Mining the Deep Sea | Tom Peacock | TEDxMIT
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- Опубліковано 22 січ 2020
- Deep-sea mining of polymetallic nodules is being considered as an abundant new source of in-demand minerals, such as cobalt and nickel, to underpin a transition to a low carbon global economy. The costs, benefits and risks of such an endeavor need to be carefully balanced against those of established land-based mining, so that an informed decision can be made. Having received his B.Sc. (Physics) from Manchester University and D. Phil. (Physics) from Oxford University, Professor Thomas Peacock of the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT is the Director of the Environmental Dynamics Laboratory (ENDLab). His research group conducts field studies, laboratory experiments and modeling of environmental flows with an emphasis on ocean dynamics and transport. Professor Thomas Peacock received NSF and ONR sponsored projects, including recent studies in the Arctic Ocean, the Timor Sea, and the Western Pacific. Recently, he established a research program at MIT that studies scientific and societal aspects of deep-sea mining, with activities ranging from plume dynamic studies in the Pacific Ocean to the development of an international royalty payment regime for the International Seabed Authority. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx
This TED talk was essentially my mold for my master's thesis defense - which I aced. So, I am greatly appreciative that it exists.
Wow! Good for you.
Is your thesis published? Would be interested.
I'm sincerely worried about this. There are great riches to be had, but we have to determine the cost. Riches do not only come in the form of technology.
The real riches are the enhanced social interaction that these technologies facilitate. And those technologies are contingent on the extraction of the metals that are contained in these manganese nodules.
all dives are anti humanity pro technology ie enslavement
You got to pick between potential impacts to seafloor ecology and permanent scarring of great forests, landscapes and mountains. And dependency on China, giving them uncomfortably secure monopolies on tech-vital minerals.
People keep talking about tradeoffs and I'm like even if you completely wiped out all life on this obscure chunk of the ocean floor, who cares? We openly ruin things in our actual terrestrial environment and shallow waters en mass all the time for LESS benefit.
Good presentation and actual information for common public, with the future trending issues that would have a large implication both to Our Earth as well as Our social and economic in the low carbon economy scenario in 2030
Great! it let me with more questions that just one or the other answer... Thanks!
Very clear assessment of the environmental risk, but we need data and Environmental Impact Assessments prior to any operations, as stated by the International Seabed Authority.
As an American, given the U.S. has not signed onto the treaty means that the supposed claim map doesn't mean anything. Once the technology to mine these is developed it will be the wild west out there.
It certainly could be. Just as we have some examples where drilling for oil has been done responsibly and many more examples where it has been done very irresponsibly, doing things so deep that it cannot be seen provides ample cover for companies, organizations and agencies to do damage and then deny and/or hide it.
Evolution of rules, monitoring strategies, penalties, mitigation techniques and governing authorities must happen together with the development of mining itself. And healthy oversight. We do NOT need authorities that end up in bed with the companies so that damage is denied, hidden and minimized while positive action is stalled and truth obfuscated. We seem to be very good at creating the appearance of responsibility while preserving the flow of wealth into the hands of very few ... at the immense cost of the vast majority and the planet itself.
Still, I recognize that VAST quantities of minerals which are absolutely essential to the growth of electrification of our current and future world lie in great concentrations on the seabed. If we are to transform our world and stop heating the planet, we MUST find new sources of these minerals.
Can it be done responsibly ... that's the question.
Come mine our waters from Vanuatu , we have three sea mount with deposit of rich minerals (Copper , cobalt etc ).
Raising the nodules up in containers would solve the plume issue and probably have a lower fuel cost than pumping up all that extra water and mud, it's a bit more complicated to operate I guess though.
Approx 95% of the plume is from dredging and sifting the nodules off the seabed itself, not in pumping them up. And lifting concentrated loads off the seabed is extremely difficult at those depths.
How about a bubble structure to circumscribe the region of mining and controlling the plumes within that region ?
The plumes are the best part. They add valuable nutrients to the water column.
what would the structure be made of and how much would it weigh? It certainly wouldn't be dragged along the seabed as the mining machinery moves along its track - that would just cause even more plumes. If it hovered over the machines (how?!) much of the plume would escape beneath it anyway. Then there's the issue of how to build, transport and lower such a device. At these depths and in the presence of currents, this is far from simple.
@@drmodestoesq There is little life in the water column itself at these depths and it certainly isn't evolved to suddenly be swimming through clouds of sediment. Most of the life is on the seabed itself, and it is also not evolved to be buried in sediment. There are a lot of unknowns as yet.
I wonder if the bare patches of sea bottom created by the harvesting could be mitigated by sprinkling rocks about the same size, (taken from a land based mine,) on the bare patches to provide habitat for sea creatures in the future?
Short answer is no
The nodules have unique bacteria that plays important role in carbon cycling and the food web. So far, we do not know why nodules have a different type of bacteria, so it is safe to say that any rock will not magically end up providing suitable habitat.
Would any tectonic plates be affected from disturbing these areas..
Not likely. If that was the case, you could cause earthquakes by driving bulldozers.
How about a crew of robot divers just walking gently on the seabed picking up nodules and putting them in a basket.
I like that idea!
@@jameswest4819 It could happen. We've got the technology.
The pressure is only 450 Bar
@@AnujChoudhary1987 Yeah, there are design challenges. ;- )
then production rate would be very low
Sediment plumes may actually increase the amount of life in some areas; just like arctic waters where whales scoop up big quantities of sediment and walruses dig up the bottom. the sediment feeds the microorganisms and increases the mass of the food-chain.
