Anthropogenic landscape transformations and geomorphological landform assemblages in the context of historical mining in the Harz Mountains (Germany): Case study Sankt Andreasberg Mining District 

Abstract

Already at the end of the 19th century, initial approaches were carried out to estimate the extent of anthropogenic mass transfer by humans on a global scale. In the course of the proposal of a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, which is controversially discussed since the 2000s, anthropogenic geomorphological changes have received new attention. According to this concept, humans are moving more rocks and sediments worldwide than natural processes, with a supposed exponential increase in the mid 20th century. Along with agriculture, mining activities are among the most important anthropogenic transformations of the earth's surface. Mining landscapes have become at many locations an integral part of landform development and a crucial element of the technosphere. In the framework of the Anthropogenetic Geomorphology, humans are considered as geomorphological agents, creating a variety of landforms, for which at the same time new classifications are needed. In the present project an interdisciplinary environmental-historical approach is used to examine the question of when, how and to which extent humans have modified the relief landscape. As study area, the Harz Mountains in Northern Germany were selected, which represents one of the most important historical mining areas in Central Europe, especially for silver, lead and copper. They are a key region for the interconnectedness of human-nature interactions, which are reflected in a genetically complex landscape development. Humans have influenced the landscape of the Harz Mountains already since prehistorical times to varying extents. Distinct phases of landscape transformation will be distinguished in this study. However, one of the most significant landscape changes took place in the Early Modern Period, when the Harz became one of the largest industrial areas in Central Europe with some of the deepest shafts worldwide at that time and large-scale underground excavations. The main driver for the exploitation of ores was the interlinkage with the global metal trade and the arise of new economic and political systems during the Renaissance, whereas the mining operations mainly relied on the local availability of certain resources such as wood and water. The energetic base for the underground mining, reaching up to almost 1000 m below the earth surface, was the Upper Harz Water Management System, the largest historical energy supply system for mining, designated as UNESCO-World-Heritage site in the year 2010. In a case study in the St. Andreasberg Mining District (West-Harz) as one of the centers of silver mining, the physical landscape changes are systematically examined in the context of litho-geomorphological, ecological and cultural-political aspects and in their spatio-temporal patterns. The focus of the study presented here lies on the type and dimension of subterranean relief changes in the lithosphere in connection with the correlating transformation of the reliefsphere and the hydrological system in the catchment area of the Oder-Sieber River system. The mining landscape is composed of anthropogenic landform assemblages, consisting of heterogeneous compositions of lithogenic, geomorphological, biogenic and aquatic elements, which are representative for the Upper Harz mining landscape.