Energy transition below ground? Subterranean Geographies of Transformation and the Geothermal Use of Mine Water in Mansfeld-Südharz

For centuries, the Mansfeld region has been shaped by profound anthropogenic interventions into the landscape. Subterranean soughs, tunnels, and cavities—the underground remnants of historical copper mining—continue to play a central role in the hydrological system of the Mansfeld Mulde. Against this backdrop, the project investigates how subterranean mine water is negotiated, regulated, and valorized for geothermal use within contemporary debates on energy transitions in eastern Germany.

The project examines how transformation processes unfold through (sub)terranean geographies that are co-constituted by shifting relations between the surface and the subsurface, as well as between human and nonhuman actors. Underground cavities, salts, water, microorganisms, and hydrogeological uncertainties are conceptualized as active agents that, through their capacity to forge unruly relations, shape more-than-human transformation processes. The subsurface of energy landscapes thus emerges as a contested, uncertain, and morally ambivalent more-than-human space.

Empirically, the research is based on qualitative, multi-perspective fieldwork conducted in the Mansfeld region. Conceptually, it is situated within debates on more-than-human political geographies and subterranean geopolitics. In doing so, the project contributes to an understanding of how energy transitions unfold “below ground,” while simultaneously illuminating the contested political negotiations and more-than-human relations that take shape “above ground.”