Geding-Kasted Mose is a

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

about 7 kilometers north-west of

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

, in the western section of the Egå river valley though which the river Egå runs. The bog covers about 30 hectares of which a sizable portion is used as meadows for grazing cattle. Other parts are cultivated but as the area is low-lying it is more or less flooded during winter. The bog has some waterholes and old

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

pits which are now mostly concealed by thickets of primarily

downy birch ''Betula pubescens'' (syn. ''Betula alba''), commonly known as downy birch and also as moor birch, white birch, European white birch or hairy birch, is a species of deciduous tree, native and abundant throughout northern Europe and northern Asia ...

and

grey willow Grey willow or gray willow may refer to: *''Salix atrocinerea'', a species of willow native to Europe commonly called grey willow *''Salix cinerea'', a species of willow native to Europe and western Asia, also occasionally called grey sallow *''Sal ...

. Geding-Kasted Bog is one of the most important catchment areas for the water supply in

Aarhus Municipality Aarhus Municipality (), known as Århus Municipality () until 2011, is a ''Municipalities of Denmark, kommune'' in the Central Denmark Region, on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and ...

and the city of Aarhus.

Flora and fauna

Geding-Kasted Bog has a major biodiversity with many different plant and animal species. Especially downy birch and grey willow dominate but on the meadows there is also globeflower, branched bur-reed,

western marsh orchid ''Dactylorhiza majalis'', or the broad-leaved marsh orchid, is a terrestrial Eurasian orchid. Subspecies include the western marsh orchid (''Dactylorhiza majalis'' subsp. ''occidentalis'') and southern marsh orchid (''Dactylorhiza majalis'' su ...

saw-wort ''Serratula tinctoria'', commonly known as dyer's plumeless saw-wort or saw-wort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Description Saw-wort is a spineless hairless perennial herb with wiry branched erect grooved stems. It ...

and Irish fleabane. Insects are important pollinators for the flowers in bog and as prey for toads, reptiles and birds. Due to the location between the nesting grounds

Egå Engsø Egå Engsø () is an artificial lake and wetland site located in the north of the town of Aarhus between Vejlby, Risskov and Lystrup. Engsø means 'meadow lake' and Egå means 'oak stream', referring to the stream that drains the lake into the A ...

and

Brabrand Lake Brabrand Lake () is a lake in the district of Brabrand (Gellerup), west of Aarhus city, Denmark. The Aarhus River passes through Brabrand Lake and it is possible to canoe all the way to the inner city from here. The lake is oblong-shaped. Since ...

there's an especially varied population of birds including

thrush nightingale The thrush nightingale (''Luscinia luscinia''), also known as the sprosser, is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscic ...

eurasian penduline tit The Eurasian penduline tit or European penduline tit (''Remiz pendulinus'') is a passerine bird of the genus ''Remiz''. It is relatively widespread throughout the western Palearctic. It is migratory in the northern part of its range but resident ...

water rail The water rail, western water rail or European water rail (''Rallus aquaticus'') is a bird of the rail family which breeds in well-vegetated wetlands across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Northern and eastern populations are migratory, but this ...

western marsh harrier The western marsh harrier (''Circus aeruginosus'') is a large harrier (bird), harrier, a bird of prey from temperate and subtropical western Palearctic, Eurasia and adjacent Africa. It is also known as the Eurasian marsh harrier. Formerly, a numb ...

common kestrel The common kestrel (''Falco tinnunculus''), also known as the European kestrel, Eurasian kestrel or Old World kestrel, is a species of bird of prey, predatory bird belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family (biology), family Falconidae. ...

and

grey heron The grey heron (''Ardea cinerea'') is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia, and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more norther ...

. The bog was used for grazing cattle for many years which was maintained by a local group of volunteers. In the 2010s the bog will undergo a rewilding project that will introduce

Galloway cattle The Galloway is a Scottish breed of beef cattle, named after the Galloway region of Scotland, where it originated during the seventeenth century. It is usually black, is of average size, is naturally polled and has a thick coat suitable for ...

and later possibly

water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called domestic water buffalo, Asian water buffalo and Asiatic water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also kept in Italy, the Balkans ...

and wild horses.

Environmental conditions

Pollution with

heavy metals upright=1.2, Crystals of lead.html" ;"title="osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead Heavy metals is a controversial and ambiguous term for metallic elements with relatively h ...

was discovered by coincidence in 1966. Botanists found a species of

liverwort Liverworts are a group of non-vascular land plants forming the division Marchantiophyta (). They may also be referred to as hepatics. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry ...

which at the time was not known from other places in Denmark. Further examinations of the plant led to the discovery of a connection between this particular species and heavy metals or

sulphur Sulfur (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundance of the chemical ...

in the ground. Excavation revealed buried industry waste consisting of, among other things,

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

from a former production of

sulphuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

. The bog has received polluted water through the stream of ''Moseåen'' between 1870 and the 1970s, mostly heavy metals such as

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

, and a smaller amount of

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Like z ...

, but also

and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

. The pollution originated from a fertilizer factory in Mundelstrup Stationsby at

Tilst Tilst is a suburban area of Aarhus, Denmark, situated 8 km to the northwest of Aarhus. The Tilst area is marked by big city blocks and large traditional suburban areas. In the surrounding area are several superstores, which mainly serve the inne ...

. The factory closed in the 1970s, the emissions stopped, and a major cleanup project was undertaken around the factory in 1991-1993. The upper section of the Egå valley is still polluted, although the pollution is mostly in the

top soil Top most commonly refers to: * Top, a basic term of orientation, distinguished from bottom, front, back, and sides * Spinning top, a ubiquitous traditional toy * Top (clothing), clothing designed to be worn over the torso * Mountain top, a mount ...

layer and it has been assessed that it won't affect the

ground water Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidat ...

. The water in Kasted Vandværk (Kasted Waterworks) in Kasted is continuously tested for heavy metals.

Gallery

Tilst Mose.jpg, The bog is heavily overgrown with grey willow (''

Salix cinerea ''Salix cinerea'' (common sallow, grey sallow, grey willow, grey-leaved sallow, large grey willow, pussy willow, rusty sallow) is a species of willow native to Europe and western Asia.Meikle, R. D. (1984). ''Willows and Poplars of Great Britain ...

'') Mosetræ.jpg, The wet and damp bog provides a good environment for

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

es Dyreveksel i mosen.jpg, An

animal track __notoc__ An animal track is an imprint left behind in soil, snow, or mud, or on some other ground surface, by an animal walking across it. Animal tracks are used by hunters in tracking their prey and by naturalists to identify animals living ...

leading into the bogland thickets Hulkravet Kodriver.jpg, Cowslip (''

Primula veris ''Primula veris'', the cowslip, common cowslip, or cowslip primrose (syn. ''Primula officinalis'' John Hill (author), ), is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the Primula vulgaris, primrose family (biology), family Primulaceae. The specie ...

'') Trollius-europaeus-Kasted.jpg, Globeflower (''

Trollius europaeus ''Trollius europaeus'', the globeflower, is a perennial flowering plant of the family Ranunculaceae. The plant is native to Europe and Western Asia and is a protected species in Russia and Bulgaria. In Udmurtia, this plant is one of the national ...

'')

References

;Publications *

External links

* * {{url, http://www.spor.dk/Sporene/Midtjylland/Kasted.aspx, ''Spor i landskabet'' page for hiking route in Kasted Bog Bogs of Denmark Aarhus Municipality