Agreed this would happen at the sea bed, but I would counsel caution. Look at things like algae bloom in my local river from sediment and agricultural fertiliser, the oxygen content was knocked down, fish couldn't breath, algae bloomed and toxicified the water. Releasing the sediment at a depth closer to the sea bed, seems sensible, but who knows how destabilsing this is to ecosystem in yhe short-term. I'm sure long-term it'll make no real odds so long as we don't overmine. There is another aspect, how much will getting more cobolt save us on fossil fuels, as Cobolt is key to Tesla etc for electric vehicles?
There is actual research done on fields that had trial mining around 30 years ago. Those tracks are still visible today and the area is not recovered (different parameters were looked into). Assumptions about the deep sea are very dangerous.
Manganese nodule! I’m dreading the deep sea scraping that will devastate the ocean floor
I doubt it, they form much quicker
We go to the deep ocean.
We gather up all the minerals.
And THEN we go back to Spain!
Pardon. I could not help myself.
Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish Ladies
Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain;
For we've received orders for to sail for New Bedford
But we hope in a short time to see you again
Hmmm
We really havent learned anything... First you destroy and exploit the land and run out of resources, and think to yourself what to do now? Hey I have a great idea, lets do the same routine to the oceans and see where thats going to get us!!!!
This must never happen and we must all do everything we can to stop deep sea mining. --- quote: “These interventions in nature will take place in a completely unexplored area, our last wilderness. We don't know what consequences it will have for the ecosystems in the sea, for endangered species such as whales and seabirds, or for the fish stocks in the areas," says Frode Pleym, head of Greenpeace Norway.
This is probably the lesser of 2 evils.
There are too many of us. The more mining, research, anything, we do to to try to defeat nature, will ultimately finish us off, of our own doing. And it won't be long. Either stop doing what you are doing, or learn to breathing something other than air.
Great stuff - This is what TED is about ... Not "I transitioned from a Man to a Woman here is what i learned".
Today 64% of world electricity production is made from coal oil and propane. Coal in electric production alone is responsible of 33% of carbone dioxyde emissions.
Before making battery and e cars we have to produce cleaner electricity to put inside. And it's not million of wind turbine who are going to make the job. Is nuclear power the solution?? Difficult question.
The only solution is SLOWING DOWN.
And protect and keep alive the last pristine ocean ecosystem who are going to help us a lot in the fight against climate changes.
What’s he’s name ??
Leave them alon
The best part of this mining operation is that it is going to add valuable nutrients into the water column via the mining plume. All that mineral nutrition is going to create a great efflorescence of sea life. Unlike land based mining which is entirely destructive of the natural environment.
The scraping of the ocean floor by machines can alter or destroy deep-sea habitats, leading to the loss of species and fragmentation or loss of ecosystem structure and function
As if the total destruction of their homes wasn’t bad enough, machines cutting the seafloor will create sediment plumes, which could smother deep sea habitats for kilometres. The ships on the surface for the mining operation could also release toxic vapours into the water, harming many ocean species for hundreds or even thousands of kilometres.
And it’s not just pollution wildlife have to worry about. Noise generated by churning machinery risks harming and disturbing marine mammals like whales, while floodlighting areas of the dark deep ocean could cause permanent disruption to sea creatures adapted to very low levels of natural light.
Nope. “processing” is not squeaky clean. You eat a banana in the AM, digest it, poop it out in the PM. You think the AM banana components are the same as the PM banana?
I feel confused. Heritage of humankind, we all own the nodules, but here we are: Dr. Peacock from MIT is hired by the major startup The Metals Company (TMC) to tell the public it is ok to mine the seabed because fluid modelling says so. A very dangerous situation. Not to mention that TMC will pay their sponsor countries like Nauru something like 2% royalties and the rest will be TMC's. So, no, this is not the heritage if humankind. This is corporate gangsters playing business. Looking at the investor lineup behind these startups in the CCZ, it is clear: we are moving from the greenhouse gas boom phase to the phase where these same people plan to destroy the major carbon sink on earth -- the Ocean.
You can buy shares 😅
@@Nnlly, I've heard it is not recommended to buy shares if a startup is not economically viable.
Stop having so many kids.
Lol, why? Kids are great!
Kids aren't the problem, its people with YOUR attitude. You were kid once, what are you suggesting? Euthenasia? Selection? Enforce sterilisation? Your attitude is nihilistic and backward, plenty of planets to populate. Never met someone who blamed people having kids for all the worlds problems who was a balanced and well socialised character.
@@mwnciboo Why do you have to fly-off-the-handle? He is advocating some self-control on your part. Try not to have more than 2 children per couple. Zero population growth has been a realistic solution since the 60s. It has nothing to do with killing anyone; just some self-control on your part.
@@jameswest4819 plenty of land for plenty of people
bet your family would be saddened with your out of touch 0 pop stance
@@ophiocomawendtii You are just plain nuts...with a third world attitude...There is plenty of land to cover with too many people...oink oink.
That IS a rock. Mn, Co, Ni, and Cu are metals not minerals. And you should probably not get your information on anything this complex from someone who can’t get the little things right. Huge 👎
A mineral is an inorganic substance of natural occurence. Most metals like Co, Ni, Cu and Mn occur in minerals deposits which may look like mere rocks to the uninitiated. Scientists do refer to these nodules on the ocean floor as mineral deposits. And mining these nodules could pose the most devastating environmental threat to the planet.