Status and perspectives of environmental impact studies on deep-sea mining sediment plumes
With the development of economy and technology and increasing scarcity of terrestrial resources,the deep-sea mining industry has become a focus of countries around the world.However,seabed mining operations will bring about a series of impacts,among which the sediment plume generated by seabed disturbance will affect or damage the deep-sea ecosystems and it is important to carry out research on deep-sea mining sediment plume for deep-sea environmental protection.In this paper,the current status of research on deep-sea mining and sediment plumes home and abroad are reviewed.It includes that firstly the sediment plumes in deep-sea mining activities are mainly generated by the stirring process of seabed surface sediments and the discharge of tailings after mineral pre-treatment during the mechanical movement of mining equipment.The sediment plume will carry a large amount of particulate matters impacting marine water environment,submarine sedimentary environment and marine ecological environment.Secondly,in situ observation,laboratory test and numerical simulation are the main methods of sedi-ment plume research home and abroad.Due to their own advantages and disadvantages,it has become hot compre-hensive studies in three aspects,i.e.the environmental impact assessment of sediment plume in deep-sea mining ar-eas,the mechanism of plume transport expansion and influencing and controlling factors.Thirdly,there are still shortcomings in studies such as sediment plume transport mechanisms,in-situ observations in time scale and the threshold of standard environmental impact.In future,multidisciplinary cooperation should be strengthened and multiple means used in the studies of sediment plume transport mechanism,model refinement prediction,deep-sea digital twin system,species disturbance impacts,etc.It is necessary to acquire more enrich environmental impact assessment methods in deep-sea exploration and development activities for promoting the sustainable development of deep-sea mineral resources exploitation and environmental protection.
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