TOURISM VS. MINING IN PRAID - ROMANIA SALT MINE

11th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM2011, www.sgem.org, SGEM2011 Conference Proceedings/ ISSN 1314-2704, June 20-25, 2011, Vol. 1, 1027-1030 pp

ABSTRACT

Praid salt deposit is one of the largest in Europe: the salt body has an elliptic shape, with
diameters of 1.2 km and 1.4 km, the depth being extended until 2,700 m. The mining
methods employed in time are various: bell-shaped rooms, trapezoidal rooms.
Nowadays, the small rooms and square pillars is employed, the method being described
in the paper. At 120 m depth, the cure and treatment facility is located. The underground
atmosphere is highly ionized and very effective in treating respiratory diseases. The
Praid salt mine microclimate, expressed through his physical and chemical specific
characteristics (air purity, constant humidity and temperature, air stream velocity, ozone
content) are generating favourable conditions for saline-therapy, for that reason the
treatment facility is intensively required.

Keywords: salt mine, tourism, mining, treatment facility, Romania.