Mechanical Behavior of Salt IX, 2018

Proceedings (ISBN 978-3-9814108-6-0)

Geological exploration and 3D model of the Asse salt structure

for SE expansion of the Asse II mine

Lukas Pollok1*, Marco Saßnowski1, Tatjana Kühnlenz1, Volker Gundelach1,­

Jörg Hammer1, Christian Pritzkow2
1
Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Germany,
2
Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (BGE), Germany

* lukas.pollok@bgr.de

ABSTRACT: The radioactive waste in the former salt and potash mine Asse II needs to be
retrieved for long-term safety reasons. For this purpose, a southeast expansion of the mine is
necessary for which detailed geological information of the salt structure is essential. The site
exploration was started and knowledge of the evaporite sequences and the interior composition
of the Asse salt structure was increased as a result of a core drilling program, borehole
logging, and ground penetrating radar (GPR). In a first exploration drilling (Remlingen 15) the
top of the Zechstein salt structure (“salt table” or “salt mirror”) has been reached in 443.80 m
depth. Based on geological and mineralogical-geochemical investigations of drilling cores,
exclusively evaporates of the Leine-Formation have been identified to a final depth of 900 m.
The combination of lithostratigraphical characterization and structural analysis of well logs
and GPR data reveals a complex folded strata in the study area. According to new data so
far, most results deviate from up to now existing geological assumptions. For a safe retrieval
planning, an exact documentation, evaluation, and interpretation of the exploration findings
in a geological 3D model are necessary.

1 Introduction

1.1 Necessity of mine expansion for radioactive waste retrieval

The Asse II mine near Wolfenbüttel in Lower Saxony, Germany is a former, roughly 100-year-
old potash and salt mine. Between 1967 and 1978, 125,787 drums containing low-level (LLW)
and intermediate-level radioactive waste (ILW) were emplaced in a total of 13 chambers.
Until 1995, the mine was used as an underground rock laboratory (URL) to test handling and
storage techniques for radioactive waste in a salt repository.

Today, the Asse II mine faces two major problems: on the one hand, saline solutions (currently
12.5 m3 per day) from the Mesozoic overburden enter the mine, on the other hand the
stability of the mine openings is endangered by convergence, due to large volumes of open
drifts and mining districts. In 2009, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) took
over operatorship in order to decommission the Asse II mine immediately and the mine was
subjected to atomic law. According to legally demanded long-term safety requirements and
then available knowledge the federal government decided in 2010 – after comparing three

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options – that the Asse II mine can only be decommissioned safely after waste recovery from
the mine (Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz 2010).

Currently, the mine has only one adequately dimensioned shaft (shaft 2), which is, however,
not sufficient and not designed for the recovery purpose. For the retrieval of the waste from
the mine it is planned to expand the mine towards the southeast and to construct a new shaft.
To examine whether this location is suitable, the prospect area initially needed to be explored
with drillings and geophysical, especially ground penetrating radar (GPR), measurements.
In October 2014 the Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) was
commissioned by the BfS with participation in geological exploration.

The first exploratory drilling in the study area started in June 2013. So far, drill cores and
logging data are available from a surface-bound, vertical exploration drilling (Remlingen 15)
that reached a depth of 900 meters (Fig. 1B). Also, first data is available from four underground
drillings, which were drilled sub-horizontally from the mine openings towards the southeast
in depths of 574 meters and 700 meters. Additional exploration drillings in a depth of 700
meters are in preparation. The main objective of these drillings is to collect data about the
composition and geology of the salt formations and to explore the internal pattern of the Asse
salt structure. Furthermore, their purpose is to clarify the suitability of the salt rocks for the
retrieval mine buildings.

1.2 Geological Setting

The NW-SE trending Asse-Jerxheim salt structure is about 25 km long and is located in the
Subhercynian Basin (SB), which is part of the North German Basin (NGB) (Fig. 1). The SB is
placed between the Harz Mountains to the southwest and the Flechtingen basement high to
the northeast. The salt rocks belong to evaporite successions from the Zechstein group which
were deposited periodically in the NGB in the Late Permian. The Zechstein strata in the NGB
is up to 1500 m thick and has classically been devided into five to seven carbonate-evaporite
cycles, depending on the paleogeographic basin position (Käding 2000, 2005). Under certain
conditions mobile thick salt formations in the NGB have formed a large number of different salt
structures ranging from pillow-like accumulations, salt diapirs to walls (Pollok et al. 2016a).

