Lorraine

Lothringen


The Lorraine is today part of France, but during the 19th and 20th century it was a famous bone of contention between Germany and France. In German the area is called Lothringen. Actually, similar to other border regions like the Alsace and the Saarland, even the inhabitants seem to be divided between both countries. Most of the inhabitants are bilingual, and probably it does not matter any more in a united Europe to which country they actually belong.

One reason why the area always was demanded by both countries is the wealth of iron ore and coal which was of great importance during the first half of the 20th century. During two world wars the Lorraine was thus of great strategic importance. The iron ore is Jurassic iron ore of the Minette, which is found in huge layers of oolithic iron oxide between limestones and sandstones in the area of southern Luxembourg and the Lorraine, especially around Metz. It was extensively mined until the mid 20th century, then the mining became more and more obsolete because of cheaper iron ore from the world market. In 1997 the last iron ore mine in Lorraine, which once produced over 50 million tonnes of iron, was closed. The total amount of iron produced in this time is estimated to 3 Billion tonnes.

At first there was no coal mining in the Lorraine, the coal was imported from the nearby Sarre. Until 1792 the area today known as Saarland was ruled by independent sovereigns of Frankian origin. They were threatened by the French kings, but never conquered. Finally, they were conquered by the armies of the French Revolution and became part of the French Republic. Soon the importance of the coal for the Minette ores was discovered and the coal mining developed. Between 1807 and 1811 the French coal mining in the Saarland developed rapidly. Then came Napoleon and his final defeat in 1815, the region became German and was divided into three parts.

The developing iron furnaces of the Lorraine were now lacking coal. The Saarland lies right to the north, and it shares the same geology with the northern part of the Lorraine. But in the north the coal layers are close to the surface, and they are dipping to the south. In Lorraine the coal is located around 1,200 m deep. This makes the mining difficult, there is a very high temperature underground, such deep shafts are expensive, pumping out the water is mandatory and costly, and ventilation is also mandatory and expensive. But the need for coal was so big, the first mines developed in the area despite the obstacles. The first mine was opened at Schoeneck, the second at Stiring-Wendel. Both had problems with groundwater and had to be closed. Finally, in 1856 the coal mining at Petite-Rosselle started and lasted until 1988. The last working coal mine of Lorraine and France, La Houve, was closed 2004.

Many sites are listed for the Lorraine, but only a part are show mines. Another important part of the sites are artificial structures defending the border, bunkers and casemates which were built by French and German military. The German part is typically the Westwall, the French part it’s the Ligne Maginot, but there are also older structures.

And the third part are actually caves, natural underground structures. But the geology of the area does not really allow the formation of karst, although there are some small areas with nice features. However, there is not a single show cave as there are no karst caves which are comparable to other regions of France. Most of the caves are erosional caves which formed in the reddish sandstone or conglomerate rocks of the Vosges and northern Alsace. They were formed by the erosion of rivers and by springs, often frost erosion was an important factor too. Those caves are rather small, more like overhanging rocks or shelters. The biggest is a single chamber with a huge portal which is 32 m long.

And a last word about the region Lorraine: it is a historic term, and does not fit the modern departmental structure of France. Actually it was abandoned in 2015 and became Grand Est by merging some neighbours. We use it because it’s a cultural and geological unit, so it makes more sense for structuring geological sites than modern bureaucratic départements. This region consists of the modern départements Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle and Vosges.