Manifestations from the Sub Surface

Loussajärvi

The names of places in the landscape surrounding Kiruna are menkäli and mean; yli, ylä - upper ala, ali - lower lombolo, lompola, lompolo - an expansion/opening of the river joki - river järvi – water, lake vaara – mountain

Jukkasjärvi / Torn river

These Menkäli names all say something about the different elements that the landscape is composed of.

These elements are gradually transforming and we can imagine the new names that will arise and that have already arisen in the landscape of Kiruna; Jänkkä, jänkä - bog kuru – cut, cleft, valley matala – shallow point in the lake/sea mella – sandbank, low bank on the river oja – stream, small river lantto - pond

Loussajoki Yli Lombolo Ala Lombolo

Loussakurn

Loussavaara

Loussajänka

Loussajärvi

Kiruna ?

Kiruna

Yli Lombolo

Kirunavaara

Ala Lombolo

Loussajoki

Loussaoja

Yli Lantto

Kirunakurn

Ala Lantto

Manifestations from the Sub Surface on the destiny and latent effect of two lakes in the heart of Kiruna

The mining process in Kiruna is gradually transforming the landscape; deforming it, cracking and fracturing it; making visual manifestations on the surface of the landscape and telling a slow story of what is going on underneath the ground. Yet, there is more going on underneath the surface, than meets the eye, or indeed the ear; Some of us have heard of the slow draining of the lake of Luossajärvi, transforming it gradually into a bog. Fewer have heard of “the pit” in Malmberget/Gallivare, that is a 50-year-old manifestation of what will take place at an even larger scale in Kiruna in the near future; gradually deforming ground, following the rules of gravity as holes are made further and deeper in the ground than could once be imagined. Only very few of us have heard the story of what is hidden conveniently underneath the surface of two lakes, strategically placed at the centre of the Kiruna-community, as we know it today.

Shallow water in the heart of Kiruna These two lakes are known as Yli Lombolo and Ala Lombolo, meaning upper and lower opening in the river in the Meankäli language. Both Yli and Ala Lombolo are shallow lakes, respectively with depths of 1 m and 3.5 m. They both contain high amounts of mercury /quick silver, but the crucial difference between them is that Ala is a sedimentary lake, whilst Yli isn´t. This is why Ala is a ticking bomb, both metaphorically and literally; As it turns out Ala Lombolo is not only at the heart of Kiruna, it is also the home of 17.300 grenades, dumped in the north/north-estern corner of the lake by the Swedish Army in the 1950ies (Kiruna municipality, 2012). This corner of the lake happens to be the part of the lake nearest the settled community.

Furthermore, Kiruna municipality confirms that there are approximately 200 kg of mercury in the sediments of Ala Lompolo; 60-100 g of this travel further down the water system every year. The pike caught downstream of Luossajoki river, in Jukkasjärvi, also known as the Torn-river, contains 1 mg of mercury pr. kg of fish-meat. According to the authorities this is not dangerous to consume, but the fish upstream Jukkasjärvi do not contain the same amounts of mercury, and are definitely better to consume.

“Ala Lombolo has been a recipient of municipal waste water and dumped ammunition” (Hedlund, 2005). The municipal wastewater at the time in question also contained the wastewater from the LKAB mines, which is the reason you will find many heavy metals, not only mercury, within the sediments in Ala Lompolo. According to Hedlund “the sediments are heavily polluted with metals and PBC. Mercury, copper and zinc occur in very high concentration, while cadmium and lead occur in high concentrations. Other metals are present in low to very low concentrations”.

In other words the dumping has indirectly been done by the Swedish State, through LKAB, Kiruna kommun and the Swedish Army. The Swedish Geological Survey (SGU) is now officially responsible for handling the situation in Ala Lombolo.

A stable situation?

The mining activity in the area is causing the water levels of the river Luossajoki to decrease. This might effect the currently stable situation of Ala Lompolo, in the future, because major changes in hydrology, climate/temperature and light conditions can affect the contents of the lake significantly.

