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It could have been the title of an exciting book for boys: “Saltwinner Nobian and the missing salt hole under Twence”. During a February inspection of the two old salt pans (numbers 60 and 86) under the Twence waste treatment, researchers found no hollow spaces under the ground at the site of salt pan 86. Popularly, it looked like this saltworks had gone on a “walk”. Called “migration” in technical jargon. Researchers now know where the fork is in the (underground) stem.
The latest research data shows that Saltworks 86 is now full. “The rock that was above the cavity fell into it,” says spokesman Jorn van der Meer of salt extractor Nobian. According to the researchers, this process must have taken place several years ago. “For the past six years, a measurement network has been active and no movement or anything like that has been measured during that time.”
chasm
The Nobian salt winner has been extracting salt from the soil of Twente for decades. This extraction creates large hollow spaces in the deep basement. Some of these salt pans, which Nobian calls caverns, are the size of football stadiums. The rocks above this hollow space can break loose and fall into the cavern. If this happens, there is a danger that the soil layers above will collapse and a sinkhole will eventually form on the surface.
Now that Salt Flat 86 has been filled with rocks, Nobian does not expect any future problems. “Our conclusion is that this cavern migrated in the past, but this process naturally stopped several years ago,” Van der Meer said.
Additional measures
The rock that fell there, he says, takes up more space than the compact package of salt and sand that was originally present. “And such a cave is not completely empty if we don’t take any more salt out of it,” says Van der Meer. “For example, it contains a lot of brine.”
In order to be completely sure of its conclusions, Nobian will perform a number of additional measurements at number 86 in the coming weeks. The company hopes to be able to give the final conclusion in April. Van der Meer: “We keep an eye on the underground situation anyway. The measuring network remains active”.
Another salt pit is being filled
Besides number 86, cave 60 is also located under the Twence slag heaps in Hengelo. The investigation of this saltworks did not give rise to any surprises. In time, Nobian will stabilize this cavern.
To do this, the pit is filled with slurry, a mixture that includes lime and gypsum. With number 86 it is not necessary, because it has already stabilized naturally.
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