Buswrack im See / Abandoned Bus, Germany

Buswrack im See is an abandoned bus, partially submerged in a salty lake. This interesting scene is located in east Germany. We visited this location in during the Germany Summer 2020 – The GDR Ballroom Tour.

Buswrack im See – The abandoned bus end in a salt lake

Why is there a bus in a lake, I hear you ask? Unfortunately, it is not a fantastical story (sorry!). This area was once a great lake 150 years ago. Subsequently, mining companies drained the lake. This site became allotments, and one of these had an old bus stored there. When mining operations stopped in the 1980s the groundwater pumps were shut down. This allowed this lake to gradually reform in this area, rising up around the bus.

History of the area

Now, time for a slight geological tangent. The subsurface below this area is rich is rock salt. Over time the rock salt dissolves in groundwater that flows through it. It is this dissolution that gave rise to subsidence of the region. As the ground subsided, water flowed into the hollows. This enabled lakes formed in the depression. Due to the high salt content of the rocks, these are saltwater lakes. Prior to the 1890s, the lake covered an immense 8.5 square kilometres.

Large copper mines were sunk here at the end of the 19th Century employing over 15,000 miners. As the subterranean copper mine tunnels expanded, flooding became a risk. On several occasions tunnels collapsed, flooding large areas. To combat this the mining companies sought legal rights to safeguard the mine workers. They installed pumping systems and began to drain the lake. Within two years the lake had shrunk to two-thirds of the size. Incredibly the water level dropped by 4m in just one year. The lake was completely drained in just three years.

Eventually, mining ceased in the 1980s and the drainage pumps ceased pumping. As a consequence, the lake started to refill, naturally. The area became a nature reserve in the 2010s. Nowadays the saltwater lake ecosystem has become a haven for flora and fauna. Dense reed communities inhabit the lake shore. Numerous birds now live here, including; red-necked grebe, bitterns, warblers and harrier.