The grenades in the lake are sensitive to temperature, light and pressure changes, which are hard to predict. However, if the lake dries up entirely the sediments will start reacting and affect the

immediate surroundings of the lake. If the lake is only partially dried up it will turn the current, innocent erosion of sediments, into a mass moving erosion-process; essentially contaminating Jukkasjärvi/ Torn-river to such an extent the authorities can no longer say that eating the pike and other fish downstream the river is not hazardous. (Hedlund, 2005) How to disarm Ala Lompolo?

LKAB are looking to make further large changes to the local water system, because there is a risk that water from Luossajärvi-lake will seep into fracture-zones resulting from the mining process, and thus disrupt the current mining process. Luossajärvi has already partially turned into a bog, and used to be the major lake feeding Loussajoki river and Yli and Ala Lompolo with water.

LKAB are suggesting alternatives for redirecting and displacing the water flow, from Loussajärvi around Ala Lompolo, and possibly leading it into Kalix river or Rantas river, eventually leading into Jukkasjärvi/Torn-river. There have been expressed concerns about this due to possible leakages from the mine into the Loussajärvi lake during the process of displacement. Meanwhile, the municipality predicts that Ala Lompolo dries up and that vegetation will grow on top of the sediments, covering them and redirecting them into the subconscious once again. However, Ala Lombolo might only dry up partially, and the leakages into the Jukkasjärvi/Torn-river in this scenario will be way worse than if there are partial leakages from the mine into Loussajärvi.

This leads me to conclude that the management of the water system as a whole seems inconsistent; the solution for Luossajärvi will affect Ala Lombolo and subsequently Jukkasjärvi/Torn-river. Furthermore, Yli and Ala Lombolo are nestled in-between the estimated fracture zones of 2013 and 2023; what will happen when the shaking grounds reach the 60 year old grenades?

What is the destiny of the 17.300 grenades and 230 kg Merqury, 10 tons zink, 3 tons copper, 1.6 tons lead, 1 ton molbyden, 33 kg cadmium and high levels of PBC (Wikipedia, 2012) of Ala Lombolo in the far-toonear future?

Putting pollution in a system The toxic tension of Ala Lombolo needs to be solved so the toxic mentals hidden underneath the surface doesn´t spread further into the environmental system of the surroundings. It needs to be solved, not only for the future Kiruna, but also for the future of the part of Tornedalen downsteam of LKAB´s mines, and their communities, founded on the natural resources found, and still present in the landscape today. A large portion of the other livelihood in the area is still based on these natural resources, which are under threat.

Subsequently, it is not really an urban transformation that is necessary to provide for a positive future in Kiruna. Moreover, the urban transformation, as LKAB has skilfully named it, and the municipality is subsequently calling it as well, is actually an urban relocation. What is actually happing in Kiruna is an uncontrolled landscape transformation, which needs a series of parallel projects that include restorative, regenerative, remediative and redeveloping projects. Furthermore, all these projects should preferably reflect on each other to create a holistic, sustainable solution for the domino-landscape that Kiruna and its surroundings are today.

Sources: Kvenske stedsnavn; http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=142464839144385 Ala Lopolo on Wikipedia: http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ala_Lompolo Kiruna municipality; http://www.kommun.kiruna.se/Miljo-och-natur/Projekt-Ala-Lombolo/ Swedish water-organisation; http://www.vattenorganisationer.se/tornealvenvro/downloads/10/AnteckningarVattenparlament17Juni2010.pdf Swedish water-authority; http://www.vattenmyndigheterna.se/SiteCollectionDocuments/sv/bottenviken/samrad/samrad-2009/Remissvar/tornedalensvp.pdf Hedlund, Laila. Framtida klimatfördrändringar och gruvdrift I Kiruna – Bedömning av kvalitativa förändringer och afterföljande konsekvensar för Ala Lombolo. Luleå tekniska univeristet. 2005