Elevation 530 m | ||
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Location Heringen, Hesse, Germany Similar Hornungskuppe, Dreienberg, Soisberg, Landecker Berg, Eisenberg | ||
Monte Kali and Kalimanjaro are local colloquial names for the spoil heap or spoil tip that towers over the town of Heringen, Hesse, Germany. It is one of a number of sites where the K+S chemical company dumps sodium chloride (common table salt), a byproduct of potash mining and processing, a major industry in the area.
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Map of Monte Kali, 36266 Heringen, Germany
The names are puns of Kali (shorthand for Kalisalz, German for "potash") on "Monte Carlo" and "Kilimanjaro." The heap lies directly next to the border with the state of Thuringia, and hence next to the former inner German border with what was once East Germany.
The heap rises over 250 metres (820 ft) above the surrounding land, its summit reaching 530 metres (1,740 ft) above sea level. According to the Werra Potash Mining Museum in Heringen, Monte Kali has been in operation since 1976; as of August 2016, it covered 98 hectares (240 acres) and contained approximately 201 million tonnes of salt, with another 900 tonnes being added every hour and 7.2 million tonnes a year.
Ecological impactEdit
The amount of salt that goes to the region's soil and rivers is enormous. The Werra river has become so salty (up to 2.5 g/L chloride ions, which is saltier than parts of the Baltic Sea) that few freshwater organisms can survive in it. The groundwater has become salty as well. K+S are licensed to keep dumping salt at the facility until 2030.