The graduation tower of Bad Ksen (Germany)

its history and the formation of thornstone

H.-J. Engelhardt & L.E. von Borstel
DBE TECHNOLOGY GmbH, Eschenstrae 55, D-31224 Peine, Germany
Graduation is a pre-concentration of low-saline brine up
to nearly sodium chloride saturation. The terms comes
from the graduation or marking of hydrometers according to the scale of Antoine Baum. The hydrometers
allow to determine the density of fluids. Graduation
towers made it possible to economically produce table
salt during the 18th and 19th century. The main element
of the towers are walls with blackthorn bundels. The
brine flows down on these bundels and drops are formed by the impact with the twigs and branches. The
technique guarantees high evaporation rates due to
the Kelvin effect that describes an increase of the vapor pressure (tendency to evaporate) with the surface
curvature of liquids (i.e. the fineness of drops) and
the increase of the air velocity on the surface of the
drops due to the fall of the drops.
Roofs protected the brine basins (cisterns) and the
blackthorn walls against rainfall.
Furthermore, graduation depends on the brine composition (Table 1) and the climatic conditions.
Table 1. Salt-components of the brines of Bad Ksen (Borlach shaft) and Bad Sulza (Saale-Unstrut region, Germany)
as well as of seawater in mg/l.
NaCl

KCl

MgCl2

MgSO4

CaCl2

CaSO4

Bad Ksen

41,739

1,040

3,704

Bad Ksen

42,865

1,075

3,536

Bad Sulza

103,413

534

1,532

380

5,249

Seawater

28,475

763

3,207

2,559

1,080

Figure 3. Diagram of the system NaCl-CaSO4-H2O with the

points of the brines in Bad Ksen and Bad Sulza. The arrows
mark the shift of the points during graduation.

Figure 6. Microscopic close-up view of gypsum crystals

(crossed polarisers).

According to the salt production quantity, about 50,000

tons of water evaporated annually. It was estimated that
a flat brine surface area of more than 100,000 m2 would
be necessary to reach this production rate. In comparison, surface area of the tower walls is about 7,500 m
and the water evaporation rate approx. 6,666 mm/a.
Changes of relative air humidity result in a rhythmic precipitation of carbonates and gypsum, however, at high
temperatures a crystallization of anhydrite would be possible. The precipitations are called thornstone. Changes
of the speed of water evaporation causes variations of
the growth rate of the minerals.

When the relative air humidity is lower than the water

activity of the brine, brine graduation starts. The extent
of the graduation (water evaporation) depends on

Figure 7. Incident, ultraviolet light microscopic close-up view

of gypsum crystals (parallel polarisers).

Crystal aggregates of similar visual appearance occur in

the anhydrite rocks of the Zechstein formation. The are
called thornstone aggregates.

the difference between the actual existing vapor

pressure and the saturated vapor pressure,
the wind velocity,
the air temperature,
the net solar radiation at the earth's furface, and
to a lower extent the air pressure.

Figure 4. Thornstone on a blackthorn twig. The gypsum

crystals are divergent oriented on the twigs. The picture width
is about 7.5 cm. The diameter of the thornstone at the upper
picture margin is 1.4 cm.
Figure 8. Microscopic close-up view of gypsum crystals with
incident, ultraviolet light and normal transmitted light (parallel
polarisers).

Figure 1. Relative air humidity, difference of the air pressure

from the standard atmosphere (1,013.25 hectopascals), and
wind velocity (May to July 2014).

Strontium and bromide concentrations of the brine fluctuates around 15 mg/l (Sr 2+) and 17 mg/l (Br ). The Srcontent of the carbonates and gypsum correlates with
the degree of evaporation and consequently with the
relative air humidity. The Sr-content of thornstone
samples reaches values up to about 0.2 wt.-% (2,000
g/g or ppm). Bromide remains in the solution and
would be fixed at a later stage together with chloride in
the structure of chlorides.
Figure 5. Photograph of a thin section with gypsum crystals
(parallel polarisers), which grow on a wooden plan (lower
border of the image). The first layer consists of fine-grained
gypsum and organic material. The gypsum crystals, with a
length of 6 mm at maximum, contain layers of carbonates
and foreign particles.

Figure 2. Relative air humidity and water content of the air day-night differences. August 2014.

Due to the near constant composition of the brines,

investigations make it possible to prove meteorological
and geoscientific models of water evaporation and
mineral precipitation.

Nowadays, graduation towers are centres of recreation.

Water evaporation cools the air and the microclimate
with fresh, salty aerosols is used for therapeutic inhalations. In addition, the towers are technical monuments,
tourist attractions, and event locations. During the operation of a graduation tower, drops are blown away by
the wind. This disadavantage during the period of salt
production, is now an advantage for the inhalation therapy.