Category Archives: Papers

Parametrization and evaluation of marine environmental impacts produced by deep-sea manganese nodule mining

Oebius, H.U., Becker, H.J., Rolinski, S., Jankowski, J.A.

Abstract. The evaluation of marine environmental impacts resulting from the exploitation of marine resources requires the numerical description, parametrization, and modelling of such processes in order to be able to transfer, compare, and forecast the effects of anthropogenic activities in the deep sea. One of the controversial effects is the formation and behaviour of sediment clouds as a consequence of anthropogenic activities on the seafloor. Continue reading →

The mesoscale sediment transport due to technical activities in the deep sea

J.A. Jankowski and W. Zielke

Abstract. This paper presents a mesoscale model for sediment transport in the deep sea resulting from technical activities such as manganese nodule mining. The model includes the temporal variability of ambient currents, the modification of the water density due to suspended sediments (density driven flow), bottom boundary-layer effects, and the influence of flocculation on the sediment settling velocity. It yields the three-dimensional sediment concentration and the bottom blanketing for time periods of up to a few weeks in areas of up to a few hundred square kilometers. The model also allows simulation of the mobilization, sorption and the transport of heavy metals. Continue reading →

Numerical modeling of suspended sediment due to deep-sea mining

J.A. Jankowski, A. Malcherek and W. Zielke

Abstract. A numerical model was developed in order to estimate the residence time of a sediment plume generated by potential deep-sea mining activities with special attention to discharges in the bottom boundary layer. The site of the Disturbance and Recolonization Experiment (DISCOL) in the Peru Basin in the southeast Pacific Ocean was chosen as a case study. Continue reading →