The complex outer shape and the internal composition of the Asse salt structure developed from
flat bedded salt formations to a salt pillow in the Jurassic and was affected by compressional
tectonics (inversion) in the Late Cretaceous. In particular, this shortening impact can well be
followed by the Zechstein-salt intrusion (“salt wedge” or “salt wing”) into the Triassic overburden
at the SW flank. There, the evaporites of the Upper Buntsandstein are joined to the diapiric
Zechstein salt rocks. At the northeastern flank, on the contrary, Zechstein formations are
naturally overlain by Triassic Lower Buntsandstein (Fig. 2). At the top of the salt structure
Muschelkalk and Buntsandstein rocks are steeply dipping and strongly faulted.

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Figure 1: A: Distribution of salt structures with various ages of structure forming salt rocks in the
North German Basin (Reinhold et al. 2008, modified). The red frame highlights the Asse salt
structure. FH: Flechtingen basement high, NGB: North German Basin, SB: Subhercynian
Basin. B: Mining sites Asse I, II, III, and shafts in the Asse salt structure. The exploration
drilling Remlingen 15 marks the SE study area.

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Like in most salt structures in the NGB, salt structure forming rocks in the Asse originate
from the Staßfurt-Formation, which predominantly consists of thick mobile rock salt (e. g.
“Hauptsalz”). The evaporites in the Leine- and Aller-Formation have been steepened and
folded during salt structure formation (Fig. 2). The immobile non-chloridic residues of the
Werra-Formation as well as basal units of the Staßfurt-Formation have not been incorporated
in salt rise and remained at the Zechstein base. Due to salt accumulation, Zechstein strata
in the steeply inclined Asse salt structure is over 2000 m thick.

Because of the asymmetrical saddle-shaped Asse salt structure special care needs to be taken
for the planning of a new shaft and infrastructure, as two facilities (mines Asse I & III) of the
three formerly existing mines have already drowned (Fig. 1B). Considerable problems with
influent water also occurred when today’s main shaft 2 was constructed. New mine openings
must be selected such that they can be constructed nearly exclusively in rock salt strata
and it is also essential that they will not be excavated in readily soluble potash salt (Fig. 2).
Preferred target host rocks are large volumes of relatively pure “Hauptsalz”-units (Staßfurt-
Fm.). Additionally, safety distances to certain anhydrite rocks, such as the “Rötanhydrit”
(Upper Buntsandstein) at the southern flank, need to be met. This is to make sure that no
new locations will be excavated where saline solutions flow into the mine. Furthermore, the
location of potentially fluid-bearing thick anhydrite layers of the Leine-Formation in the northern
flank (“Anhydritmittelsalz”) and in the center (“Hauptanhydrit”) of the Asse salt structure must
be carefully investigated (Fig. 2). A sufficient safety distance also needs to be kept to the
existing chambers and galleries.

Figure 2: Cross section of the Asse salt structure displaying structure forming Zechstein salt rocks
(Staßfurt-, Leine-, Aller-Formation), sedimentary pattern of the post-Permian strata, and the
Asse II mine (Asse-GmbH 2016, modified).

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2 Methods

2.1 Geological investigations of drilling cores and mineralogical-geochemical

analyses
So far it is planned to explore the prospect area with a core drilling program including
one vertical borehole from the surface (Remlingen 15 = R 15) and several horizontal and
inclined underground drillings. The latter will be drilled from existing mine openings at two
levels (574-m- and 700-m-level) towards the southeast. Drilling cores of the R 15 have been
intensively studied (Pollok et al. 2016b). The geological core analysis (Fig. 3) includes a
detailed core description with information about petrography, fabric, and structure analysis (e. g.
measurements of bedding, folds, and faults; Saßnowski et al. 2018, this volume). In addition,
the exploration drilling was sampled in order to investigate the mineralogical-geochemical
composition of the evaporate rocks. For this, thin sections and powder samples have been
prepared. Microstructural investigations of the samples were carried out using transmitted light
microscopy. The powder samples were analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical
Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) at the laboratories of the BGR.

