Interactive web atlas of a project by Czech and TUD scientists

Mathias Bäumel

We really took on a big project! Namely, a cross-border summit tour in the Lusatian Mountains, starting from the Lausche peak (Czech: Luž), across the Jägerdörfel settlement (Myslivny), past the Finkenkuppe mountain (Pěnkavčí vrch) to the Tannenberg (Jedlová) and the Tollenstein (Tolštejn), then past the Dreiäckerstein (Trojhran) and back to the Lausche. That is a day’s hike with an little highlight right at the beginning – some colorfully painted wooden figures in Jägerdörfel. After about three kilometers and a bit beyond the crossroads “Beim Johannes” (U Jana), you find something quite mysterious: the sulfur spring in the forest, which is not actually a sulfur spring but rather more of an iron spring. The water swirls with yellow-brownish and rust-colored flakes! People used to think they were sulfur flakes.

It wasn’t until 1907 that Professor Hans Molisch from the Imperial–Royal German Charles Ferdinand University in Prague discovered that this coloration comes from the thread-like bacteria Leptothrix ochracea, which gets its energy from the oxidation of the bonds of divalent and trivalent iron dissolved in the water. So it has nothing to do with sulfur! The features and mystery of this and around 40 other springs are now recorded and explained in the unique, web-based spring atlas of the international project “Quellen verbinden – Prameny spojují” (“Connecting springs”). The project was developed over a period of nearly three years by geoinformatics specialists, cartographers, geographers and geologists from the Technical University of Liberec, by hydrologists and biologists from the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, and by hydrochemists from Technische Universität Dresden (IHI Zittau).

This spring atlas provides a clear overview of technical information about the springs examined, such as water quality, temperature, yield and surrounding vegetation. The experts repeatedly visited the springs, took measurements and water samples, recorded additional data about the terrain and analyzed the samples in laboratories. The interactive atlas – which is designed not only for experts but also for anyone with an interest in nature – presents a summary of the data and information collected using modern methods for web-based cartography and geographic information systems.

For each spring in the atlas, there are GPS coordinates, a link to mapy.cz, the name of the municipality where it is located and the elevation. Up to seven categories of features are listed as observed by the scientists: the type of spring, the presence of heavy metals, the geological substrate, the degree of human influence, the water quality, the primary vegetation surrounding the spring and the “degree of life.”

The technical information is supplemented by multimedia contributions – photos and video clips made using drones, which provided the researchers access to even the most difficult-to-reach locations.

“This multidisciplinary project has opened up an enormous complex of possibilities for us. We have experts working in our research team from the areas of hydrology, hydrochemistry, geographic information systems, cartography, geology, zoology and botany, human geography, and didactics. All of them are collaborating and contributing their knowledge to the project. We are working with colleagues from the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague and, thanks to the project’s cross-border design, we have the chance to exchange experience with colleagues from IHI Zittau in Saxony. The approach of each expert is a bit different, which is enormously enriching and informative for our collaboration and professional development. The atlas of springs in particular is a synthesis of the work by the entire team and we are all very proud of how we were able to prepare it,” explains the Project Leader Jiří Šmída, from the Technical University of Liberec. “Such complex research on springs has never before been done in our country. With our colleagues, we are dedicating our efforts to determing the quality of the water and sediment, and evaluating the ecological state of the spring, its importance and use,” adds Dana Komínková, Team Leader from the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague.

Her hydrological research also revealed how even the smallest degree of human influence can damage or even destroy a spring. This was documented at two springs near Jägerdörfel on the southeastern foot of the Lausche. “Although they were less than 400 meters from one another and it can be assumed that they are fed by the same ground water, their quality differs significantly,” says Dana Komínková. Spring BS1212 (known to the project team as “Pod Smrkem,” or “under the spruces”) features a high degree of water and sediment quality, as well as the presence of sensitive species and an absence of toxic metals. By comparison, Spring BS1210 (known as “Pod jímáním,” or “below the water catchment”) showed distinctly poorer quality. Komínková explained, “In the deposited sediment, higher concentrations of copper and nickel were found, which could represent a significant risk for the water ecosystem. One explanation is the location of the spring near the road, from which a significant quantity of gravel was washed, presumably spread in the winter to help cars gain traction under slippery conditions.”

The spring atlas, published as an internet portal, is not only filled with a great deal of valuable information, it also features an appealing design and is easy to use. So it is not “just” helpful to scientists from a wide range of disciplines, but also to nature enthusiasts and hikers. Instead of summit to summit, perhaps one of the next tours will lead from spring to spring – well planned in advance using this atlas. That could be a worthwhile undertaking, though one day would hardly suffice.

Additional information:
Spring Atlas: http://prameny.tul.cz/de/atlas

Examples – Information on individual springs:
Sulfur Spring (Sirný pramen): https://bit.ly/2Rbl2eo
Polzen Spring (Pramen Ploučnice): https://bit.ly/2ran5UU
Vacek Spring (Vackův pramen): https://bit.ly/2DP6NrZ

This article was published on January 15, 2019, in the 01/2019 Dresden Universitätsjournal. You can download the full issue as a PDF for free here. You can also order the UJ in print or as a PDF from doreen.liesch@tu-dresden.de. More information is available at universitaetsjournal.de.