Tag Archives: abyssal plains of seabed

Unbelievable! The Astonishing Underworld of Seafloor

Leave a reply

A scientific expedition into a region of the Pacific Ocean named for Hades, Greek god of the underworld, has uncovered an other-worldly ecosystem 30,000 feet deep. “It’s a totally new thing that has not been seen before,” said Dominic Papineau, an exobiologist at China’s State Key Laboratory of Deep-sea Science and Intelligence Technology in Sanya.

Papineau is co-author of a groundbreaking research paper published in the journal Nature, describing the astonishing array of creatures who live in this daunting and dark environment, sustained by chemicals that leach from the ocean floor. Researcher Mengran Du told The Washington Post she wasn’t sure what expect when she descended in a three-person submersible into one of the deepest trenches in the Pacific. What she and others from China’s Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering saw when they got there was, she said, “unbelievable.”

Like skyscrapers, thick clusters of tubeworms with red-tinged tentacles jutted from the ocean floor, phosphorescent snails scaling them like window washers, she said. In between, white bristly creatures wriggled and writhed…

Scientists have long studied organisms that thrive around hydrothermal vents. But those native to areas known as cold seeps — where gases like methane and hydrogen sulfite leach from the seafloor at near-freezing temperatures — have been little studied. 

“Flourishing chemosynthetic communities had long been postulated to exist in the trenches, but this is the first paper that documents their existence below 9 kilometers and at multiple locations,” she said.  The adaptability of organizations in those trenches is a shot in the arm for scientists searching for evidence of life in oceans on other celestial bodies, including Europa, a moon of Jupiter.

Excerpt from Scientists Find New Ecosystem in Deepest Trenches of Pacific Ocean, US News and World Report, Aug. 4, 2025
 

Mining the Seabed: By hook or by crook

Leave a reply

The Trump administration is reportedly considering an executive order that would accelerate deep-sea mining in international waters by allowing companies to bypass a United Nations-backed review process. The order would affirm the United States’ right to extract critical minerals from the ocean floor, enabling companies to seek permits directly from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The International Seabed Authority (ISA), established in 1982 under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)—which the U.S. has not ratified—has spent years developing regulations for deep-sea mining.  In 2021, the island nation of Nauru sponsored Canada’s The Metals Company (TMC) to begin deep-sea mining, forcing the ISA to draft rules before any company could start extracting minerals in international waters. The 36-member ISA council has since met repeatedly to finalize regulations. In March 2025, officials gathered in Jamaica to review hundreds of proposed amendments to a 256-page draft mining code, but the session ended without a resolution.

Frustrated by the ISA’s slow progress, TMC in March 2025 formally urged the Trump administration to issue deep-sea mining permits, arguing that “commercial industry is not welcome at the ISA.” “The Authority is being influenced by a faction of States allied with environmental NGOs who see the deep-sea mining industry as their ‘last green trophy,’” TMC chairman and chief executive, Gerard Barron. “They have worked tirelessly to continuously delay the adoption of the Exploitation Regulations with the explicit intent of killing commercial industry.”

Governments interested in developing deep-sea mining within their territorial waters — typically 200 nautical miles from shore — include the Cook Islands, Norway and Japan.

Proponents of seabed mining contend that its environmental impact is lower than land-based extraction. Critics warn that the long-term consequences remain uncertain and advocate for further research before large-scale operations begin.

Excerpt from Cecilia Jamasmie, Trump eyes executive order to fast-track deep-sea mining, Mining.com, Apr. 1, 2025

Mapping the Seafloor: Why Is It Important for War?

Leave a reply

China’s fleet has triggered protests from Japan, India and others, but that hasn’t stopped Beijing from launching long missions to map the sea floor. The data they obtain has numerous applications, from science to the emerging industry of deep-sea mining, but it is the Chinese government’s commandeering of civilian research for military use that threatens American allies.

India’s navy drove a Chinese research ship away in 2019, but more have returned. In recent weeks, two of China’s most advanced research vessels, the Xiang Yang Hong 01 and the newer Dong Fang Hong 3 have conducted lawnmower-style sweeps across vast stretches of the eastern Indian Ocean.

