Source: Bloomburg BNA
Author: Adam Ellington and Stephan Lee
Once thought too expensive and too difficult, commercial scale mining of the deep sea is poised to become a reality as early as 2019. But scientists warn reaching rare minerals on and under the sea floor could cause irreversible damage to an environment that is still poorly understood.
Continue reading Deep-Sea Mining for Rare-Earth Metals Looms, as Do Environmental Questions
Source: Science Daily
Author: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology
Large quantities of the greenhouse gas methane are stored in the seabed. Fortunately, only a small fraction of the methane reaches the atmosphere, where it acts as a climate-relevant gas, as it is largely degraded within the sediment. This degradation is carried out by a specialized community of microbes, which removes up to 90 percent of the escaping methane. Thus, these microbes are referred to as the “microbial methane filter.” If the greenhouse gas were to rise through the water and into the atmosphere, it could have a significant impact on our climate.
Continue reading Observing the development of a deep-sea greenhouse gas filter
Source: Business Insider
Author: Jeremy Berke
The seafloor is one of the last unexplored regions of our watery planet.
On a recent expedition dubbed Deep Search 2018, a group of ocean researchers discovered 85 miles of deep-sea coral reef off the coast of the southeastern US.
“Good news is too rare these days, and this is a victory that we can all share. We have found a pristine coral reef in our own backyard,” Erik Cordes, the chief scientist on the expedition and a deep-sea ecologist at Temple University, wrote in a mission summary.
Source: Nature
Author: Amy Maxmen
“Gummy squirrels,” single-celled organisms the size of softballs and strange worms thrive in a Pacific Ocean zone some considered an underwater desert.
Deep in the eastern central Pacific Ocean, on a stretch of sea floor nearly as big as the continental United States, researchers are discovering species faster than they can name them. And they are exploring newfound fossil beds of whales that lived up to 16 million years ago.
The findings — many reported for the first time last week at the Deep-Sea Biology Symposium in Monterey, California — have come as a shock. Some scientists had thought these vast underwater plains, 4,000–5,500 metres below the ocean surface, were relatively lifeless. But that is changing just as nations and corporations prepare to mine this patch of the Pacific sea bed for cobalt, manganese and other elements for use in technologies such as smartphones and electric cars.
Continue reading Discovery of vibrant deep-sea life prompts new worries over seabed mining
Source: Mining Technology
Author: JP Casey
From Rio Tinto’s bauxite operations in Australia to Nautilus’ Solwara 1 project in Papua New Guinean waters, the work of mining companies can have a significant – and often destructive – impact on local wildlife. Guidelines and legislation operating above the level of national governments could help to guide mining towards a less destructive future, but questions remain over their effectiveness.
Continue reading Urgent concern: how mining damages wildlife on land and at sea
Source: Phys.org
In cooperation with an international team, Senckenberg scientists examined the impact of deep-sea mining – such as the extraction of manganese nodules – on the species diversity at the ocean floor. They were able to show that even 26 years after the end of the mining activity a significant loss of ground-dwelling organisms can be registered. Filter-feeding animals are particularly affected – more than two decades after the mining operations, almost 80 percent of the species remain absent. The study was recently published in the scientific journal Biogeosciences.
Continue reading Deep-sea mining causes massive loss of species lasting for decades
Source: The Pioneer
Author: Kota Sriraj
A fall in the number of deep sea organisms illustrates the adverse impact of mining our oceans. This ruthless exploitation must end
Oceans are the lifeblood of planet Earth and humankind. They flow over nearly three-quarters of our planet and hold 97 per cent of the planet’s water. They produce more than half of the oxygen in the atmosphere and absorb most of the carbon from it. About half of the world’s population lives within the coastal zone, and ocean-based businesses contribute more than $500 billion to the world’s economy. With credentials such as these, oceans of the world need to be treated with utmost care. Sadly, this is not the case. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation report, oceans are already filled with about 165 million tonnes of plastic, and it is estimated that by 2050, the weight of plastic floating in the oceans of the world will far outweigh the combined weight of fishes in it. To make matters worse, the prospect of deep-sea mining for precious metals, gas and petroleum is emerging as a serious threat.
Source: The Guardian
Author: Chinedum Uwaegbulam
Frontline environmental group, HOMEF foundation has warned that international waters – known as the “common heritage of kind” – are under a new, imminent, and most deadly threat from the deep sea mining industry.
The warming is coming in the wake of a global meeting by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a UN agency which has not received much public scrutiny until now, meets in Kingston, Jamaica this week to discuss how to open up the deep sea bed to mining.
Continue reading Groups urge moratorium on deep sea mining exploration, exploitation
Source: Oceans Deeply
Author: Ian Evans
Mars is mapped in better detail than the ocean floor, which is why a project on the scale of some space missions was launched to change that. Listen to experts discuss how Seabed 2030 will work and what it could mean for marine conservation.
Continue reading Deeply Talks: Behind the Quest to Map the Seabed by 2030
