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Deep sea mining is the extraction of minerals from the seabed of the deep sea. The main ores of commercial interest are polymetallic nodules, which are found at depths of 4–6 km (2.5–3.7 mi) primarily on the abyssal plain.
The International Seabed Authority is a body of the United Nations which was established in 1982 to regulate human activities on the deep-sea floor beyond the continental shelf. It continues to develop rules for commercial mining, and as of 2016, has issued 27 contracts for mineral exploration, covering a total area of more than 1.4 million km ...
The mineral composition of manganese-bearing minerals is dependent on how the nodules are formed; sedimentary nodules, which have a lower Mn 2+ content than diagenetic, are dominated by Fe-vernadite, Mn-feroxyhyte, and asbolane-buserite while diagenetic nodules are dominated by buserite I, birnessite, todorokite, and asbolane-buserite. [18]
Marine geology or geological oceanography is the study of the history and structure of the ocean floor. It involves geophysical, geochemical, sedimentological and paleontological investigations of the ocean floor and coastal zone. Marine geology has strong ties to geophysics and to physical oceanography.
Economic extraction of SMS deposits is in the theoretical stage, the greatest complication being the extreme water depths at which these deposits are forming. However, apparent vast areas of the peripheral areas of these black smoker zones contain a sulfide ooze which could, theoretically, be vacuumed up off the seafloor.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — High demand for metals ranging from copper to cobalt is pushing the mining industry to explore the world’s deepest oceans, a troubling development for scientists ...
The clean energy transition is expected to cause demand for mineral resources to soar, and interest in extracting them from previously untapped sources, like the ocean floor and space, is growing ...
The ore materials are trapped within a fumarole field or a black smoker field when they are expelled into the ocean, cool, and precipitate sulfide minerals as stratiform sulfide ore. [6] Some deposits show evidence of formation via deposition of sulfide via replacement of altered volcanosedimentary rocks and may also form by invasion of sulfur ...