Two new genera and four new species of giant, single-celled xenophyophores (protozoans belonging to a group called the foraminifera) were discovered in the deep Pacific Ocean during a joint project between scientists at the National Oceanography Centre, UK (NOC), the University of Hawai’i, and the University of Geneva.
This week the Royal Research Ship (RRS) Discovery set sail to the Rio Grande Rise in the South Atlantic, 1400 km east of Brazil, to investigate cobalt-rich mineral deposits of interest to potential deep-sea mining. This expedition is part of the
New insights into animal patterns around extinct submarine volcanoes could inform measures used to protect marine ecosystems from human activities, such as trawling and deep-sea mining.
Biodiversity losses from deep-sea mining are unavoidable and possibly irrevocable, an international team of 15 marine scientists and legal scholars argue in a letter published today in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Scientists at the NOC have discovered 34 new species of giant single-celled organisms living at depths of more than 4 km in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The study areas are among those licensed by the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for exploration by companies with an interest in possible future deep-sea mining.
A research cruise this summer, led by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), will address the massive technical challenges in exploring for sea-floor mineral deposits.
UK and Brazilian scientists will be working together to study the formation of critical ocean minerals essential for new technology – particularly environmental technology such as photovoltaic cells.