Chinese civilian vessels are pursuing expeditions around the world—there are as many as a dozen or so active at any given time. The data they gather, including on currents, temperature and salinity, can have an array of applications. Detailed scanning of the seabed, for instance, can provide information about the visibility of naval mines and the accuracy of sonar.  The surveys can also help determine what minerals could be extracted…Recent missions have spurred complaints by at least half a dozen governments. China says its marine research activities fully comply with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the international treaty that established the legal regime for the world’s oceans….

The U.S. Navy also carries out maritime surveys for military purposes…. Under the U.N. convention, coastal states have jurisdiction over research in their exclusive economic zones, which extend 200 miles from the coast. The U.S., which recognizes but hasn’t ratified the convention, argues that military surveys are exempt and U.S. Navy oceanographic ships regularly conduct studies near China. China appears to be moving closer to the American stance, “as they’re doing more oceanographic research without the permission of coastal states.”

Excerpts from Austin Ramzy, China Is Mapping the Seabed to Unlock New Edge in Warfare, WSJ, Mar. 12, 2025

The Communist Chinese Party and the Protection of the Ocean Seabed

Leave a reply

A disagreement between deep-sea miner The Metals Company (TMC) and researchers over a new scientific study is threatening efforts to mine the ocean bed for metals critical to supporting the green-energy transition. A study in the journal Nature Geoscience suggested that deep-sea nodules, which contain metals such as nickel critical for electric-vehicle batteries, produce oxygen despite the absence of light at the bottom of the ocean. The researchers making the claim called for further studies into how oxygen is produced on the ocean floor while environmental groups called for a halt to disrupting the seafloor and mining of nodules. TMC and some scientists are questioning the claim and accusing the lead authors of the study of plagiarism… The study comes at a time of troubled waters for the deep-sea mining industry, with political uncertainty and TMC struggling for new sources of investment.

In the U.S., the outlook for the industry has improved recently. On the corporate side, both Tesla and General Motors shareholders have said they wouldn’t back a moratorium on deep-sea mining. Ocean-floor minerals are seen as key to making electric-vehicle batteries because of the presence of cobalt, nickel and manganese in nodules. In Washington in September 2024, a House hearing was held on the subject of deep-sea and critical minerals, as many see the metals found on the ocean floor as important for defense purposes. In a meeting co-chaired by Democrat Kathy Castor of Florida and Republican Robert Wittman of Virginia as part of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Barron made the case for deep-sea nodules to become part of the U.S.’s critical mineral supply chain.

Meanwhile, industry leaders have gathered in the Cook Islands in September 2024 where a conference on deep-sea mining is taking place. The Pacific nation is home to thousands of tons of nodules, which are also rich in copper.

Excerpts from Yusuf Khan, Deep-Sea Mining Hits Crunch Point Amid Academic Battle Over Ocean-Floor Resources, WSJ, Sept 24, 2024

Saving the Climate by Fouling the Oceans

Leave a reply

The Norwegian government in June 2023 opened the door for deep-sea mining in its waters, despite opposition from environmental groups and a growing list of nation states arguing to ban the practice.  The government said it was proposing parts of the Norwegian continental shelf be opened for deep sea mining and other commercial seabed mineral activities…Companies and countries are scouring the planet to find and secure additional sources of metals and minerals critical for the energy transition, including cobalt, manganese and nickel.  To date deep-sea mining has focused on the extraction of seabed nodules—tennis-ball sized pieces of rock which contain manganese, cobalt and nickel, all of which are used in electric-vehicle batteries. 

So far much of the attention has centered on the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean: An area of water between Mexico and Hawaii that contains millions of tons of nodules.  In Norway however, the focus will be on seabed crusts on the country’s continental shelf. The target crusts contain copper, zinc and cobalt, as well as some rare-earth elements, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate…

Countries including France and Germany have called for moratoriums on deep-sea mining, while in May 2023 a report found that when researching the pacific seabed, 90% of the more than 5,000 marine creatures found living in the Clarion Clipperton Zone were new species. Companies including Maersk and Lockheed Martin have also been divesting their deep-sea mining investments. 

