Dec. 5, 2013 — Five hundred miles southeast of Hawai'i, in international waters far out of sight of any land, there are vast mineral resources 5,000 meters below the sea.
Manganese nodules, rich in commercially valuable mineral resources including nickel, copper, manganese, cobalt and rare-earth elements, overlay a broad swath of the deep-sea floor. It took millions of years to form these deposits. The potato-sized nodules themselves and the deep sediments where they are found are home to a surprising diversity of animal life -- many species of which are yet to be documented.
Now, nations are eyeing these undersea mineral resources to help meet a rapidly growing societal demand. Cell phones, computers, building materials and household appliances all require metals such as copper, nickel, cobalt and rare-earth elements.
Large scale mining in the deep sea has not yet begun. But at least 12 mining exploration claims, each up to 75,000 square kilometers, have already been established in the Pacific Ocean region known as the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone (CCZ).
Who grants the access to these mineral resources in international waters? An administrative body called the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is charged with developing the regulations for exploration and extraction.
Formed by the United Nations Law of the Sea, the ISA's duties include establishing and enforcing certain "preservation reference areas" that will remain unimpacted by mining.
The goal is to protect biodiversity and ecosystem function in the seafloor regions with manganese nodules. However, setting up such protected areas across a poorly sampled region the size of the continental United States is literally no small matter.
"This was unchartered territory in many ways," said Craig Smith, a professor of oceanography in UH M
Manganese nodules, rich in commercially valuable mineral resources including nickel, copper, manganese, cobalt and rare-earth elements, overlay a broad swath of the deep-sea floor. It took millions of years to form these deposits. The potato-sized nodules themselves and the deep sediments where they are found are home to a surprising diversity of animal life -- many species of which are yet to be documented.
Now, nations are eyeing these undersea mineral resources to help meet a rapidly growing societal demand. Cell phones, computers, building materials and household appliances all require metals such as copper, nickel, cobalt and rare-earth elements.
Large scale mining in the deep sea has not yet begun. But at least 12 mining exploration claims, each up to 75,000 square kilometers, have already been established in the Pacific Ocean region known as the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone (CCZ).
Who grants the access to these mineral resources in international waters? An administrative body called the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is charged with developing the regulations for exploration and extraction.
Formed by the United Nations Law of the Sea, the ISA's duties include establishing and enforcing certain "preservation reference areas" that will remain unimpacted by mining.
The goal is to protect biodiversity and ecosystem function in the seafloor regions with manganese nodules. However, setting up such protected areas across a poorly sampled region the size of the continental United States is literally no small matter.
"This was unchartered territory in many ways," said Craig Smith, a professor of oceanography in UH M