The last frontier: Coupling technological developments with scientific challenges to improve hazard assessment of deep-sea mining

The growing economic interest in the exploitation of mineral resources on deep-ocean beds, including those in the vicinity of sensitive-rich habitats such as hydrothermal vents, raise a mounting concern about the damage that such actions might originate to these poorly-know ecosystems, which represe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science of the total environment 2018-06, Vol.627, p.1505-1514
Main Authors: Santos, M.M., Jorge, P.A.S., Coimbra, J., Vale, C., Caetano, M., Bastos, L., Iglesias, I., Guimarães, L., Reis-Henriques, M.A., Teles, L.O., Vieira, M.N., Raimundo, J., Pinheiro, M., Nogueira, V., Pereira, R., Neuparth, T., Ribeiro, M.C., Silva, E., Castro, L. Filipe C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Deep-sea
Hazard assessment
Legal framework
Technology
Test guidelines
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Summary:The growing economic interest in the exploitation of mineral resources on deep-ocean beds, including those in the vicinity of sensitive-rich habitats such as hydrothermal vents, raise a mounting concern about the damage that such actions might originate to these poorly-know ecosystems, which represent millions of years of evolution and adaptations to extreme environmental conditions. It has been suggested that mining may cause a major impact on vent ecosystems and other deep-sea areas. Yet, the scale and the nature of such impacts are unknown at present. Hence, building upon currently available scientific information it is crucial to develop new cost-effective technologies embedded into rigorous operating frameworks. The forward-thinking provided here will assist in the development of new technologies and tools to address the major challenges associated with deep sea-mining; technologies for in situ and ex situ observation and data acquisition, biogeochemical processes, hazard assessment of deep-sea mining to marine organisms and development of modeling tools in support of risk assessment scenarios. These technological developments are vital to validate a responsible and sustainable exploitation of the deep-sea mineral resources, based on the precautionary principle. •Deep-sea ecosystems display a vast collection of mineral and biological resources.•Identification of novel technologies and tools to improve knowledge of deep-sea ecosystems•Development of new technologies to address the major challenges associated with a sustainable deep sea-mining framework•Development of modeling tools in support of risk assessment scenarios•Technologies to implement in the field and at laboratory level embedded into legal frameworks. [Display omitted]
ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.221