Restoration experiments in polymetallic nodule areas

Gollner, Sabine; Haeckel, Matthias; Janßen, Felix; Lefaible, Nene; Molari, Massimiliano; Papadopoulou, Stavroula; Reichart, Gert‐Jan; Trabucho‐Alexandre, João; Vink, Αnnemiek; Vanreusel, Ann

doi:10.1002/ieam.4541

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Some nodule obligate taxa will probably never recover (Vanreusel et al 2016). The implementation of mitigation strategies for compensation of habitat loss has often been discussed in a scientific context (Vanreusel et al 2016;Gollner et al 2017Gollner et al , 2022Cuvelier et al 2018) and is now also being adopted by the ISA in its regulations for Environmental Impact Assessment and monitoring (International Seabed Authority 2021).…”

Section: Megafauna In the Context Of Deep-sea Miningmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of megafauna diversity and abundance in an exploration area for polymetallic nodules in the eastern part of the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (North East Pacific), and implications for potential future deep-sea mining in this area

Uhlenkott

Gerdes²,

Vink

et al. 2023

Mar. Biodivers.

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The Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCZ) is an abyssal region in the north-east Pacific that is currently being explored for metal-rich polymetallic nodules, but also harbors a highly diverse megabenthic community. This community is influenced by multiple environmental gradients including bathymetric structures as well as differences in habitat and food availability. This study focuses on the benthic megafauna investigated in an exploration area positioned in the very east of the CCZ, which exhibits the lowest water depths (mean: 4200 m) and the highest flux of particulate organic carbon (POC) of the CCZ. Case studies using seafloor images for the detection of megafauna have revealed differences between seamounts and abyssal hills compared to nodule fields, as well as differences in the community composition between areas with and without nodule coverage and rock outcrop. Extrapolations suggest a richness of more than 300 morphotypes in the study area, including multiple invertebrate groups such as corals, sponges, echinoderms, and crustaceans as well as fish. Focusing on sampled specimens, diversities of Ophiuroidea, Porifera, and Bryozoa are high and more species are likely to be discovered in the study area. This also applies for the taxon Ophiuroidea, which is among the taxa investigated in the greatest detail so far. In the context of deep-sea mining, megafauna has been in the focus of a variety of environmental studies including baseline analyses, disturbance experiments, and/or testing of mining components or systems. These studies identify and address key factors responsible for the observed natural and impacted distribution patterns and thereby help to constrain expected anthropogenic impacts to the deep-sea environment in the context of deep-sea mining. Specifically in the area of focus of this study, 10 years of megafauna analyses have shown that the biodiversity in the selected preservation reference zone (PRZ) is not as similar to that of the impact reference zone (IRZ) as originally hypothesized based mainly on geological parameters. We suggest that recent area-wide habitat classifications and faunal mapping exercises (e.g., Uhlenkott et al. 2020, 2022) are used to designate a new PRZ that is more similar to the IRZ to meet its purpose, but that the current PRZ is maintained for scientific and conservation purposes.

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Section: Megafauna In the Context Of Deep-sea Miningmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of megafauna diversity and abundance in an exploration area for polymetallic nodules in the eastern part of the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (North East Pacific), and implications for potential future deep-sea mining in this area

Uhlenkott

Gerdes²,

Vink

et al. 2023

Mar. Biodivers.

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“…The severity of the ecological effects of mining has to be determined as a function of (estimated) recovery time. As the mined nodules and the associated fauna will only regrow over millions of years, the loss of nodules, but also the loss of biotic structure and organic contents is expected to cause permanent benthic community shifts at mined sites (Haffert et al, 2020;Gollner et al, 2021). The processes will lead to lasting effects on the food web (Orcutt et al, 2018;Stratmann et al, 2021), biogeochemical cycle and carbon-fixation (de Jonge et al, 2020;Hollingsworth et al, 2021).…”

Section: Operational Effects Of Collection On the Seafloormentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing best environmental practice for polymetallic nodule mining - a review of scientific recommendations

Christiansen,

Bräger

2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Best environmental practice (BEP) is a key component of an ecosystem approach to management and is typically a product of practical experience in established industries. For an emerging activity such as deep seabed mining, no such experience will exist at the time of deciding on the permissibility of the first industrial mines. Therefore, experience from deep ocean scientific experiments and research are important to develop a preliminary understanding of BEP for deep seabed mining. This paper offers a detailed review of the scientific literature from which it identifies elements of preliminary BEP for nodule mining. The paper describes the currently envisaged mining process for manganese nodules and its expected effects on the environment and extracts specific recommendations on how to minimise environmental impacts from mining in different layers of the ocean (benthic, benthopelagic, pelagic, and surface waters) as well as from noise and light impacts. In doing so, the paper aims to inform the Mining Code being developed by the International Seabed Authority (ISA). The ISA is the intergovernmental institution mandated to organise and control seabed mining on the international seabed. The ISA is obligated to ensure effective protection of the marine environment from harm likely to arise from mining, with BEP being a core tool to achieve that. This paper provides suggestions for a future ISA Standard on BEP.

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Deep seabed mining: Frontiers in engineering geology and environment

Guo

Fan

Liu

et al. 2023

Int J Coal Sci Technol

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Ocean mining activities have been ongoing for nearly 70 years, making great contributions to industrialization. Given the increasing demand for energy, along with the restructuring of the energy supply catalyzed by efforts to achieve a low-carbon economy, deep seabed mining will play an important role in addressing energy- and resource-related problems in the future. However, deep seabed mining remains in the exploratory stage, with many challenges presented by the high-pressure, low-temperature, and complex geologic and hydrodynamic environments in deep-sea mining areas, which are inaccessible to human activities. Thus, considerable efforts are required to ensure sustainable, economic, reliable, and safe deep seabed mining. This study reviews the latest advances in marine engineering geology and the environment related to deep-sea mining activities, presents a bibliometric analysis of the development of ocean mineral resources since the 1950s, summarizes the development, theory, and issues related to techniques for the three stages of ocean mining (i.e., exploration, extraction, and closure), and discusses the engineering geology environment, geological disasters, in-situ monitoring techniques, environmental protection requirements, and environmental effects in detail. Finally, this paper gives some key conclusions and future perspectives to provide insights for subsequent studies and commercial mining operations.

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Restoration experiments in polymetallic nodule areas

Cited by 7 publications

References 57 publications

A review of megafauna diversity and abundance in an exploration area for polymetallic nodules in the eastern part of the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (North East Pacific), and implications for potential future deep-sea mining in this area

A review of megafauna diversity and abundance in an exploration area for polymetallic nodules in the eastern part of the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (North East Pacific), and implications for potential future deep-sea mining in this area

Developing best environmental practice for polymetallic nodule mining - a review of scientific recommendations

Deep seabed mining: Frontiers in engineering geology and environment

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