EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Mining Legacy and Tight Squeeze

Defunct Coal Mine
Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway

Explanation:  What is this string of towers across this high arctic hillside?  

This is the remnant of a defunct coal mine.  Towers once held cables strung across this island of Spitsbergen, here in the Norwegian arctic archipelago of Svalbard.  The cables would then transport large containers filled with coal, on to the shore where it would then be packed onto ships to sell abroad.  

Russians had dug tunnels throughout these tough hills to extract vast amounts of coal.  Some 6 or 7 major coal mines once operated on the island, and all but one are shut down, although remnants of their toils -- and the unbelievably harsh conditions of the miners -- remain scattered across the arctic alpine landscapes.  
  

Interestingly, the old cable towers are now common nest sites for Snow Buntings and perch sites for other birds.  
  

Down the valley, in the village of Longyearbyen is a wonderful cultural and natural history museum that tells the history of peoples who have thrived, and faded, on the island.

Within the museum is a life-size diorama of the conditions that faced the coal miners, who had to struggle prone through kilometers of claustrophobic tunnels while wielding heavy mining gear to drill through the dense rock.

I find it unimaginable to picture the conditions:  damp, darkness, the air filled with swirling coal dust, kilometers from being able to even sit up.