Benthic disturbance and monitoring experiment in the Central Indian Ocean Basin
Abstract
Environmental impact assessment studies for deep-sea manganese nodule mining have been initiated in the Central indian Ocean Basin since 1995. As a part of the first phase for collecting the benthic baseline data, echosounding, subbottom profiling, seabed photography, coring and sampling have been carried out at close intervals in 5 selected areas (of 10x10 miles each). Detailed studies on topographic undulations, nodule distributions and sediment characteristics have resulted in the selection of Test and Reference Areas. A strip of 3000 x 200 m was disturbed with a hydraulic device, so as to cause suspension and redistribution of sediment in the near bottom waters and the impact on the seabed as well as close to the bottom was observed. Results show that most of the disturbance is restricted to the disturbed area with some resedimentation in adjacent areas, whereas no significant retention of sediment in the bottom waters is observed. A longterm monitoring of the environmental impact of the Benthic Disturbance has been planned in the study areas
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