Composition, Formation, and Occurrence of Polymetallic Nodules

Kühn, Thomas; Wegorzewski, Anna V.; Rühlemann, Carsten; Vink, Αnnemiek

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-52557-0_2

Cited by 112 publications

(144 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Additionally, nodule growth occurs through diagenetic processes, in which ions mobilized from sediment are supplied by pore waters, resulting in the precipitation of phyllomanganate (MnO 6 ) minerals such as todorokite [(Na 0.2 Ca 0.05 K 0.02 )(Mn 4+ 4 , Mn 3+ 2 )O 12 ∙3H 2 O] and birnessite [(Na 0.3 Ca 0.1 K 0.1 )(Mn 4+ Mn 3+ ) 2 O 4 ·1.5H 2 O]. Vernadite and birnessite can exhibit high levels of isomorphic substitution of Mn 4+ by alternative metal cations such as Ni 2+ and Co 3+ (Hein, ; Kuhn et al ., ). Additionally, MnO 2 surfaces have a high sorptive capacity for metal cations including Ni 2+ , Co 2+ and Zn 2+ (Miyata et al, ; ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, MnO 2 surfaces have a high sorptive capacity for metal cations including Ni 2+ , Co 2+ and Zn 2+ (Miyata et al, ; ). These processes combined with a high surface area and extremely slow growth rate (hydrogenetic growth can be as low as 1–5 mm per million years) contribute to the concentration over time of elements present as soluble cations in seawater (Hein, ; Kuhn et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Colonization, penetration and transformation of manganese oxide nodules by Aspergillus niger

Ferrier

Yang

Csetényi

et al. 2019

Environmental Microbiology

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SummaryIn this study, the ability of the geoactive fungus Aspergillus niger to colonize and transform manganese nodules from the Clarion‐Clipperton Zone in both solid and liquid media was investigated. Aspergillus niger was able to colonize and penetrate manganese nodules embedded in solid medium and effect extensive transformation of the mineral in both fragmented and powder forms, precipitating manganese and calcium oxalates. Transformation of manganese nodule powder also occurred in a liquid medium in which A. niger was able to remove the fine particles from suspension which were accumulated within the central region of the resulting mycelial pellets and transformed into manganese oxalate dihydrate (lindbergite) and calcium oxalate dihydrate (weddellite). These findings contribute to an understanding of environmental processes involving insoluble manganese oxides, with practical relevance to chemoorganotrophic mineral bioprocessing applications, and, to the best of our knowledge, represent the first demonstration of fundamental direct and indirect interactions between geoactive fungi and manganese nodules.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colonization, penetration and transformation of manganese oxide nodules by Aspergillus niger

Ferrier

Yang

Csetényi

et al. 2019

Environmental Microbiology

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“…The hard substratum provided by the nodules combined with the background soft sediment seabed acts to increase habitat complexity and is thought to promote the occurrence of some of the most biologically diverse seafloor assemblages in the abyss (Amon et al ; Gooday et al ). This unusual and diverse habitat is potentially subject to imminent large‐scale human impacts in the form of seafloor mining (Wedding et al ; Kuhn et al ). Mining disturbances are likely to extend over extremely large seafloor areas (Aleynik et al ) and have a clear potential to drive major changes in the resident fauna (Jones et al ).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Seafloor environments in the deep sea with extensive hard substratum range in nature from landscape‐scale features such as seamounts (Clark et al ) and canyons (De Leo et al ) to widely dispersed pebbles, cobbles, and boulders referred to as iceberg drop‐stones (Meyer et al ) and the similar human artifact habitat produced by steamship clinker (Ramirez‐Llodra et al ). While individual polymetallic nodules are generally small, 1–20 cm in diameter, nodule fields can extend over extremely large areas, many hundreds of square kilometers, as occurs in the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) of the central Pacific Ocean (Kuhn et al ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Ecology of a polymetallic nodule occurrence gradient: Implications for deep‐sea mining

