deposit / storage site
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deposit
A place in the Earth's crust where raw materials such as ores, coal, petroleum, or natural gas occur naturally in quantities worth extracting.
In der Region wurde eine neue Lagerstätte für seltene Erden entdeckt.
A new deposit of rare earths was discovered in the region.
storage site
An outdated or rare expression for a place where goods or commodities are stored; a storage area or depot.
Die alten Chroniken erwähnen eine große Lagerstätte für Getreide am Flussufer.
The old chronicles mention a large storage site for grain on the riverbank.
The word consists of 'Lager' (storage, camp, deposit) and 'Stätte' (site). A 'Stätte' is a place. A 'Lagerstätte' is therefore literally a place where something is stored—either by humans (old meaning) or by nature (modern meaning).
Archäologen fanden eine prähistorische Lagerstätte für Werkzeuge.
Archaeologists found a prehistoric storage site for tools.
In modern language, 'Lagerstätte' is almost exclusively a technical term from geology and economics. It is used to describe natural occurrences of raw materials.
Der Geologe schrieb einen Bericht über die neu entdeckte Lagerstätte.
The geologist wrote a report about the newly discovered deposit.
In the context of raw materials, the word is often combined with certain verbs and nouns. Typical phrases are 'eine Lagerstätte entdecken' (to discover a deposit), 'eine Lagerstätte erschließen' (to develop a deposit), or 'eine Lagerstätte für Erdöl/Gas/Kohle' (a deposit of oil/gas/coal).
Es kostet viel Geld, eine neue Erdöl-Lagerstätte zu erschließen.
It costs a lot of money to develop a new oil deposit.
The meaning 'storage area for goods' is outdated today. You will find this usage almost only in historical texts. In modern German, you would instead say 'Lager' (warehouse/storage), 'Lagerhalle' (warehouse hall), or 'Depot' (depot).
In dem alten Dokument ist von einer Lagerstätte für Salz die Rede.
The old document refers to a storage site for salt.
to occur / seem
The verb vorkommen only says that a raw material is present in a place. A Lagerstätte, by contrast, is a place where the raw material occurs in an amount that makes extraction possible. Therefore, not every natural occurrence is a Lagerstätte.
In dieser Gesteinsschicht liegt eine große Kupferlagerstätte, die abgebaut werden kann.
This rock layer contains a large copper deposit that can be mined.
In dieser Gesteinsschicht kann etwas Kupfer vorkommen, doch die Menge ist sehr gering.
There may be some copper in this rock layer, but the quantity is very small.
