Upper Harz Ponds
Encyclopedia
The Upper Harz Ponds are found mainly around the mining town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Clausthal-Zellerfeld is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000, Clausthal-Zellerfeld is also the seat of the Samtgemeinde Oberharz....

 and the nearby villages of Buntenbock
Buntenbock
The small village of Buntenbock lies on the plateau of the Harz mountains in Germany and is part of the mining and university town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld. It is a state-recognised climatic health resort and has accommodation for 200 visitors as well as 700 inhabitants.The village lies at a height...

 and Hahnenklee
Hahnenklee
Hahnenklee is a borough of the city of Goslar, in the German state of the Lower Saxony. It is located within the Harz mountain range between Goslar and Osterode. The district of Hahnenklee also comprises the former village of Bockswiese, both are mining settlements originating from the 16th century...

 in the Upper Harz
Upper Harz
The Upper Harz refers to the western and higher part of the Harz mountain range in central Germany. Much of the Upper Harz is over , but at its eastern edge in the High Harz it climbs to over on the Brocken massif.- Geography :...

 mountains of central Germany
Central Germany (geography)
In geography, central Germany describes the areas surrounding the central point of modern-day Germany.The town of Niederdorla, in the state of Thuringia, claims to be the most central town in Germany...

. There are around 70 ponds in total, both large and small. They were built by the miners of the Upper Harz, mostly between the 16th and 18th centuries, and are important components of the cultural monument
Natural Monument
A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance....

 known as the Upper Harz Water Regale
Upper Harz Water Regale
The Upper Harz Water Regale is a system of dams, reservoirs, ditches and other structures, much of which was built from the 16th to 19th centuries to divert and store the water that drove the water wheels of the mines in the Upper Harz region of Germany...

 - a network of dams, ditches, ponds and tunnels that was built to supply much-needed water power for the mining industry in the Harz mountains. Today the Water Regale is being proposed as a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

. About half the dammed ponds are classified today as reservoirs, but they have now become characteristic features of the Upper Harz and are home to some extremely rare plant and animal species.

The Upper Harz Ponds also have the oldest working dams in Germany.

Purpose

The ponds were originally built for storing the water needed to drive the water wheel
Water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...

s providing energy to the Upper Harz silver mines. These water wheels drove the pump
Pump
A pump is a device used to move fluids, such as liquids, gases or slurries.A pump displaces a volume by physical or mechanical action. Pumps fall into three major groups: direct lift, displacement, and gravity pumps...

s, the hoisting equipment, the stamp mills and, from 1820, the man engine
Man engine
A man engine is a mechanism of reciprocating ladders and stationary platforms installed in mines to assist the miners’ journeys to and from the working levels...

s as well.

To begin with, the ponds merely impounded water from their natural catchment area
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

s. But in many cases, their inflow was later increased significantly through the use of additional collection ditches.

Today the ponds are operated for several reasons: the protection of historic monuments, rural conservation, nature conservation and recreation
Recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...

. Several ponds also provide flood protection; others are used to supply drinking water
Drinking water
Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...

.

The operator of the ponds today is the Harzwasserwerke
Harzwasserwerke
The Harzwasserwerke is a German water company and dam operator with the primary tasks of supplying drinking water, generating electrical power, flood protection and the maintenance of the Upper Harz Water Regale...

, who also manage six modern dams
DAMS
Driot-Arnoux Motorsport is a racing team from France, involved in many areas of motorsports. DAMS was founded in 1988 by Jean-Paul Driot and former Formula One driver René Arnoux. It is headquartered near Le Mans, only 2 km from the Bugatti Circuit.- History :The year after its foundation,...

 in the Lower Saxon part of the Harz.