Simon-Lledó

Bett

Huvenne

et al. 2019

Limnology & Oceanography

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Abyssal polymetallic nodule fields constitute an unusual deep‐sea habitat. The mix of soft sediment and the hard substratum provided by nodules increases the complexity of these environments. Hard substrata typically support a very distinct fauna to that of seabed sediments, and its presence can play a major role in the structuring of benthic assemblages. We assessed the influence of seafloor nodule cover on the megabenthos of a marine conservation area (area of particular environmental interest 6) in the Clarion Clipperton Zone (3950–4250 m water depth) using extensive photographic surveys from an autonomous underwater vehicle. Variations in nodule cover (1–20%) appeared to exert statistically significant differences in faunal standing stocks, some biological diversity attributes, faunal composition, functional group composition, and the distribution of individual species. The standing stock of both the metazoan fauna and the giant protists (xenophyophores) doubled with a very modest initial increase in nodule cover (from 1% to 3%). Perhaps contrary to expectation, we detected little if any substantive variation in biological diversity along the nodule cover gradient. Faunal composition varied continuously along the nodule cover gradient. We discuss these results in the context of potential seabed‐mining operations and the associated sustainable management and conservation plans. We note in particular that successful conservation actions will likely require the preservation of areas comprising the full range of nodule cover and not just the low cover areas that are least attractive to mining.

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“…Polymetallic nodules are potato-like deposits that grow extremely slowly at a rate of millimeters per million years (Guichard et al, 1978). They are typically found at the sediment surface at an average density of 15 kg m −2 in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ, NE Pacific), 10 kg m −2 in the Peru Basin (SE Pacific) and 4.5 kg m −2 in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (Kuhn et al, 2017). Nodules provide hard substrate that is essential for some sessile epifauna and associated megafauna (Purser et al, 2016;Vanreusel et al, 2016).The extraction of polymetallic nodules will not only eliminate this hard substrate, but will also disturb and resuspend the surface sediment (Thiel and Tiefsee-Umweltschutz, 2001), which is critical for detritus feeding mobile epifauna and the biota that inhabit the sediment (Borowski and Thiel, 1998;Bluhm, 2001;Borowski, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Has Phytodetritus Processing by an Abyssal Soft-Sediment Community Recovered 26 Years after an Experimental Disturbance?

et al. 2018

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The potential harvest of polymetallic nodules will heavily impact the abyssal, soft sediment ecosystem by removing sediment, hard substrate, and associated fauna inside mined areas. It is therefore important to know whether the ecosystem can recover from this disturbance and if so at which rate. The first objective of this study was to measure recovery of phytodetritus processing by the benthic food web from a sediment disturbance experiment in 1989. The second objective was to determine the role of holothurians in the uptake of fresh phytodetritus by the benthic food web. To meet both objectives, large benthic incubation chambers (CUBEs; 50 × 50 × 50 cm) were deployed inside plow tracks (with and without holothurian presence) and at a reference site (holothurian presence, only) at 4100 m water depth. Shortly after deployment, 13 C-and 15 N-labeled phytodetritus was injected in the incubation chambers and during the subsequent 3-day incubation period, water samples were taken five times to measure the production of 13 C-dissolved inorganic carbon over time. At the end of the incubation, holothurians and sediment samples were taken to determine biomass, densities and incorporation of 13 C and 15 N into bacteria, nematodes, macrofauna, and holothurians. For the first objective, the results showed that biomass of bacteria, nematodes and macrofauna did not differ between reference sites and plow track sites when holothurians were present. Additionally, meiofauna and macrofauna taxonomic composition was not significantly different between the sites. In contrast, total 13 C uptake by bacteria, nematodes and holothurians was significantly lower at plow track sites compared to reference sites, though the number of replicates was low. This result suggests that important ecosystem functions such as organic matter processing have not fully recovered from the disturbance that occurred 26 years prior to our study. For the second objective, the analysis indicated that holothurians incorporated 2.16 × 10 −3 mmol labile phytodetritus C m −2 d −1 into their biomass, which is one order of Stratmann et al.Phytodetritus Processing after Experimental Disturbance magnitude less as compared to bacteria, but 1.3 times higher than macrofauna and one order of magnitude higher than nematodes. Additionally, holothurians incorporated more phytodetritus carbon per unit biomass than macrofauna and meiofauna, suggesting a size-dependence in phytodetritus carbon uptake.

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Composition, Formation, and Occurrence of Polymetallic Nodules

Cited by 112 publications

References 68 publications

Colonization, penetration and transformation of manganese oxide nodules by Aspergillus niger

Colonization, penetration and transformation of manganese oxide nodules by Aspergillus niger

Ecology of a polymetallic nodule occurrence gradient: Implications for deep‐sea mining

Has Phytodetritus Processing by an Abyssal Soft-Sediment Community Recovered 26 Years after an Experimental Disturbance?

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