The environmental impact of deep-sea mining is only partially known. Also, there is a lack of standards to regulate mining and set binding thresholds for the impact on the local organisms. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology with colleagues at the Alfred Wegener Institute, the GEOMAR and others describe that deep-sea mining-related disturbances have a long-term impact on the natural ecosystem functions and microbial communities at the seafloor.
Click here for original story, Simulated deep-sea mining affects ecosystem functions at the seafloor
Source: Phys.org