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Benthic disturbance and impact experiments in the Central Indian Ocean Basin

DRS at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography

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Title Benthic disturbance and impact experiments in the Central Indian Ocean Basin
 
Creator Sharma, R.
Nath, B.N.
Valsangkar, A.B.
Parthiban, G.
Sivakholundu, K.M.
Walker, G.A.
 
Subject ferromanganese nodules
deep-sea mining
environmental impact
baseline studies
benthos
ocean floor
 
Description As a part of the Environmental Impact Assessment studies for nodule mining, a long-term program has been initiated in the Central Indian Basin. Multidisciplinary studies on geological, biological, physical and chemical parameters were carried out in an area selected on the basis of baseline data collected in the first phase of the program. A benthic disturbance was simulated with a hydraulic device also used in the previous experiments in the Pacific Ocean. A site of 3000 x 200 m was repeatedly disturbed by a combination of fluidizing pump and suction pump to dislodge and discharge sediment from the seafloor into the water column 5 m above the seafloor. During 9 days of operation, 26 tows were carried out for 47 h of disturbance, resuspending about 6,000 m sup(3) of sediment along an 88 km line. Data for postdisturbance impact assessment were collected with sediment traps, deep-towed cameras, seafloor samples, and conductivity-temperature depth sensor (CTD)-rosette observations. Seafloor data, sediment samples, and water column studies were aimed at evaluating the impact of benthic disturbance, on the basis of pre- and post-disturbance data collected during the experiment. Observations show that vertical mixing of sediment as well as its lateral movement and resedimentation because of plume migration alters various parameters and leads to changes in the environment around the area
 
Date 2009-01-09T07:48:55Z
2009-01-09T07:48:55Z
2000
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Marine Georesources and Geotechnology, Vol.18; 209-221p.
http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/1627
 
Language en
 
Rights Copyright [2000]. All efforts have been made to respect the copyright to the best of our knowledge. Inadvertent omissions, if brought to our notice, stand for correction and withdrawal of document from this repository.
 
Publisher Taylor and Francis