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<p>The Clarion-Clipperton Zone contains extensive beds of polymetallic nodules on the abyssal seafloor, with vast areas (~1.5 million km<sup>2</sup>) under license for deep-sea mining. Mining companies have proposed discharging excess waste generated during nodule extraction in the lower mesopelagic and upper bathypelagic zones, which are home to a unique faunal community including zooplankton and micronekton. Here, using compound-specific isotope analysis of amino acids, we find that natural background particles larger than 6 µm form the base of the food web, but will be diluted by the same sized, nutritionally deficient mining-associated particles. Given that 53% of zooplankton taxa are particle feeders and 60% of micronekton taxa are zooplanktivores at proposed discharge depths, there is significant potential for food-web disruption. Therefore, we show that a midwater mining plume could trigger bottom-up ecosystem impacts with potentially severe consequences for the faunal community, extending beyond zooplankton and micronekton to nekton, including large marine predators.</p>

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Deep-sea mining discharge can disrupt midwater food webs

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2025年11月6日

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  • Michael H. Dowd,
  • Victoria E. Assad,
  • Alexus E. Cazares-Nuesser,
  • Jeffrey C. Drazen,
  • Erica Goetze,
  • Angelicque E. White,
  • Brian N. Popp

摘要

The Clarion-Clipperton Zone contains extensive beds of polymetallic nodules on the abyssal seafloor, with vast areas (~1.5 million km2) under license for deep-sea mining. Mining companies have proposed discharging excess waste generated during nodule extraction in the lower mesopelagic and upper bathypelagic zones, which are home to a unique faunal community including zooplankton and micronekton. Here, using compound-specific isotope analysis of amino acids, we find that natural background particles larger than 6 µm form the base of the food web, but will be diluted by the same sized, nutritionally deficient mining-associated particles. Given that 53% of zooplankton taxa are particle feeders and 60% of micronekton taxa are zooplanktivores at proposed discharge depths, there is significant potential for food-web disruption. Therefore, we show that a midwater mining plume could trigger bottom-up ecosystem impacts with potentially severe consequences for the faunal community, extending beyond zooplankton and micronekton to nekton, including large marine predators.