Abstract
Estonia is situated on the southern buried slope of the Baltic Shield where the sedimentary bedrock overlies the Precambrian crystalline basement. The Cambrian section contains mainly sandstone and clay (e.g. famous blue clay), Lower Ordovician is represented by sandstone, including phosphate Obolus sandstone (shelly phosphorite), and Upper Ordovician by oil shale (kukersite). Estonia is not very rich in useful minerals, but we have some georesources sizeable in European context: oil shale (the Estonia deposit is the largest commercially exploited and best-studied oil shale deposit in the world), phosphorite (the well- studied Rakvere deposit is the largest phosphorite deposit in Europe, but not exploited), and peat (Estonia is considered as a country richest in peatlands in North Europe). Unfortunately, for more than 80 years oil shale and phosphorite have been mined and industrially used in environmentally hazardous ways, devastating large regions in northern and northeastern Estonia. The mining is mainly causing technological and technical, environmental, economic and social problems.
Highlights
Estonia is situated on the southern buried slope of the Baltic Shield where the sedimentary bedrock overlies the Precambrian crystalline basement (Fig. 1)
1. oil shale – the Estonia deposit is the largest commercially exploited and best-studied oil shale deposit in the world (Kattai et al 2000); 2. phosphorite – the Rakvere deposit is the largest phosphorite deposit in Europe (Raudsep 1982; Puura 1987); 3. peat – Estonia is considered as a country richest in peatlands in North Europe, with 9836 bogs and mires covering a total of one million hectares, and more than 300 registered peat deposits
The mining right arises from an extraction permit for mineral resources, unless otherwise provided for in the Earth’s Crust Act
Summary
Estonia is situated on the southern buried slope of the Baltic Shield where the sedimentary bedrock overlies the Precambrian crystalline basement (Fig. 1). The thickness of the bedrock, composed of Ediacaran, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian strata, ranges from 100 m near the coast of the Gulf of Finland to 800 m in southern Estonia. The Ediacaran, Cambrian, and Devonian complexes consist of terrigenous rocks – sands, sandstones, and clays. Deposits of the most important mineral resources – oil shale, phosphorite, and carbonate rocks – are located in the northern and northeastern part of Estonia. According to the Earth’s Crust Act of Estonia, mineral resources are clay, dolostone, gravel, lacustrine lime, mud, limestone, oil shale, peat, phosphate rock (phosphorite), and sand. Peat – Estonia is considered as a country richest in peatlands in North Europe, with 9836 bogs and mires covering a total of one million hectares (about 22% of the Estonian territory), and more than 300 registered peat deposits 1. oil shale – the Estonia deposit is the largest commercially exploited and best-studied oil shale deposit in the world (Kattai et al 2000); 2. phosphorite – the Rakvere deposit (well studied but not exploited) is the largest phosphorite deposit in Europe (Raudsep 1982; Puura 1987); 3. peat – Estonia is considered as a country richest in peatlands in North Europe, with 9836 bogs and mires covering a total of one million hectares (about 22% of the Estonian territory), and more than 300 registered peat deposits
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