The Megalopoli Mine is a large lignite and

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

open-pit mine Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a Borrow pit, b ...

owned by the Public Power Corporation of Greece that began in the early-1970s after the completion of the Megalopoli Power Plant. It mined approximately 40 km² or 4,000 ha of which 25 to 30 km² or 2,500 to 3,000 ha of land have been mined with a timespan of 37 years, it is the largest mine in the Peloponnese and Southern Greece and is ranked near Amyntaio and after

Ptolemaida Ptolemaida ( el, Πτολεμαΐδα, Ptolemaïda, Katharevousa: Πτολεμαΐς, ''Ptolemaïs'') is a town and a former municipality in Kozani regional unit, Western Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of th ...

. Coal is shipped on the west side, the shipping truck-only roads are in the middle of the mine.

History

The mine began in the 1970s and continues to expand until the plant closure in which the date is not yet set. The mine removed the settlement of Psatha 2 km east to near

Megalopoli Megalopoli ( el, Μεγαλόπολη) is a town in the southwestern part of the regional unit of Arcadia, southern Greece. It is located in the same site as ancient Megalopolis ( grc, Μεγαλόπολις, literally ''large/great city''). When ...

and Anthochori in which the moving the settlement is unknown. It also changed the

Alfeios The Alfeiós or Alpheios ( el, Αλφειός, grc, Ἀλφειός, Latin Alpheus) is the main stream of the Alpheios Valley drainage system, a dendritic type, originating on the north slopes of Mount Taygetus, located in the center of the Pelo ...

River course to south and west of the mines in which used to run through Psatha as well as another river to the northeast and at that time formed a tributary at Tripotamo in which it receives the settlement name. The expansion of the mine removed the Megalopoli-

Vastas Vastas ( el, Βάστας, also Βάστα ''Vasta'') is a village in the municipality of Megalopoli, Arcadia, Greece. It is situated on a mountainside near the border with Messenia, at about 850 m elevation. It is known for its "miracle church" o ...

Road, the Megalopoli-

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

Road and the GR-7 to the south and east, at that time, the mine became the largest in all of the Peloponnese. The

Thoknia Thoknia ( el, Θωκνία) is a village in the municipality of Megalopoli, Arcadia, Greece. It is situated near the confluence of the rivers Alfeios and Elissonas, at about 360 m elevation. It was named after the ancient Arcadian city Thocnia, ...

and the

Kyparissia Kyparissia ( el, Κυπαρισσία) is a town and a former municipality in northwestern Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Trifylia, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit ...

mines were later mined. Years later, the mine had reached the settlement boundary taking away farmlands and extended southward where it is currently near the forest and is expected to be at the line of the Tripotamo- Anthochori Road. It will not affect the settlement of Tripotamo. By the time it reaches near Tripotamo, the power plant may be scheduled to close. The closure means the population growth will end.

References

*The mine was featured on an ERT documentary broadcast on April 7, 2006.
International Federation of Surveyors – H. Zahariadis and M. Tsakiri. Low Cost Monitoring System in the Open Pit Lignite Mines of Megalopoli, Greece
{{coord, 37.3800, N, 22.1082, E, source:wikidata, display=title Coal mines in Greece Surface mines in Greece Megalopolis, Greece Buildings and structures in Arcadia, Peloponnese

History

See also

References