The Görlitz districts of Hagenwerder, Klein Neundorf and Tauchritz as well as the communities of Markersdorf and Schönau-Berzdorf border the former open pit mine.

The basin is a tectonically northeast-southwest trending trench bounded at the margins by numerous faults with different strike directions.

The deposit was heavily stressed by glacial ice during the Pleistocene, which had an impact on the geomorphological and geological characteristics of the basin.

[5] On the German side, the Berzdorf coal seam has an average thickness of 80 meters and an extension of about three by eight kilometers.

In comparison, the seams in Lower Lusatia have a thickness of ten meters over a length of about one hundred kilometers.

[5] Around 1835, lignite mining began south of Görlitz at the site of the former village of Berzdorf, at that time in underground shafts.

[7] The Lusatian and Central German Mining Management Company (de: LMBV) transformed the post-mining landscape into a recreational area.

In 2010, the lake was about half full when the nearby dam on the Smědá broke during heavy rains on August 7.

There are several lookout points with information boards along the 18-kilometer-long lakeside path, including at Deutsch-Ossig and at Klein Neundorf.

With the declaration of navigability by the State of Saxony, the lake will be open to motorboats and passenger vessels during the day between April and October from September 12, 2022.