Excerpts from Yusuf Khan, Norway Opens Door for Deep-Sea Mining of Copper and Other Critical Materials, WSJ, June 20, 2023

The Pitfalls of Green Energy Revolution

Leave a reply

Video footage from a deep-sea mining test, showing sediment discharging into the ocean, has raised fresh questions about the largely untested nature of the industry, and the possible harms it could do to ecosystems as companies push to begin full-scale exploration of the ocean floor as early as this year. The Metals Company (TMC), a Canadian mining firm that is one of the leading industry players, spent September to November of 2022 testing its underwater extraction vehicle in the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone, a section of the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Hawaii.

But a group of scientists hired by the company to monitor its operations, concerned by what they saw, posted a video of what they said was a flawed process that accidentally released sediment into the ocean. The scientists also said the company fell short in its environmental monitoring strategy, according to documents viewed by the Guardian newspaper.

As the push for deep-sea mining intensifies, experts are increasingly concerned that companies will kick up clouds of sediment, which could be laden with toxic heavy metals that may harm marine life. At least 700 scientists – along with France, Germany and Chile – are calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining.

In a post to its website, TMC acknowledged the incident, but framed the discharge from its cyclone separator as a “minor event” in which “a small amount” of sediment and nodule fragments spilled into the ocean. The company said it fixed the issue in its equipment to prevent further overflows and concluded that the incident “did not have the potential to cause serious harm”.

Experts and critics caution that the incident highlights the relative uncertainties surrounding deep-sea mining. Companies are scrambling to scavenge the ocean floor for valuable metals, used in electric vehicle batteries and a host of other technologies such as green energy production, amid a global fight for stable supply.

Excerpts from Leaked video footage of ocean pollution shines light on deep-sea mining, Guardian, Feb. 6, 2022

Green Con Artists and their Moneyed Followers

Leave a reply

Green investing has grown so fast that there is a flood of money chasing a limited number of viable companies that produce renewable energy, electric cars and the like. Some money managers are stretching the definition of green in how they deploy investors’ funds. Now billions of dollars earmarked for sustainable investment are going to companies with questionable environmental credentials and, in some cases, huge business risks. They include a Chinese incinerator company, an animal-waste processor that recently settled a state lawsuit over its emissions and a self-driving-truck technology company.

One way to stretch the definition is to fund companies that supply products for the green economy, even if they harm the environment to do so. In 2020 an investment company professing a “strong commitment to sustainability” merged with the operator of an open-pit rare-earth mine in California at a $1.5 billion valuation. Although the mine has a history of environmental problems and has to bury low-level radioactive uranium waste, the company says it qualifies as green because rare earths are important for electric cars and because it doesn’t do as much harm as overseas rivals operating under looser regulations…

When it comes to green companies, “there just isn’t enough” to absorb investor demand…In response, MSCI has looked at other ways to rank companies for environmentally minded investors, for example ranking “the greenest within a dirty industry”….

Of all the industries seeking green money, deep-sea mining may be facing the harshest environmental headwinds. Biologists, oceanographers and the famous environmentalist David Attenborough have been calling for a yearslong halt of all deep-sea mining projects. A World Bank report warned of the risk of “irreversible damage to the environment and harm to the public” from seabed mining and urged caution. More than 300 deep-sea scientists released a statement today calling for a ban on all seabed mining until at least 2030. In late March 2021, Google, battery maker Samsung SDI Co., BMW AG and heavy truck maker Volvo Group announced that they wouldn’t buy metals from deep-sea mining.

[However the The Metals Company (TMC) claims that deep seabed mining is green].

