- Scattered across the abyssal plain known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) are polymetallic nodules that are a potato-sized prize for mining companies in search of the resources needed for the green energy revolution. of people.
- A new study analyzing these features reveals that these rock formations can produce “dark oxygen” 4,000 meters below sea level where light cannot reach.
- While the discovery may advance our understanding of how life began on Earth, the study also complicates the debate over deep-sea mining regulations as it shows how little we know about the ocean floor.
Lying between Hawaii and the west coast of Mexico is the Pacific Ocean’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a 4.5-million-square-mile area of abyssal space bordering the Clarion and Clipperton Fracture Zones. Although this sea area is a vibrant ecosystem full of marine life, the CCZ is best known for its large collection of potato-sized rocks known as polymetallic nodules. These rocks, of which there may be trillions, are full of rich deposits of nickel, manganese, copper, zinc, cobalt. Those metals are essential for the batteries needed to power the future of green energy, leading some mining companies to refer to the nodule as a “battery in a rock.”
However, a new study reports that these nodules may be more than just a collection of valuable materials for electric vehicles—they also produce oxygen 4,000 meters below Earth’s surface. a world where sunlight cannot reach. This unexpected source of “dark oxygen,” as it’s called, redefines the role these clumps play in the CZZ. The rocks could also record not only how life began on this planet, but also its ability to host other worlds in our Solar System, such as Enceladus or Europa. The results of this study were published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
“For aerobic life to begin on the planet,” said Andrew Sweetman, a deep-sea ecologist with the Scottish Society of Marine Science and lead author of the study. said in a press statement, “there had to be oxygen and our understanding has always been that the Earth’s oxygen supply began with photosynthetic organisms. But now we know that oxygen is produced in the deep ocean, where there is no light. I think we therefore need to look again at questions such as: where would aerobic life have started?
The journey to this discovery began more than a decade ago when Sweetman began analyzing how oxygen levels have dropped in the ocean floor. So it was a surprise in 2013 when the sensors came back with increased oxygen levels in the CCZ. At the time, Sweetman dismissed the data as faulty sensors, but future studies have shown that this abyssal plain somehow produces oxygen. When Sweetman noticed the “battery in the rock” inscription, he wondered if the minerals found in these cracks were working as a kind of “geobattery” by separating hydrogen and oxygen through the electrolysis of seawater.
A 2023 study showed that various bacteria and archaea can produce “dark oxygen,” so Sweetman and his team recreated CCZ conditions in the lab and killed any bacteria. containing mercury chloride—surprisingly, oxygen levels continue to rise. To follow Scientific American, Sweetman found a voltage of about 0.95 volts on these nodules, probably charging as they grew in different irregularly growing deposits, and this natural charge enough to separate the sea water.
The discovery adds to the already raging debate about what to do with these nodules. Mining outfits like the Metals Company, the CEO of which coined the phrase “battery in the rock,” sees these nodules as the answer to our energy problems. However, 25 countries are demanding that the governing body—the International Maritime Authority (ISA)—implement a moratorium, or at least a pause, so that further investigations can be carried out to determine whether how would mining these nodules affect the ocean. This is especially important considering that the world’s oceans are already facing a series of climate challenges, including acidification, oxygen depletion and pollution.
In response to this discovery, Lisa Levin of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who was not involved in this study, highlighted why such suspensions are important to protect these deep-sea nodules from the effects of Deep Sea Conservation Coalition:
This is a wonderful example of what it means to have a deep ocean as a boundary, a relatively unknown part of our planet. There are still new ways to find a challenge to what we know about life in our oceans. The production of oxygen in the ocean floor by polymetallic nodules is a new ecosystem function that should be considered when assessing the impact of deep sea mining. These findings highlight the importance of continuing independent deep-sea research across the world’s oceans to inform deep-sea policy.
The ISA has been consulting with key stakeholders on deep-sea mining regulations and is meeting for two weeks to discuss new points of discussion in April – that the council will operate in a “work-in-progress mode” until the end of July 2024.
So although the future of the world’s oceans is approaching a critical period of conservation or misuse, science has also proven that destroying this environment can have consequences that we cannot imagine.
Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his past stuff on Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough.
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