Ferromanganese concretions of the eastern Gulf of Finland – Environmental role and effects of submarine mining

Zhamoida, Vladimir; Grigoriev, A. G.; Ryabchuk, Daria; Evdokimenko, Anton V.; Kotilainen, Aarno; Vallius, Henry; Kaskela, Anu

doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2017.03.009

Cited by 13 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…While, we were able to pinpoint several factors that are probably important drivers for concretion formation, other underlying factors may also contribute to concretion growth. In particular, the chemical characteristics of the underlying sediment are likely to be an important driver of concretion formation (Zhamoida et al, 2017). However, detailed data on sediment characteristics are very scarce, and not of sufficient spatial resolution to be included in this approach.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Concretions occur on the seafloor as a layer on top of the underlying sediment, or they are covered by thin layer of recent silty-clay muds (Zhamoida et al, 2017). They are formed through chemical reactions driven by differences in redox potential, creating alternating layers of Fe and Mn (Axelsson et al, 2002;Gasparatos et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to an increasing demand for critical raw materials, mineral concretions containing commercially exploitable metals are of interest for seabed mineral extraction both in the deep sea and coastal areas (Hannington et al, 2017;Peukert et al, 2018a). Although shallow-water concretions are not being industrially exploited yet, experimental extraction has already taken place in the eastern Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea (Zhamoida et al, 2017). In this area, the total weight of ore material concentrated in spheroidal concretions was estimated to be approximately six million tonnes or approximately one million tonnes of manganese metal (Zhamoida et al, 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Extensive Coverage of Marine Mineral Concretions Revealed in Shallow Shelf Sea Areas

et al. 2019

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Ferromanganese (FeMn) concretions are mineral precipitates found on soft sediment seafloors both in the deep sea and coastal sea areas. These mineral deposits potentially form a three-dimensional habitat for marine organisms, and contain minerals targeted by an emerging seabed mining industry. While FeMn concretions are known to occur abundantly in coastal sea areas, specific information on their spatial distribution and significance for marine ecosystems is lacking. Here, we examine the distribution of FeMn concretions in Finnish marine areas. Drawing on an extensive dataset of 140,000 sites visited by the Finnish Inventory Programme for the Underwater Marine Environment (VELMU), we examine the occurrence of FeMn concretions from seabed mapping, and use spatial modeling techniques to estimate the potential coverage of FeMn concretions. Using seafloor characteristics and hydrographical conditions as predictor variables, we demonstrate that the extent of seafloors covered by concretions in the northern Baltic Sea is larger than anticipated, as concretions were found at ∼7000 sites, and were projected to occur on over 11% of the Finnish sea areas. These results provide new insights into seafloor complexity in coastal sea areas, and further enable examining the ecological role and resource potential of seabed mineral concretions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Extensive Coverage of Marine Mineral Concretions Revealed in Shallow Shelf Sea Areas

et al. 2019

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“…Here, we describe an approach for integrating expert knowledge into a causal risk assessment for seabed mining. We use the Baltic Sea as an example to test our approach, as mining iron-manganese nodules has already been tested in an industrial setting in this area (Zhamoida et al 2017) and the ecosystem components and food web structure are well studied (Yletyinen et al 2016; Reusch et al 2018; Törnroos et al 2019). Given the number of ongoing seabed mining initiatives and attempts to quantify impacts, the aim of this work is to provide a framework that allows combining information from multiple sources by bringing ecological information to risk analysis while explicitly addressing uncertainty.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causal approach to environmental risks of seabed mining

Kaikkonen

Helle

Kostamo

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Seabed mining is approaching the commercial mining phase across the world's oceans. This rapid industrialization of seabed resource use is introducing new pressures to marine environments. The environmental impacts of such pressures should be carefully evaluated prior to permitting new activities, yet observational data is mostly missing. Here, we examine the environmental risks of seabed mining using a causal, probabilistic network approach. Drawing on a series of interviews with a multidisciplinary group of experts, we outline the cause-effect pathways related to seabed mining activities to inform quantitative risk assessments. The approach consists of (1) iterative model building with experts to identify the causal connections between seabed mining activities and the affected ecosystem components, and (2) quantitative probabilistic modelling to provide estimates of mortality of benthic fauna in the Baltic Sea. The model is used to evaluate alternative mining scenarios, offering a quantitative means to highlight the uncertainties around the impacts of mining. We further outline requirements for operationalizing quantitative risk assessments, highlighting the importance of a cross-disciplinary approach to risk identification. The model can be used to support permitting processes by providing a more comprehensive description of the potential environmental impacts of seabed resource use, allowing iterative updating of the model as new information becomes available.

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“…Mineral concretions in sedimentary rocks, including ferromanganese (Fe-Mn), Co-rich, siderite and phosphorite ones, contain potential important (non)-metallic resources [1][2][3][4][5][6] and record many important diagenetic and paleoenvironmental information [5][6][7][8]. Although increasing studies tend to divide concretions into three main types, that is, syngenetic, diagenetic and epigenetic [9][10][11], all of them record the composition and conditions of the surrounding sediment layers [5,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genesis of Pyrite Concretions: Constraints from Mineral and Geochemical Features of Longtan Formation in Anhui Province, Eastern China

Sun

et al. 2019

Minerals

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The occurrence of pyrite concretions in the Permian Longtan Formation sheds light on the paragenesis, formation conditions and regional paleoenvironment. We analyzed the mineral and geochemical characteristics of pyrite concretions using scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) from the Longtan Formation shales in Anhui, Eastern China. These pyrite concretions consist of two types, each with a distinct nucleus and outer layer: The former is mainly made up of quartz, bivalve fragments and minor gypsum, ankerite, siderite and pyrite, the latter consists of pyrite (FeS 2 ) in the voids of quartz. Based on the correlation matrix and geochemical/mineralogical affinity, trace elements in the pyrite concretions fall into three groups, that is, I (Sr, Ba, Rb and K) in calcic minerals from bivalve-bearing nucleus, II (Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf) in certain heavy minerals and III (V, Cr, Co and Ni) in pyrites. Mineral assemblage and paragenetic analysis show that the formation of pyrite concretions can be divided into three stages: (1) deposition of bivalve-bearing nucleus, (2) lithification of diatoms and (3) diagenesis of pyrite. Mineral and geochemical indicators suggest that the formation environment of pyrite concretions has undergone a major shift from lagoon with intense evaporation, to strong reducing marsh. and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analyses [16][17][18], we identified the composition of nucleus and rims of pyrite concretions and proposed that pyrite concretions were formed in multiple stages of diagenesis and metasomatism. This paper offers new insight into the sedimentary conditions of the Longtan Formation.

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Ferromanganese concretions of the eastern Gulf of Finland – Environmental role and effects of submarine mining

Cited by 13 publications

References 8 publications

Extensive Coverage of Marine Mineral Concretions Revealed in Shallow Shelf Sea Areas

Extensive Coverage of Marine Mineral Concretions Revealed in Shallow Shelf Sea Areas

Causal approach to environmental risks of seabed mining

Genesis of Pyrite Concretions: Constraints from Mineral and Geochemical Features of Longtan Formation in Anhui Province, Eastern China

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