14.27). The nodules may be as small as a pea or as large as a basketball. Common mineral
resources found in these nodules include manganese, iron, copper, nickel, phosphate, and
cobalt. These minerals have many uses in the industrial world. It is estimated that there
may be as much as 500 billion tons of nodules on the seafloor. Currently, there is not
significant mineral mining on the seafloor, in part because of expense and concerns about
how this mining would disrupt the seafloor.
Figure 14.27: Manganese nodules from the seafloor are often rich in metals like manganese,
iron, nickel, copper, and cobalt. ( 32 )
Lesson Summary
- Until the development of sonar, we knew very little about the ocean floor.
- The deep ocean is dark, very cold and has tremendous pressure from the overlying
water. - Scuba divers can explore only to about 40 meters, while most submarines dive only to
about 500 meters. Scientific research submersibles have explored the ocean’s deepest
trenches, but most are designed to reach only the ocean floor. - Today much of our exploration of the oceans happens using sonar and remotely oper-
ated vehicles. - Features of the ocean include the continental shelf, slope and rise. The ocean floor is
calledtheabyssalplain. Belowtheoceanfloor, thereareafewsmalldeeperareascalled
ocean trenches. Features rising up from the ocean floor include seamounts, volcanic
islands and the mid-oceanic ridges and rises. - The oceans provide us with both living and non-living resources.
- Living oceanic resources include fish that are harvested for food as well as the photo-
synthetic algae which begin the food chain in the surface waters of the ocean. - Non-living resources include oil and natural gas found on our continental shelves and
mineral resources like manganese nodules found on the deep ocean floor.