A global team of scientists have spent 160 days at sea and over five years documenting hundreds of previously unknown species on the ocean floor.<\/p>\n
The team used a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to collect samples in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a vast region between Mexico and Hawai\u2018i in the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been working in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone for over 13 years,\u201d says marine biologist Thomas Dahlgren, from the University of Gothenburg, who participated in the project. \u201cAnd this is by far the largest study that has been conducted.\u201d<\/p>\n
The research was driven by increased interest in commercial deep-sea mining in the area. Some metals being used in the transition to green energy are found on the deep-sea floor as polymetallic nodules: small rocks that naturally form from seawater at the bottom of the ocean, which contain different metals.<\/p>\n
Tests of nodule-mining vehicles have been carried out in the Pacific and Indian Ocean since the 1970s. However, there has been little research into the environmental impact of this mining. The study\u2019s authors state that seven disturbance experiments measuring this have been published, all with mixed results. <\/p>\n
Exploring the Clarion\u2013Clipperton Zone<\/p>\n
In 2022, a large-scale test of a commercial deep-sea mining machine was undertaken at a depth of 4,280 metres in the CCZ, recovering over 3,000 tonnes of polymetallic nodules.<\/p>\n
For this study, the team collected samples at three points before the collector test and again two months after the collector test.<\/p>\n
All the samples were initially sent to the Natural History Museum, London, to be sorted. After this, the samples were sent for identification at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) and National Oceanography Centre (Southampton, UK), while others remained at the Natural History Museum.<\/p>\n