Design

The barriers were built as earth-fill dams, the fill
Fill
Fill may refer to:*Fill dirt, soil added to an area.*Fill , a short segment of instrumental music.*In textiles, the filling yarn is the same as weft, the yarn which is shuttled back and forth across the warp to create a woven fabric....

 being usually excavated on site. Usually small quarries
Quarries
Quarries - The "Royal Quarries" — not found in Scripture — is the namegiven to the vast caverns stretching far underneath the northern hill, Bezetha, on which Jerusalem is built. Out of these mammoth caverns stones, a hard limestone, have been quarried in ancient times for the buildings in the...

 were established in the terrain earmarked as the future reservoir; this had the added advantage that it increased its eventual capacity. Neither clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...

 nor silt
Silt
Silt is granular material of a size somewhere between sand and clay whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...

 could be used as grouting material because they did not occur in sufficient quantities in the Upper Harz. The Upper Harz miners had, however, learned from experience that grass sods
Sods
Sods is a term used in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia for a mountain top meadow or bog, in an area that is otherwise generally forested...

 or turves made excellent grouting; by placing them one on top of another, in a similar fashion to building a wall, a layer of sods up to a metre thick would be built into the dam which ensured that it remained watertight.

A wooden conduit (Holzgerenne) acted as a bottom outlet. It was usually made of oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

 due to its great durability. The valve was a so-called Striegel, which acted like a plug and closed off the inlet to the wooden channels and was operated by rods. Both grass sod grouting and wooden bottom outlets are still in use in many of the ponds.

The dams themselves are between 4 and 15 m high and the impounded volumes varied between 10,000 and 600,000 m³. One notable exception is the Oderteich
Oderteich
The Oderteich is an historic reservoir about seven kilometres northeast of Sankt Andreasberg in the Upper Harz in central Germany. It was built by miners from St. Andreasberg in the years 1715 to 1722 and, today, is an important component of the water supply network known as the Upper Harz Water...

 northeast of Sankt Andreasberg
Sankt Andreasberg
Sankt Andreasberg is a town and a former municipality in the district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 November 2011, it is part of the town Braunlage. It is situated in the Harz, approximately 7 km west of Braunlage proper, and 20 km east of Osterode am Harz.- History :Sankt...

, which is the only pond not grouted with grass turves, but with granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 sand known as granitgrus and with a dam height of 21 m and reservoir volume of 1.7 million m³ of water stands head and shoulders above the other ponds in terms of size.

Flora and fauna

Although these water features have been artificially created, rare flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...

 and fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...

 have evolved in and around many of the Upper Harz ponds. The water is low in nutrients and rather cool. The crayfish, which has died out in most European waterbodies due to crayfish plague
Crayfish plague
Crayfish plague, Aphanomyces astaci, is a water mould that infects crayfish, most notably the European Astacus which dies within a few weeks of being infected...

, has been able to survive in many Upper Harz Ponds thanks to their isolated locations. Pond operators and fishing leaseholders have worked successfully to increase their numbers.

The operation of the ponds over many centuries with constantly changing levels of water has also created a habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

 for some extremely rare plant communities. On the soils of many ponds coral necklace
Coral necklace
Coral-necklace is an annual plant of the family Caryophyllaceae. It is a native of damp sandy heathland in western Europe and the Mediterranean region. The tiny white flowers are bourne in clusters along the stem inspiring the common name....

 (Ilecebrum verticillatum), strapwort
Wort plants
This is an alphabetical listing of wort plants, meaning plants that employ the syllable wort in their English-language common names.According to the Oxford English Dictionary's Ask Oxford site, "A word with the suffix -wort is often very old. The Old English word was wyrt, from German origins that...

 (Corrigiola litoralis) or shoreweed
Littorella
Littorella is a genus of two to three species of aquatic plants. Many plants live their entire lives submersed, and reproduce by stolons, but some are only underwater for part of the year, and flower when they are not underwater.- Classification :...

 (Littorella uniflora) may be found growing. They are dependent on this constant fluctuation of water levels in the reservoir and so the nature conservation authorities have agreed with the pond operators an operating regime that will secure the existence of these plants in the waterbodies concerned. By other ponds there are meadow bogs (Kleinseggenried), which are rich in sedges, rushes
Juncaceae
Juncaceae, the rush family, are a monocotyledonous family of flowering plants. There are eight genera and about 400 species. Members of the Juncaceae are slow-growing, rhizomatous, herbaceous plants, and they may superficially resemble grasses. They often grow on infertile soils in a wide range...

 and cottongrass and moss
Moss
Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...

 communities.

The fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 population is primarily influenced by the angling
Angling
Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" . The hook is usually attached to a fishing line and the line is often attached to a fishing rod. Fishing rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line. The hook itself...

 clubs that lease fishing rights and stock the ponds with fish. Only native species of fish are desired, although eel
Eel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

 and catfish
Catfish
Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...

 are excluded due to their incompatibility with the crayfish populations.

Table of Upper Harz Ponds

The following list includes the majority of the dammed ponds built by the Upper Harz miners, where they are still in operation or where the dam ruins are still clearly visible. Mill pond
Mill pond
A mill pond is any body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill. Mill ponds were often created through the construction of a mill dam across a waterway. In many places, the common proper name Mill Pond name has remained even though the mill has long since gone...

s are not included. A total of 143 dams and former dams have been documented.
English Name German Name Built Capacity in m³ Height above base in m
Old Sandpiper Pond Alter Wasserläufer Teich
}before 1565
| style="text-align:right;"|32,000
| style="text-align:right;"|5.30
|-
| Capercaillie Pond
| Auerhahnteich
| style="text-align:right;"|1684
| style="text-align:right;"|61,000
| style="text-align:right;"|7.74
|-
| Bärenbruch Pond
| Bärenbrucher Teich
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1634
| style="text-align:right;"|186,000
| style="text-align:right;"|7.09
|-
| Carl Pond
| Carler Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|1673
| style="text-align:right;"|14,000
| style="text-align:right;"|5.10
|-
| Upper Einersberg Pond
| Einersberger Teich, Oberer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1672
| style="text-align:right;"|140,000
| style="text-align:right;"|9.16
|-
| Middle Einersberg Pond
| Einersberger Teich, Mittlerer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1672
| style="text-align:right;"|16,000
| style="text-align:right;"|7.74
|-
| Lower Einersberg Pond (†)
| Einersberger Teich, Unterer (†)
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Duck Marsh
| Entensumpf
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Highest Eschenbach Pond (†)
| Eschenbacher Teich, Oberster (†)
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Upper Eschenbach Pond
| Eschenbacher Teich, Oberer
| style="text-align:right;"|1548
| style="text-align:right;"|62,000
| style="text-align:right;"|10.50
|-
| Lower Eschenbach Pond
| Eschenbacher Teich, Unterer
| style="text-align:right;"|1548
| style="text-align:right;"|167,000
| style="text-align:right;"|8.85
|-
| Eulenspiegel Pond
| Eulenspiegler Teich
| style="text-align:right;"| around 1546
| style="text-align:right;"|61,000
| style="text-align:right;"|3.43
|-
| Upper Flambach Pond
| Flambacher Teich, Oberer
| style="text-align:right;"|1701
| style="text-align:right;"|88,000
| style="text-align:right;"|6.50
|-
| Lower Flambach Pond
| Flambacher Teich, Unterer
| style="text-align:right;"|1693
| style="text-align:right;"|48,000
| style="text-align:right;"|5.03
|-
| Upper Raft Pond
| Flößteich, Oberer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1680
| style="text-align:right;"|11,000
| style="text-align:right;"|5.00
|-
| Lower Raft Pond
| Flößteich, Unterer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1680
| style="text-align:right;"|10,000
| style="text-align:right;"|4.28
|-
| Flöß Pond (Piß Valley) (†)
| Flößteich, (Pißtal)
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Fortune Pond
| Fortuner Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|1721
| style="text-align:right;"|296,000
| style="text-align:right;"|14.33
|-
| New Grumbach Pond
| Grumbacher Teich, Neuer
| style="text-align:right;"| after 1714
| style="text-align:right;"|108,000
| style="text-align:right;"|8.67
|-
| Upper Grumbach Pond
| Grumbacher Teich, Oberer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1680
| style="text-align:right;"|180,000
| style="text-align:right;"|10.50
|-
| Middle Grumbach Pond
| Grumbacher Teich, Mittlerer
| style="text-align:right;"| after 1680
| style="text-align:right;"|72,000
| style="text-align:right;"|9.20
|-
| Lower Grumbach Pond
| Grumbacher Teich, Unterer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1680
| style="text-align:right;"|82,000
| style="text-align:right;"|7.52
|-
| Haderbach Pond
| Haderbacher Teich
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1693
| style="text-align:right;"|103,000
| style="text-align:right;"|9.43
|-
| Upper Hahnebalz Pond
| Hahnebalzer Teich, Oberer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1695
| style="text-align:right;"|66,000
| style="text-align:right;"|8.11
|-
| Lower Hahnebalz Pond
| Hahnebalzer Teich, Unterer
