, extensive exploitation had been carried out in the past. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century it was the mining area of the “King” ("Königsgrube") mine, which later, in the interwar period was separated into two mines: "President" and "Barbara - Liberation". Within the Park boundaries four shafts were located: "Ligonia", "Paweł", "Leśny I" and "Leśny II". These shafts have been liquidated, but the method of liquidation is unknown. Mining works (including illegally functioning bootleg mining) have caused the degradation of this area, mainly due to the formation of sinkholes and the storage of various waste in dumps. As a result of the post-World War II remediation works, the degraded industrial landscape has been completely transformed into one of the largest urban parks in Europe. The present Park covers an area of over 600 hectares of green meadows, forests, vegetation typical for such landscape, rich in various animal species. As a part of the presented paper, the work was also carried out to estimate the risk for the possibility of sinkholes forming in the vicinity of liquidated shafts. According to the authors of the work, the creation of the Silesia Park is a unique undertaking on an European scale, as an example of well-designed and rehabilitated terrain degraded by mining. Functioning of the Park is particularly important as a green oasis in the centre of Poland's largest industrial agglomeration – Upper Silesia.