Abyssal plain faunal carbon flows remain depressed 26 years after a simulated deep-sea mining disturbance

Stratmann, Tanja; Lins, Lidia; Purser, Autun; Marcon, Yann; Rodrigues, Clara F.; Ravara, Ascensão; Cunha, Marina R.; Simon-Lledó, Erik; Jones, Daniel O. B.; Sweetman, Andrew K.; Köser, Kevin; van Oevelen, Dick

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4131-2018

Articles | Volume 15, issue 13

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4131-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Assessing environmental impacts of deep-sea mining...

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4131-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 13

Research article

|

06 Jul 2018

Research article |

| 06 Jul 2018

Abyssal plain faunal carbon flows remain depressed 26 years after a simulated deep-sea mining disturbance

Tanja Stratmann, Lidia Lins, Autun Purser, Yann Marcon, Clara F. Rodrigues, Ascensão Ravara, Marina R. Cunha, Erik Simon-Lledó, Daniel O. B. Jones, Andrew K. Sweetman, Kevin Köser, and Dick van Oevelen

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4131-2018-supplement

Data sets

Seafloor images from the Peru Basin Disturbance and Colonization (DISCOL) area collected during SO242/2 A. Purser, Y. Marcon, and A. Boetius https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.890634

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Short summary

Extraction of polymetallic nodules will have negative impacts on the deep-sea ecosystem, but it is not known whether the ecosystem is able to recover from them. Therefore, in 1989 a sediment disturbance experiment was conducted in the Peru Basin to mimic deep-sea mining. Subsequently, the experimental site was re-visited 5 times to monitor the recovery of fauna. We developed food-web models for all 5 time steps and found that, even after 26 years, carbon flow in the system differs significantly.