| style="text-align:right;"| 1676/86
| style="text-align:right;"|52,000
| style="text-align:right;"|6.50
|-
| Hasenbach Pond
| Hasenbacher Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|1660
| style="text-align:right;"|140,000
| style="text-align:right;"|9.12
|-
| Hare Pond (†)
| Hasenteich (†)
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Upper Hausherzberg Pond
| Hausherzberger Teich, Oberer
| style="text-align:right;"|1588
| style="text-align:right;"|180,000
| style="text-align:right;"|7.18
|-
| Lower Hausherzberg Pond
| Hausherzberger Teich, Oberer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1613
| style="text-align:right;"|198,000
| style="text-align:right;"|9.35
|-
| Haus Sachsen Pond
| Haus Sachsener Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Herzberg Pond (Goslar)
| Herzberger Teich (Goslar)
| style="text-align:right;"| around 1560
| style="text-align:right;"|95,000
| style="text-align:right;"|12.00
|-
| God's Help Pond
| Hilfe-Gottes-Teich
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1763
| style="text-align:right;"|12,300
| style="text-align:right;"|8.30
|-
| Stag Pond
| Hirschler Teich
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1671
| style="text-align:right;"|599,000
| style="text-align:right;"|11.40
|-
| Smelter Pond, Zellerfeld
| Hüttenteich, Zellerfeld
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1673
| style="text-align:right;"|13,000
| style="text-align:right;"|6.42
|-
| Smelter Pond, Altenau
| Hüttenteich, Altenau
| style="text-align:right;"|1688
| style="text-align:right;"|49,000
| style="text-align:right;"|11.73
|-
| Huttal Pond, Upper (†)
| Huttaler Teich, Oberer (†)
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Huttal Pond, Lower (†)
| Huttaler Teich, Unterer (†)
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Jägersbleek Pond
| Jägersbleeker Teich
| style="text-align:right;"| around 1670
| style="text-align:right;"|380,000
| style="text-align:right;"|13.65
|-
| Johann Friedrich Pond
| Johann-Friedricher Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|1674
| style="text-align:right;"|96,000
| style="text-align:right;"|6.79
|-
| Carp Pond (Hahnenklee) (†)
| Karpfenteich (Hahnenklee) (†)
| style="text-align:right;"|before 1680
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Upper Kellerhals Pond
| Kellerhalsteich, Oberer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1679
| style="text-align:right;"|68,000
| style="text-align:right;"|10.78
|-
| Middle Kellerhals Pond
| Kellerhalsteich, Mittlerer
| style="text-align:right;"|1724
| style="text-align:right;"|436,000
| style="text-align:right;"|14.90
|-
| Lower Kellerhals Pond,
| Kellerhalsteich, Unterer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1679
| style="text-align:right;"|53,000
| style="text-align:right;"|8.10
|-
| Kiefhölz Pond
| Kiefhölzer Teich
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1671
| style="text-align:right;"|248,000
| style="text-align:right;"|9.72
|-
| Klein-Clausthal Pond
| Klein-Clausthaler Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|around 1680
| style="text-align:right;"|29,000
| style="text-align:right;"|8.34
|-
| Little Crane Pond,
| Kranicher Teich, Kleiner
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1675
| style="text-align:right;"|11,000
| style="text-align:right;"|2.47
|-
| Great Crane Pond,
| Kranicher Teich, Großer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1675
| style="text-align:right;"|110,000
| style="text-align:right;"|8.24
|-
| Kreuzbach Pond
| Kreuzbacher Teich
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1680
| style="text-align:right;"|9,000
| style="text-align:right;"|5.58
|-
| Kuttelbach Pond
| Kuttelbacher Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|1674
| style="text-align:right;"|163,000
| style="text-align:right;"|12.75
|-
| Lange Pond
| Lange Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|1719
| style="text-align:right;"|15,000
| style="text-align:right;"|6.73
|-
| Langer Pond
| Langer Teich
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1606
| style="text-align:right;"|49,000
| style="text-align:right;"|7.30
|-
| Upper Nassenwiese Pond
| Nassenwieser Teich, Oberer
| style="text-align:right;"| around 1671
| style="text-align:right;"|132,000
| style="text-align:right;"|8.82
|-
| Lower Nassenwiese Pond (†)
| Nassenwieser Teich, Unterer (†)
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1743
| style="text-align:right;"|48,000
| style="text-align:right;"|6.0
|-
| New Pond (Lautenthal)(†)
| Neue Teich (Lautenthal) (†)
| style="text-align:right;"| after 1680
| style="text-align:right;"|11,800
| style="text-align:right;"|5.8
|-
| Oder Pond
| Oderteich
Oderteich
The Oderteich is an historic reservoir about seven kilometres northeast of Sankt Andreasberg in the Upper Harz in central Germany. It was built by miners from St. Andreasberg in the years 1715 to 1722 and, today, is an important component of the water supply network known as the Upper Harz Water...


