Monitoring benthic plumes, sediment redeposition and seafloor imprints caused by deep-sea polymetallic nodule mining

Abstract

A deep-sea (4500 m) trial of a pre-prototype polymetallic nodule collector with independent scientific monitoring revealed that a gravity current formed behind the collector channeled through steeper seafloor sections and traveled 500 m downslope. The prevailing bottom currents dominated sediment dispersion up to the end of the monitoring area at 4.5 km distance. The maximum suspended particle concentration recorded 50 m from mining lanes was up to four orders of magnitude higher than ambient values but decreased rapidly with increasing time, distance, and altitude. Most of the plume remained close to the seafloor, with the highest concentrations at 1 m monitoring altitude and reaching background concentrations at 50 m. Rapid particle flocculation was followed by fast and substantial sediment redeposition. A mm-scale photogrammetric seafloor reconstruction allowed quantitative estimates of the thickness of redeposited sediment next to mining lanes of ≈ 3 cm and a minimum erosional depth of 5 cm.