Kupferschiefer

, Thuringia The Kupferschiefer is a regional stratigraphic unit stretching across an area of in the Southern Permian Basin of north-central Europe. The unit is typically thick. In the Rossenray 2 shaft, the unit reaches a maximum thickness of . The Kupferschiefer unconformably overlies various formations of the Rotliegend Group and the Varsican basement and forms the basal unit of the Zechstein Group. In some parts of the Zechstein Basin, the Kupferschiefer is underlain by the Mutterflöz Limestone, an organic-lean thin limestone unit. 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. The Kupferschiefer contains up to 30% organic matter, Basin history fossil locations indicated. Note the Zechstein sea is not shown as an inland sea. Depositional environment The Kupferschiefer was deposited in a highstand setting, in a deep enclosed basin, covered by the Zechstein sea that was present on the paleocontinent Laurussia, the northern part of Pangea. The basin possibly had periodic connections to the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. Sedimentation rates during Kupferschiefer deposition were low, estimated at per thousand years. 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. The Zechstein sea in the Late Permian was located at paleolatitudes around 15 to 16 degrees north. 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. 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. Germany The main mining district of the Kupferschiefer in Germany was Mansfeld Land, which operated from at least 1199 AD, The Mansfeld mining district was exhausted in 1990. Eisleben in the Mansfeld Land is the type locality of two minerals; the nickel-arsenate maucherite, and betekhtinite, a copper-lead-iron sulfide. 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. Many minerals have been found in the Sangerhausen district of Saxony-Anhalt, 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. The Kupferschiefer contains up to 3% copper, 10 ppm of platina and up to 3000 ppm gold. The "Im Lochborn" mine, mining from the Kupferschiefer, located in Bieber, Hessen is the type locality of the mineral bieberite, a cobalt sulfate named after the location. The mineral rösslerite, a magnesium arsenate, also has the mine as type locality. 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. is the type locality for the silver-quicksilver amalgame, eugenite. The Polkowice mine is the type locality for two rare lead and germanium-bearing sulfide minerals; polkovicite, named after the mine, and morozeviczite. == 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. The type locality for the species is Glücksbrunn, Heidelberg, near Schweina in Thuringia. The type locality for Parasaurus geinitzi is Walkenried in Lower Saxony. Fossils of both species were found containing quartz pebbles in their guts. 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. 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 == Geologic maps ==

Zechstein in blue File:Geomap Rhoen.jpg|Rhoen File:Thuringian Forest Geology.png|Thuringian Forest File:Geomap Thur-Franc-Vogtl-SM.png|Thuringian-Franconian mountains File:Elm Asse Dorm geol.png|Eastern Brunswick == See also ==