| style="text-align:right;"| 1715-1721
| style="text-align:right;"|1,670,000
| style="text-align:right;"|18.00
|-
| Little Oker Pond
| Okerteich, Kleiner
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|22,000
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Upper Peacock Pond
| Pfauenteich, Oberer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1551
| style="text-align:right;"|121.000
| style="text-align:right;"|8.27
|-
| Middle Peacock Pond
| Pfauenteich, Mittlerer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1551
| style="text-align:right;"| 259.000
| style="text-align:right;"| 9.53
|-
| Lower Peacock Pond
| Pfauenteich, Mittlerer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1551
| style="text-align:right;"|214,000
| style="text-align:right;"|8.94
|-
| Pixhai Pond
| Pixhaier Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|1672
| style="text-align:right;"|281,000
| style="text-align:right;"|8.75
|-
| Polster Valley Pond
| Polstertaler Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|1728
| style="text-align:right;"|46,000
| style="text-align:right;"|6.48
|-
| Prince's Pond
| Prinzenteich
| style="text-align:right;"|1686
| style="text-align:right;"|385,000
| style="text-align:right;"|8.74
|-
| Röhre Pond
| Röhrenteich
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Lower Schalke Pond
| (Unterer) Schalker Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|1730
| style="text-align:right;"|151,000
| style="text-align:right;"|11.28
|-
| Middle Schalke Pond (†)
| Schalker Teich, Mittlerer
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Upper Schalke Pond (†)
| Schalker Teich, Oberer
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Schlacke Valley Pond
| Schlackentaler Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|3,200
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Schröterbach Pond
| Schröterbacher Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|1652
| style="text-align:right;"|73,000
| style="text-align:right;"|9.06
|-
| Schwarzenbach Pond
| Schwarzenbacher Teich
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1608
| style="text-align:right;"|146,000
| style="text-align:right;"|7.39
|-
| Semmelwiese Pond
| Semmelwieser Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|1691
| style="text-align:right;"|53.000
| style="text-align:right;"|7.24
|-
| Silver Pond
| Silberteich
Silberteich
The Silberteich is a man-made pond and lies on the upper reaches of the Brunnenbach stream between Braunlage and Sankt Andreasberg in the Harz Mountains of Germany. Originally it was called the Andreasberger Teich or Brunnenbacher Teich, where Teich means 'pond'...