Excerpts from Justin Scheck et al, Environmental Investing Frenzy Stretches Meaning of ‘Green’, WSJ, June 24, 2021

The Diversity of Submarine Mountains

Leave a reply

There are about 30 000 mountains under the sea, the so-called “seamounts.”  One of them the Tropic Seamount started as a volcano, 120 million years ago. It lies at the southern tail of a chain that includes submerged peaks as well as the Canary Islands off the coast of Western Sahara. The seamount rises 3 kilometers from the ocean floor and is topped by a plateau 50 kilometers wide, 1 kilometer below the sea surface. Above ground, it would rank among the world’s 100 tallest mountains…. Much of its surface is encrusted with minerals that precipitated out of the seawater over eons, coating the lava at the excruciatingly slow rate of 1 centimeter or less every 1 million years.

That coating has caught the eye of prospectors. Called ferromanganese crust, it can contain high concentrations of cobalt, tellurium, and rare-earth elements used in electronics such as wind turbines, batteries, and solar panels. By one estimate, seamounts in just one chunk of the North Pacific Ocean could hold 50 million tons of cobalt—seven times the worldwide total that’s economical to dig up on land. Such estimates arrive at a time when the International Energy Agency in Vienna is warning of a possible cobalt supply crunch by 2030, caused in part by the growing production of battery-powered cars.

Companies hoping to extract those metals from the seabed are focusing first on abyssal plains. Those flat expanses of the deep ocean floor can be littered with potatolike nodules rich in nickel, copper, and cobalt. They are also looking at hydrothermal vents that spew mineral-laden water, creating thick crusts and fantastical rock chimneys. Seventeen companies have permits to explore for minerals in one abyssal region, the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico. And in 2017, Japan became the first nation to conduct large-scale experimental mining of a dead hydrothermal vent off the coast of Okinawa, inside Japan’s national waters. But the crusts on seamounts have particularly high concentrations of sought-after metals, making them a tempting target…

[Scientists are worried] that what they have learned from the the Tropic Seamount puts mining and conservation on a collision course. “The conditions that seem to favor the growth of the crusts,” he says, “also seem to favor the colonization by a lot of corals and sponges.”

Seamounts cover roughtly the same area as Russia and Europe combined, by one estimate, making them one of the planet’s largest habitats. The peaks have long been known as oases for sea life….Schools of fish—brick-red orange roughy, silvery pelagic armorheads, and goggle-eyed black oreos—often congregate at seamounts, as do sharks and tuna. Some migratory humpback whales appear to use them as navigational markers, spawning grounds, and resting spots. Seabirds gather above them, and myriad corals and sponges cling to their rocky surfaces, creating ample cover for other creatures.

Interest in seamounts is particularly high in countries that either host companies interested in deep-sea mining or are considering allowing mining in their national waters. In 2018, the Chinese research ship Kexue (meaning “science”) spent about 1 month surveying the Magellan Seamounts near the Mariana Trench, which several nations see as a potential source of industrial minerals. Brazilian researchers teamed up with Murton’s MarineE-tech project to examine an area in international waters where the country has a preliminary mining claim. Japanese scientists sent robots to survey seamounts that might be ripe for mining. In late July, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in Kingston, a part of the United Nations that governs deep-sea mining in international waters, released 18 years of environmental data gathered by companies pursuing mining claims, including on seamounts….

The design of seamount mining equipment is closely guarded by competing countries and companies. But it could work much like equipment being tested for hydrothermal vents: enormous, remote-controlled machines that resemble bulldozers, equipped with toothed wheels designed to grind the crust into bits that can be carried to the ocean surface for processing.

Although no seamount has been mined yet, scientists point to the damage from deep-sea fishing to underscore why they worry this heavy machinery would do irreparable damage. In the late 1990s, Australian scientists documented devastation from nets dragged across seamounts near Tasmania to catch orange roughy. Hard corals had been wiped out, and the sheer mass of life on the mountains was half that on nearby ones too deep to be fished. Fifteen years after trawling was halted on some New Zealand seamounts, Clark and other researchers found little evidence of recovery.

Excerpts from Warren Cornwall, Sunken Summits, Science, Sept 13, 2019