Figure 3: Geological analysis of cores from exploration drillings. A: Sorting, adaption, marking, measuring
of cores. Representative cores are cut through in the center for further investigations (e. g.
samples for thin sections and mineralogical-geochemical analysis). B: High resolution photo
documentation of a bisected core containing grey-violet anhydrite, impure orange-brown
halite and brown claystone. Note the shear zone in the center. The black frame marks a thin
section sample. The thin section highlights microstructures in anhydrite in transmitted light
with parallel (C) and crossed polarizers (D).

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The combination of detailed core description, microscopic and mineralogical-geochemical

analysis allows a reliable lithostratigraphic classification of the penetrated Zechstein rocks.

2.2 Borehole imaging

Because of non-orientated coring in all exploration drillings, additional borehole measurements
are necessary to reconstruct the initial spatial orientation and thicknesses of the drilled rocks.
Nondestructive acoustical (ABI) and optical borehole imaging (OBI) tools have been applied,
which provide high-resolution images of the entire borehole wall. ABI can only be performed
in acoustically-conductive water-based muds, whereas OBI can be applied in fluid-filled
and air flushed boreholes. The image logs are “unrolled”, orientated to magnetic north, and
displayed from 0° to 360°. Linear features (e. g. bedding planes) intersecting the borehole
appear as sinusoids (Fig. 4). The indicated extreme values (maximum and minimum) of the
sinusoids can be related to the dip and azimuth of geological features and provide essential
data regarding the structural geology (e. g. folding) of the encountered formation. Bedding,
fractures, faults and stratigraphic features can often be manually identified and are used in
support of the detailed core analysis.

Figure 4: Structural interpretation of an acoustical borehole imaging (ABI) log. The “unrolled” ABI-log
shows the reflected acoustic signal from the borehole wall as amplitude (AMP) and travel time
(TT) (Terratec 2016, modified). Logs are orientated to North. Azimuth of geological features
can be measured off directly and dips can be calculated from the borehole diameter (d) and
feature heights (h).

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2.3 Ground penetrating radar (GPR)

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is an efficient and accurate nondestructive tool to improve the
knowledge of structural complex salt structures. In low-conductive salt, GPR measurements
reach several hundred meters of penetration depth. Under certain conditions, salt structure
boundaries such as flanks and caprock can be detected with GPR. Vertical, horizontal, and
radial profiles from boreholes, blind shafts, drifts, and mining districts provide information
about of distances, directions and slopes of reflecting objects (e. g. layer boundaries, Fig. 5).
Thus, GPR allows accurate mapping and structural interpretation of geological features in
a 3D model.

For the investigation of the salt structure between existing mine openings and the study area,
GPR was applied in a blind shaft in the most eastern part of the Asse II mine (Gundelach
2017). Additional direction-sensitive GPR measurements have been undertaken at several
levels and in horizontal boreholes in this area (Gundelach 2015a, b, 2016). The combined
use of different antennas (50 Mhz, 70 Mhz, 250 Mhz) has provided a good tradeoff between
resolution and penetrations depth.

Figure 5: GPR sections measured in a blind shaft and at the 490-m-level in the eastern part of the
Asse II salt mine (perspective view from NE).

The GPR measurements have been able to detect material boundaries in the salt formations,
such as anhydrite, clay or potash layers and have thus provided important information about
the structure inventory and internal composition of the salt structure. However, some reflections
in the GPR sections obviously originate from the mine openings or boreholes and must be
taken into account during the data evaluation.

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2.4 3D modelling
Currently, a geological high resolution 3D model of the Asse salt structure is being built in an
AutoCAD-based program named openGEO. The establishment of an integral 3D model is
essential in order to improve exact documentation and evaluation of old and newly-acquired
exploration data as well as to plan further exploration work. The matching of all exploration
data in the 3D model allows a check of consistency as well as an integrated analysis and
interpretation. The model includes the complex folded internal structure and the outer shape
of the Asse salt structure as well as the geology of the overburden and adjoining rocks. The
final 3D model will be an essential planning tool for shaft and infrastructure room construction
and thus for the retrieval of radioactive waste.

