Clarion-Clipperton Zone
The Clarion-Clipperton Zone , also known as the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone , is a fracture zone in the oceanic crust in the central Pacific . This approximately 7,000 kilometer long area is the focus of interest because there are many manganese nodules here . Manganese nodules contain valuable raw materials such as nickel , cobalt and manganese . The Federal Republic of Germany also acquired a 15-year exploration license in 2006 (German resource research area in the Pacific ). In the international research program JPI Oceans , the pilot measure “Ecological Effects of Deep Sea Mining” is investigating whether the degradation of manganese nodules in the deep sea would endanger the species living there. Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research , scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology , the GEOMAR , the Alfred Wegener Institute , the MARUM and the Senckenberg Research Institute am Meer set out on a trip into the research ship SONNE in August 2015 Peru Basin in the Eastern Pacific. The aim of the scientists was to find out what ecological consequences the degradation of manganese nodules in the deep sea would have. The scientists found out that the previous communities in the regions where manganese nodules were removed no longer exist in the same species composition.
The subject of deep-sea resources, deep-sea mining and its ecological consequences was brought up by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in 2015 in the G7 talks of science ministers. On the basis of the research results, it must be decided whether and how deep-sea mining can take place. The prerequisite are international standards that set the highest demands on how marine resources can be developed in an ecologically responsible manner.
Web links
- JPI Oceans website
- FONA podcast: The deep sea as human treasure trove
- Federal Ministry of Education and Research: Deep Sea Mining: The Seas as a Source of Raw Materials?
- Federal government: Valuable raw materials on the seabed
- Project Management Jülich: Marine Resources
- JPI Oceans - Ecological Aspects of Deep-Sea Mining