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A recent study hypothesizes that the nodules are a source of "dark oxygen", oxygen produced without light, which provides the seafloor in the deep ocean with oxygen. [36] However, this study contrasts with many other studies conducted over decades in the deep sea that did not detect oxygen production - and in fact showed only oxygen consumption.
The production of oxygen at the seafloor by polymetallic nodules is a new ecosystem function that needs to be considered when assessing the impact of deep-sea mining.
The discovery that abyssal, or deep-sea, nodules are producing oxygen is “an amazing and unexpected finding,” said Daniel Jones, a professor and head of ocean biogeosciences at the National ...
The region is being explored for the deep-sea mining of rare metals contained in the rock nodules. The latter are formed over millions of years, and the metals play a key role in new and green ...
Dark oxygen production refers to the generation of molecular oxygen (O 2) through processes that do not involve light-dependent oxygenic photosynthesis.The name therefore uses a different sense of 'dark' than that used in the phrase "biological dark matter" (for example) which indicates obscurity to scientific assessment rather than the photometric meaning.
The manganese nodules act as a kind of battery as they contain different metals, and they release oxygen into the environment. Because it was previously thought that only plants and algae produce dark oxygen (oxygen produced without light), this can be seen as a scientific breakthrough.
The word oxygen in the literature typically refers to molecular oxygen (O 2) since it is the common product or reactant of many biogeochemical redox reactions within the cycle. [37] Processes within the oxygen cycle are considered to be biological or geological and are evaluated as either a source (O 2 production) or sink (O 2 consumption). [36 ...
Dissolved oxygen is a requirement for aerobic respiration, and while the surface ocean is usually oxygen-rich due to atmospheric gas exchange and photosynthesis, the mesopelagic zone is not in direct contact with the atmosphere, due to stratification at the base of the surface mixed layer.