PubTalk 5/2007 — Alchemy in the Abyss

Probing the mysteries of deep-ocean minerals

By James R. Hein, Marine Geologist

• Since President Reagan in 1983 extended U.S. mineral rights 200 nautical miles offshore, interest in deep-sea mining has increased
• Massive sulfide deposits form rapidly at very hot ephemeral vents..black smokers. and .white smokers.
• Slow-forming manganese nodules cover vast areas of the cold abyssal depths
• Cobalt-rich crusts form extremely slowly on the tops of extinct sunken volcanoes
• The year 2009 may see the first commercial mining of deep-sea polymetallic sulfides in Papua-New Guinea waters