ABSTRACT
Our study aims on the determination of representative hydraulic properties in the vicinity of a highly soluble potash formation, i.e., at the abandoned potash mine Teutschenthal, situated in Saxony-Anhalt (Germany) located about 2 to 10 kilometres west from the town of Halle (Figure 1). Because there back-filling operations are carried
1 INTRODUCTION
Demonstration of long-term safety and of the geomechanical/hydraulic integrity of the geological barrier is a prerequisite for a repository for disposal of hazardous chemical and radioactive toxic waste, to ensure a long-lasting and aftercare-free insolation of harmful substances in deep geological formations (e.g., Minkley et al., 2010). As a fact rock salt is attributed to be tight as documented by comprehensive investigations carried out in laboratory experiments and in-situ for the past 30 years, e.g., Popp et al. 2011 (this issue). From the perspective of gas storage, it has to be mentioned that tightness means that the rock mass permeability is in the order of 10−20-10−22 m2 or lower (e.g., Berest, personal comm.). The assumption of principal tightness of salt rocks should be also valid for potash formations but a general proof of this hypothesis is missing.