3 Results

The geological and mineralogical-geochemical investigations of drilling cores of the R 15 reveal

that exclusively evaporates of the Leine-Formation have been encountered in the depth range
of 443.80 m to 900 m. A number of exposed few meters thick anhydrites can be assigned
to the “Anhydritmittelsalz”-unit. These results deviate considerably from the prior geological
assumptions of the interior of the salt structure in the investigated area, which predicted large
volumes of pure Staßfurt-Formation rock salt. Furthermore, the lithostratigraphical comparison
in combination with the structural analysis of well logs reveals a steepened and complex
folded as well as largely overturned Zechstein strata (with oldest evaporates at the top) in
the study area (Fig. 6). These findings can be verified in the GPR sections, which allow an
identification of many steeply-dipping and slightly curved geologic reflections. As a result, three
large scale folds (2 synclines and 1 anticline) were identified in the R 15, which have formed
during salt rise. GPR reflectors which cross some exploration wells can be identified directly
in terms of lithostratigraphy (Fig. 6B). Especially anhydrite layers from the “Anhydritmittelsalz”
appear as strong and continuous reflectors. The combined use of geological and geophysical
methods allows the accurate extrapolation of detailed but punctiform exposures of geological
strata through drillings into untouched parts of the salt structure. This leads to a detailed and
coherent structural geological analysis of the internal composition of the Asse salt structure
in the evolving 3D model.

The salt table in 443.80 m depth defines the transition of not dissolved rock salt and the
residues (mainly gypsum and anhydrite) of subrosion (caprock). Compared to shaft 2, the
salt table is located 143 m deeper in this study area. From this it can be inferred that the top
of the salt structure is gently plunging with approximately 14° in SE striking direction.

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Figure 6: A: Geological 3D model of the Asse salt structure, including current exploration results.
B: Perspective view from SE with migrated and spatially-oriented reflections of 50 Mhz (orange)
and 250 Mhz (brown) GPR profiles (data from DMT 2014). Note the grey squares inside the
drill column of the Remlingen 15 borehole, highlighting the bedding planes interpreted from
ABI (data from Terratec 2016, modified) showing a strong correlation to GPR reflections. By
the evaluation of exploration data in the 3D model, a reliable and comprehensive structural
interpretation of the complex interior of the salt structure is possible (e. g. green marked,
thick and folded anhydrite from the “Anhydritmittelsalz”).

4 Conclusions

For the radioactive waste retrieval planning and the required expansion of the mine building
detailed geological knowledge of the Asse salt structure is essential. The combination of
different exploration methods and the multidisciplinary evaluation have lead to a comprehensive
understanding of the interior composition of the salt structure. Because saline solutions currently
enter the Asse II mine and because mines Asse I and III have already drowned special care
needs to be taken when deciding where the new mine openings can be excavated. The
site must be selected such that it can be constructed nearly exclusively in rock salt units.
Additionally, safety distances to readily soluble potash salt and thick, potentially fluid-bearing
anhydrite rocks need to be met.

Knowledge of the evaporite formations and the interior composition of the Asse salt structure
at the study area was increased as a result of a combined core drilling program, borehole
logging, and ground penetrating radar (GPR) exploration. According to new exploration
data gained so far it becomes clear that most recent results deviate from up to now existing
geological assumptions. In contrast to large volumes of pure Staßfurt-Formation rock salt,
evaporates from the Leine-Formation have been exposed. Incorrect geological maps of
the previous operator require more and carefully planned exploration work. As a result of
the recently found complex geological conditions, an exact documentation, evaluation, and
interpretation of the recent and forthcoming exploration findings in the geological 3D model
is necessary for a resilient retrieval planning.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Detlef Schlüter (bicad) for the 3D software support. A special thank you
goes to T. Beilecke (BGR) and P. Kamlot (IfG Leipzig) for reviewing an earlier version of this
manuscript.

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