Marine Mineral Exploration

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The past 20 years have seen extensive marine exploration work by the major industrialized countries. Studies have, in part, been concentrated on Pacific manganese nodule occurrences and on massive sulfides on mid-oceanic ridges. An international jurisdictional framework of the sea-bed mineral resources was negotiated by the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III). A most important outcome of this conference was the establishment of an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of at least 200 nautical miles for all coastal states and the recognition of a deep-sea regime. Mineral deposits in EEZ areas are fairly unknown; many areas need detailed mapping and mineral exploration, and the majority of coastal or island states with large EEZ areas have little experience in exploration for marine hard minerals. This book describes the systematic steps in marine mineral exploration. Such exploration requires knowledge of mineral deposits and models of their formation, of geophysical and geochemical exploration methods, and of data evaluation and interpretation methods. These topics are described in detail by an international group of authors.

E-Book Content

MARINE MINERAL EXPLORATION FURTHER TITLES IN THIS SERIES 1 J.L. MERO THE MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE SEA 2 L.M. FOMIN THE DYNAMIC METHOD IN OCEANOGRAPHY 3 E.J.F. WOOD MICROBIOLOGY OF OCEANS AND ESTUARIES 4 G. NEUMANN OCEAN CURRENTS 5 N.G. JERLOV OPTICAL OCEANOGRAPHY 6 V. VACQUIER GEOMAGNETISM IN MARINE GEOLOGY 7 W.J. WALLACE THE DEVELOPMENTS OF THE CHLORINITY/SALINITY CONCEPT IN OCEANOGRAPHY 8 E. LlSITZIN SEA·LEVEL CHANGES 9 R.H. PARKER THE STUDY OF BENTHIC COMMUNITIES 10 J.C.J. NIHOUL (Editor) MODELLING OF MARINE SYSTEMS 11 0.1. MAMAYEV TEMPERATURE·SALINITY ANALYSIS OF WORLD OCEAN WATERS 12 E.J. FERGUSON WOOD and R.E. JOHANNES TROPICAL MARINE POLLUTION 13 E.STEEMANN NIELSEN MARINE PHOTOSYNTHESIS 14 N.G. JERLOV MARINE OPTICS 15 G.P. GLASBY MARINE MANGANESE DEPOSITS 16 V .M. KAMEN KOVICH FUNDAMENTALS OF OCEAN DYNAMICS 17 R.A. GEYER SUBMERSIBLES AND THEIR USE IN OCEANOGRAPHY AND OCEAN ENGINEERING 18 J.W. CARUTHERS FUNDAMENTALS OF MARINE ACOUSTICS 19 J.C.J. NIHOUL (Editor) BOTTOM TURBULENCE 20 P.H. LEBLOND and L.A. MYSAK WAVES IN THE OCEAN 21 C.C. VON DER BORCH (Editor) SYNTHESIS OF DEEP-SEA DRILLING RESULTS IN THE INDIAN OCEAN 22 P. DEHLlNGER MARINE GRAVITY 23 J.C.J. NIHOUL (Editor) HYDRODYNAMICS OF ESTUARIES AND FJORDS 24 F.T. BANNER, M.B. COLLINS and K.S. MASSIE (Editors) THE NORTH·WEST EUROPEAN SHELF SEAS: THE SEA BED AND THE SEA IN MOTION 25 J.C.J. N IHOU L (Editor) MARINE FORECASTING 26 H.G. RAMMING and Z. KOWALIK NUMERICAL MODELLING MARINE HYDRODYNAMICS 27 R.A. GEYER (Editor) MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION 28 J.C.J. NIHOUL (Editor) MARINE TURBULENCE 29 M. WALDICHUK, G.B. KULLENBERG and M.J. ORREN (Editors) MARINE POLLUTANT TRANSFER PROCESSES 30 A. VOIPIO (Editor) THE BALTIC SEA 31 E.K. DUURSMA and R. DAWSON (Editors) MARINE ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 32 J.C.J. NIHOUL (Editor) ECOHYDRODYNAMICS 33 R. HEKINIAN PETROLOGY OF THE OCEAN FLOOR 34 J.C.J. NIHOUL (Editor) HYDRODYNAMICS OF SEMI·ENCLOSED SEAS 35 B. JOHNS (Editor) PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY OF COASTAL AND SHELF SEAS 36 J.C.J. NIHOUL (Editor) HYDRODYNAMICS OF THE EQUATORIAL OCEAN 37 W. LANGERAAA SURVEYING AND CHARTING OF THE SEAS 38 J.C.J. NIHOUL (Editor) REMOTE SENSING OF SHELF SEA HYDRODYNAMICS 39 T. ICHIYE (Editor) OCEAN HYDRODYNAMICS OF THE JAPAN AND EAST CHINA SEAS 40 J.C.J. NIHOUL (Editor) COUPLED OCEAN-ATMOSPHERE MODELS Elsevier Oceanography Series, 41 MARINE MINERAL EXPLORATION Edited by H.KUNZENDORF Ris; National Laboratory, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark ELSEVIER Amsterdam - Oxford - New York - Tokyo 1986 ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHERS B.V. Sara Burgerhartstraat 25 P.O. Box 211,1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands Distributors for the United States and Canada: ELSEVI