Marine Geography

Module 6. Deep Sea

GEO4391

DR. YOUNG RAE CHOI

Module objectives & outline
 Describe the current state and issues around deep-sea mining
 Explain the impacts of mining to the deep-sea environment

 Deep Sea: Geographical imaginaries

 Where is deep sea, and why does it matter?
 The Discovery of Hydrothermal Vents
 Seabed mining: History, current status, players, and issues
 The Clarion–Clipperton Zone: A global battlefield for deep-sea
minerals
 Ecological & social concerns
 Questions for review
Deep Sea: Geographical imaginaries
Deep Sea: Geographical imaginaries
Deep Sea: Geographical imaginaries
Where is deep sea?

Deep Sea
 Mt. Everest: 8,850 meters (29,035 feet)

How deep is the ocean?

 Average depth of the world’s oceans: 3,688 meters (12,100 feet/
2.29 miles)
 Challenger Deep(Mariana Trench): 10,916 meters (35,813 feet/ 6.78
miles)

https://oceanservice
.noaa.gov/facts/oc
eandepth.html
 Why does the deep sea matter to us?
 Scientific inquiry
 Least-explored space on Earth
 Quest for new knowledge

 Economic resources
 Mineral & energy resources
 Others (medical drugs, energy, food, etc.)

 Common Heritage of Mankind (CHM)

 Well-preserved, slowly evolved ecosystems that
deserve protection for present & future generations

 Fellow earthlings to live together in the

Anthropocene
 The Discovery of Hydrothermal Vents
 Deep-sea chimneys above
magma-heated subsurface
rocks that release hot seawater
of up to 750° F (400° C) with
minerals
 Discovered for the first time in
1977 near the Galapagos
Islands by a research team at
Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution (WHOI)
 Super-hot water; rich minerals;
a thriving ecosystem
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/vents.html
https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/the-discovery-of-hydrothermal-vents/
https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/the-discovery-of-hydrothermal-vents/
(S. Beaulieu; K. Joyce; S. A. Soule; WHOI (2010); Dover, 2011)
Seabed mining: History & Current status
 Proposals made in the 1980s for mineral mining from
hydrothermal vents near Oregon, U.S. (Dover, 2011)
 Exploration stage
 Discovery of mineral reserves (copper, zinc, silver, gold,
iron, manganese, sulfide, cobalt..) in form of
manganese/polymetallic nodules, cobalt-rich
ferromanganese crusts, etc. & gas hydrates (methane)
 Identification of potential mining sites
 Development of mining equipment & technologies
 Exploitation/Extraction stage
 Delayed b/c of high costs, immature technologies, and
environmental concerns
 Mining leases issued and/or mining projects approved in a
few places
Seabed mining: Players & Issues
 Major players
 Governments (especially in the South Pacific)
 New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Tonga,
Fiji…
 (Exploration & Extraction) Specialized corporations
 Nautilus Minerals; Neptune Minerals
 (Exploration) Research institutions from various countries
 (Regulation) International Seabed Authority (ISA)
 (Conservation) Environmental activists & organizations
 Green Peace

 Major issues
 Technological feasibility
 Economic feasibility
 Degradation/devastation of the deep-sea ecosystems
Clarion–Clipperton Zone (CCZ)
The Clarion–
Clipperton Zone:
A global
battlefield for
deep-sea
minerals
 Cook Islands  United
 Kiribati Kingdom
 Tonga  France

 Nauru  Russia
 Japan  Germany
 China
 Belgium
 South Korea
 Slovakia
 Singapore
Ecological
concerns
 Habitat loss & pollution
 “Destroying our last frontier”
 It takes hundreds (if not
millions) of years for a
deep-sea ecosystem to
form; It takes a day to
destroy it.
 Would “precautionary
approaches” be enough?
 Who has power to decide?
https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-
briefs/deep-sea-mining
Social concerns
 Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS)
 Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Fiji, etc.

 Localized & broader concerns

 Environmental pollution, damaging local
communities’ livelihoods and quality of life
https://monitor.civicus.org/updates/2020/01/15/activist-
 Local communities excluded from decision- group-continues-resistance-against-seabed-mining-png/
making processes & the economic benefits of
seabed mining

 A classic resource extraction & environmental

degradation story?
 e.g., Salmon farming in Patagonia, Chile
 Uneven & unfair distribution of benefits and
responsibilities of an intervention to nature
 Political ecology: broader spatial/temporal
contexts; post-colonial relations with the West
Questions for review
 What geographical imaginations does a society have with the deep
sea? How do you think they would affect the
policies/politics/governance regarding the deep sea?
 In legal terms, what/where is the deep sea?
 What’s the importance of the deep sea to humanity? In other words,
why should we care?
 What is a hydrothermal vent? How did its discovery surprise the
scientists, and why?
 What is seabed mining and who are the main players? What
contributed to the slow progress of seabed mining?
 Which areas are being explored for mining potentials, and which
areas began the extraction of deep-sea minerals?
 What are the social and environmental impacts of seabed mining?
What attitudes/actions do you think we need to minimize them?