| style="text-align:right;"|1755
| style="text-align:right;"|22,000
| style="text-align:right;"|8.0
|-
| Upper Spiegelthal Pond
| Spiegelthaler Teich, Oberer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1673
| style="text-align:right;"|51,000
| style="text-align:right;"|7.67
|-
| Lower Spiegelthal Pond
| Spiegelthaler Teich, Unterer
| style="text-align:right;"|1672
| style="text-align:right;"|152,000
| style="text-align:right;"|10.91
|-
| Stadtweg Pond
| Stadtweger Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|1727
| style="text-align:right;"|294,000
| style="text-align:right;"|10.12
|-
| Stuffen Valley Pond (†)
| Stuffentaler Teich (†)
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"|
|-
| Marsh Pond (Buntenbock)
| Sumpfteich (Buntenbock)
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1639
| style="text-align:right;"|189,000
| style="text-align:right;"|6.91
|-
| Than Pond
| Than-Teich
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1684
| style="text-align:right;"|12,000
| style="text-align:right;"|6.45
|-
| Sandpiper Pond
| Wasserläufer Teich
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1659
| style="text-align:right;"|25,000
| style="text-align:right;"|5.78
|-
| Wiesenbeke Pond (Bad Lauterberg)
| Wiesenbeker Teich (Bad Lauterberg)
| style="text-align:right;"|1715
| style="text-align:right;"|480,000
| style="text-align:right;"|14.50
|-
| Zankwiese Pond
| Zankwieser Teich
| style="text-align:right;"|1688
| style="text-align:right;"|107,000
| style="text-align:right;"|9.67
|-
| Upper Mine Pond
| Zechenteich, Oberer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1661
| style="text-align:right;"|33,000
| style="text-align:right;"|5.85
|-
| Middle Mine Pond
| Zechenteich, Mittlerer
| style="text-align:right;"| before 1661
| style="text-align:right;"|45,000
| style="text-align:right;"|6.70
|-
| Ziegenberg Pond
| Ziegenberger Teich
| style="text-align:right;"| around 1645
| style="text-align:right;"|313,000
| style="text-align:right;"|8.94
|-
|}
(†) means: pond out of service, largely dry. Dam remains exist.

Where no data is given, this usually indicates that the pond ended up in other hands before the mines closed and has not been precisely documented.

See also

  • Upper Harz
    Upper Harz
    The Upper Harz refers to the western and higher part of the Harz mountain range in central Germany. Much of the Upper Harz is over , but at its eastern edge in the High Harz it climbs to over on the Brocken massif.- Geography :...

  • Upper Harz Water Regale
    Upper Harz Water Regale
    The Upper Harz Water Regale is a system of dams, reservoirs, ditches and other structures, much of which was built from the 16th to 19th centuries to divert and store the water that drove the water wheels of the mines in the Upper Harz region of Germany...

  • Upper Harz Water Tunnels
    Upper Harz Water Tunnels
    The Upper Harz Water Tunnels are part of the Upper Harz Water Regale - a network of reservoirs, ditches, tunnels and other structures in the Harz mountains of central Germany. The German term Wasserlauf refers to the underground element of the network of watercourses used in the historic silver...

  • Upper Harz Ditches
    Upper Harz Ditches
    The Upper Harz Ditches are hillside ditches, running roughly parallel to the contours, that were laid out in the Upper Harz in Germany from the 16th to the 19th centuries to supply water power to the silver mines there...

  • List of lakes in Germany
  • Kunstteich
    Kunstteich
    A Kunstteich is an historic German term for a man-made lake or pond associated with the mining industry and its technology. These ponds were created by the construction of barriers, typically dams and embankments, and were used to supply hydropower and water to the mines. Water stored in the...


Sources

  • Friedrich, Ernst Andreas (1982): Gestaltete Naturdenkmale Niedersachsens, Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1982. ISBN 3-7842-0256-X

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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