The deep ocean floor produces its own oxygen, paving the way for deep-sea mining.

The ocean floor is capable of producing king Oxygen The source will be some Nodules multi-metallicwith rare earth mineralsWhich can affect the seabed environment.

Polymetallic nodules, common in sediment-covered abyssal plains of oceans, consist mainly of Iron and manganese oxidesBut it also contains minerals such as: Cobalt and rare earth elements, which are essential components of many advanced, low-carbon energy technologies.

So, It is a target for deep sea mining. However, the potential environmental impacts of doing so are not well understood.

A new study by the Scottish Society for Marine Science (SAMS) in the UK suggests that mineral deposits split water to generate “dark oxygen”. At a depth of 4000 meters.

This discovery challenges the belief that only photosynthetic organisms, such as plants and algae, produce oxygen on Earth, and raises questions about how life on Earth began.

It also appears that oxygen can be produced at the bottom of the sea – where no light penetrates – to support oxygen-breathing (aerobic) marine life that lives in complete darkness.

SAMS researcher Andrew Sweatman discovered the “dark oxygen” while doing field work in the Pacific Ocean.

The team conducted experiments using cameras placed on the seafloor at depths of about 4,200 meters to measure oxygen concentrations at several points more than 4,000 kilometers away along the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the central Pacific Ocean, where polymetallic nodules are found.

When the team first discovered oxygen, they assumed the sensors must be faulty, because at the time “All studies done in the deep sea have only observed that oxygen is consumed rather than produced.”Sweetman said in a statement from Northwestern University (USA).

However, after recalibrating the sensors and using various other methods, “These weird oxygen readings”he added.

The authors performed follow-up laboratory analyses and numerical simulations to suggest that polymetallic nodules are the source of the oxygen emissions and hypothesize that their electrical properties are the cause.

Although the authors point out that it is difficult to estimate the amount of oxygen produced by polymetallic nodules on a large scale, they suggest that this source could sustain seafloor ecosystems, which would otherwise be affected if these nodules were exploited.

Many large-scale mining companies are now aiming to extract these valuable elements from the deep seabed. 3000 And 4000 Meters below the surface, said Franz Geiger, of Northwestern University and one of the signatories of the article.

The researcher pointed out that we must rethink. “How to extract these materials so as not to deplete the oxygen source for life in the depths.”

The researchers hypothesize that this ability to generate oxygen is due to the electrical properties of the nodules.

In previous work, Geiger discovered that rust, when combined with salt water, can generate electricity. Just 1.5 volts (the same voltage as an AA battery) is enough to split seawater.

The researchers wondered whether polymetallic nodules found deep in the ocean generate enough electricity to produce oxygen.

The team studied several kilograms of polymetallic nodules collected from the ocean floor, and recorded electrical potentials of up to 0.95 volts on the surface of individual nodules. When many are grouped together, the voltage can be even more significant, as when batteries are connected in series.

“We appear to have discovered a natural ‘geobattery’, which is the basis for a possible explanation for the mysterious oxygen production in the ocean,” Geiger added.

Researchers agree that the mining industry should take this discovery into account before planning deep-sea mining activities.

The statement added that the total mass of polymetallic nodules from the Clarion-Clipperton Zone alone is enough to meet global energy demand for decades, but Geiger cited mining activities in the 1980s as a cautionary example.

“In 2016 and 2017, marine biologists visited sites that had been mined in the 1980s and found that even the bacteria had not recovered.” However, marine life flourished in the unmined areas.

(With information from EFE)