Impeded Macrofaunal Colonization and Recovery Following Marine Deposition of Inert and Organically Modified Mine-Tailings

Sweetman, Andrew K.; Haugland, Barbro Taraldset; Kvassnes, Astri J. S.; Bolam, Stefan G.

doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00649

Cited by 10 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…There are very few studies that address macrofaunal responses to sedimentation and those that have been conducted, focus on species-specific responses in a laboratory setting, (e.g., Hendrick et al 2016), or occur in shallow-water environments, such as estuaries (Thrush et al 2003, Anderson et al 2004, Sweetman et al 2020). However, one mesocosm experiment conducted in the deep sea found that macrofaunal communities were unaffected by the deposition of natural sediments (Trannum et al 2010).…”

Section: Univariate Community Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulated mining-related sedimentation impacts on the deep-sea macrofauna of the Chatham Rise, New Zealand

Murray¹

2021

Preprint

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<p>With the possibility of deep-sea mining of marine mineral resources occurring in the near future, it is necessary to understand the potential impacts that mining may have on benthic communities. Previous simulated mining experiments have observed direct impacts of deep-sea mining (e.g., faunal mortality); however, indirect impacts of sedimentation were not understood. In New Zealand, there has been interest in mining the seabed of the Chatham Rise, but mining consents have been refused, partly due to the uncertainties of sedimentation impacts on benthic communities. A disturbance experiment conducted in 2019 on the Rise used a modified agricultural plough designed to create a sediment cloud that could result from mining. This disturbance was used to assess the resilience of benthic communities to sedimentation in a proposed future mining area. Macrofaunal and sediment samples were collected with a multicorer before, immediately after and one year after disturbance to assess the impact on the community and its ability to recover. Samplingevents took place in disturbed (physically run over by the plough and subjected to sedimentation) and undisturbed areas (subjected to sedimentation only) at each sampling period. Macrofaunal abundance significantly decreased in disturbed areas after disturbancebut not in undisturbed areas. However, community structure changed in both areas after disturbance; in disturbed areas this was mostly driven by changes in numerically dominant fauna, but in undisturbed areas by the more sensitive fauna which may provide an early warning sign for further changes under increased sedimentation. One year after disturbance, community structure had recovered in both areas. Abundance-based community structure correlated most strongly with C:N molar ratios in the sediment which increased after disturbance. Ecosystem function was measured by sediment community oxygen consumption (SCOC) which increased similarly in both disturbed and undisturbed areas after disturbance; SCOC may be a more sensitive measure than community structure in assessing sedimentation impacts. No correlations were found between SCOC and macrofaunal abundance, biomass, diversity or bacterial abundance. The results of this research are useful for managing the impacts of industries where sedimentation is an issue, such as for bottom trawl fisheries and deep-sea mining. The results highlight the importance of leaving unmined patches of seabed adjacent to or within mined areas, to aid the recovery of macrofaunal communities subjected to mining disturbance.</p>

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Section: Univariate Community Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulated mining-related sedimentation impacts on the deep-sea macrofauna of the Chatham Rise, New Zealand

Murray¹

2021

Preprint

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“…In this context, our study evaluated the sedimentary contamination and benthic organisms of the Rio Doce estuary with the aim to provide the first assessment of longterm trends of contaminants and assemblage succession in the area. Although a number of studies have provided information of chemical sedimentary concentrations and behavior of potentially toxic elements in soil and water (Gabriel et al, 2020b;Sá et al, 2021), there is relatively limited information of long-term impacts of tailings in benthic assemblages (Burd, 2002;Sweetman et al, 2020). Current progress in the study of the Rio Doce mine tailings impact (2-3 yrs after impact) have showed that following the initial deposition we could observe a chronic effect in benthic meiofaunal (<300 µm) and demersal fish estuarine assemblages due to PTE contamination and resuspension (Bernardino et al, 2019;Andrades et al, 2021;Coppo et al, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term impacts on estuarine benthic assemblages 4.2 years after a mine tailing spill in SE Brazil

Coppo,

Gabriel,

Mazzuco

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The Rio Doce estuary was critically impacted in 2015 by the world’s largest mining tailing spill, with still unclear long-term effects. Here we present a long-term (2015 to 2020) assessment of estuarine benthic assemblages, where Annelida and Mollusca were dominant (52.6% and 26.3%, respectively). Our results demonstrated that the density and richness of benthic taxa decreased in response to an increase in potentially toxic elements concentrations, suggesting a chronic pollution effect that lasted for at least 4.2 years in the estuary. Our data demonstrated that despite the decline in sediment potentially toxic elements concentration over time, there was a continued low habitat quality for the benthic fauna characterized by a reduction of 96% on macroinvertebrate density and 48% on species richness. The long-term impacts on benthic macrofauna highlight that water quality levels can misguide impact assessment programs, and reveal that mine tailings impacts persist for many years in estuarine ecosystems.

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Assessing plume impacts caused by polymetallic nodule mining vehicles

et al. 2022

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Impeded Macrofaunal Colonization and Recovery Following Marine Deposition of Inert and Organically Modified Mine-Tailings

Cited by 10 publications

References 44 publications

Simulated mining-related sedimentation impacts on the deep-sea macrofauna of the Chatham Rise, New Zealand

Simulated mining-related sedimentation impacts on the deep-sea macrofauna of the Chatham Rise, New Zealand

Long-term impacts on estuarine benthic assemblages 4.2 years after a mine tailing spill in SE Brazil

Assessing plume impacts caused by polymetallic nodule mining vehicles

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