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Homework answers / question archive / Various mineral deposits can be found on the deep sea floor including copper, gold, manganese, and rare earth elements used in the manufacture of mobile phones and other electronic devices
Various mineral deposits can be found on the deep sea floor including copper, gold, manganese, and rare earth elements used in the manufacture of mobile phones and other electronic devices. Although large-scale commercial mining is not taking place yet, there is a growing interest in developing technologies that can effectively mine these minerals from the deep sea floor. There are many benefits to deep sea mining, but there are drawbacks as well.
For this Discussion Forum, I would like you to do some research on deep sea mining. Then form an opinion on whether we should continue to develop technologies to pursue deep sea mining, OR should we not mine the deep sea. There is a lot of information available so you should not have any trouble finding resources. Here are a few websites to get you started:
https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/deep-sea-mining (Links to an external site.)
Directions: Do some research about Deep Sea Mining and form an educated opinion about it.
Dangers of Deep Sea Mining
We should not continue developing technologies that increase the pace and efficiency of exploiting the deep seas. All governments should ban deep-sea mining as its potential damage to the environment will be intense. According to Carrington (2017, June 4), most mining projects pose significant threats to the environment; replicating such exploitative projects on the seafloor will have an unprecedented impact mostly because of the vulnerability of marine ecosystems.
Sharma (2019) asserts that plundering the sea bed with destructive machines risks causing irreversible damage to marine life and the ocean floor. Cutting the sea bed with machines result in sediment plumes that can stifle sea habitats. Ships could also release toxic substances into the sea causing harm to many marine species. The noise produced by mining machines can harm marine mammals such as whales while increased levels of lighting can disrupt deep-sea creatures that have adapted to low levels of light.
Deep-sea mining risks extinction of plants and creatures that are found nowhere else. The deep-sea has unique species that cannot survive elsewhere. The vents, especially active ones that miners are looking to exploit are habitats for numerous sea species that cannot survive elsewhere. Destroying these habitats means these creatures will never recover. Once extracted, these vents and nodules take millions of years to recover meaning creatures that depend on them will become extinct (Louisa, 2019, July 8). In addition to destroying marine life habitats leading to the extinction of some species. Deep-sea mining also disturbs the ocean food chain.
According to Sharma (2019), the deep sea is an essential store for “blue carbon” which is absorbed by marine life naturally. This carbon remains tucked in the deep-sea sediment after marine creatures die thus helping slow climate change. Disturbing this natural process could exacerbate climate change by augmenting the release of carbon stored in the sediments.
When mining on land, environmental feasibility studies can be conducted to assess the impact of a potential mining project on the environment. However, this is largely impossible in deep-sea mining because deep-sea ecosystems are largely unexplored and thus unidentified. Only a tiny section (0.0001%) section of the seafloor has been explored. Therefore, humanity has so much to learn regarding deep-sea ecosystems and wildlife. Allowing mining which in nature is very destructive in these environments will destroy these ecosystems and wildlife even before we get a chance to discover or understand them. No metals or minerals are worth destroying wildlife and ecosystems we barely understand.
References
Carrington, D. (2017, June 4). Is deep sea mining vital for a greener future – even if it destroys ecosystems?. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/04/is-deep-sea-mining-vital-for-greener-future-even-if-it-means-destroying-precious-ecosystems (Links to an external site.)
Louisa, C. (2019, July 8). 5 reasons why deep sea mining will only get our planet into deep trouble. Retrieved from https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/23164/5-reasons-to-stop-deep-sea-mining/ (Links to an external site.)
Sharma, R. (Ed.). (2019). Environmental Issues of Deep-Sea Mining: Impacts, Consequences and Policy Perspectives. Springer.
