In a nutshell: OBS & OBMT

To investigate the subsurface of the seafloor, we deploy geophysical instruments, which can „look“ below the seafloor bottom through the sediment and rock layers. We have two different types of devices, which complement each other. OBS stands for Ocean Bottom Seismometer, and is used to detect earthquakes. OBMT stands for Ocean Bottom MagnetoTellurics, and it […]

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Catch It If You Can! – Amphipods in the Deep-Sea

Let's get to know a deep-sea scavenging crustacean! Photo: Tasnim Patel

by Tasnim Patel, RBINS Life in the deep-sea is no picnic and dedicating your life to studying our last truly unexplored wilderness isn’t easy either. To sample fauna in the abyssal plains requires courage, expertise, commitment, financial backing and in my case …a pinch of luck. I’m studying deep-sea scavenging crustaceans, which are not only […]

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Deep-sea gardening

Microscopic images. Copyright ©Marine Biology Research Group, Ghent University, Freija Hauquier

by Dr. Freija Hauquier, Ghent University Underneath the seafloor lies an entire world of small animals crawling between the sediment grains, well hidden from the human eye at first glimpse. Yet they are numerous, diverse, and equally deserve our attention in the context of deep-sea mining. Sure, studying them requires a bit more patience than […]

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The taste of sediment

The author working with sediment cores. Photo: Kristin Hamann

by Henko de Stigter (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, NIOZ) Until somebody came up with the idea of mining polymetallic nodules from the abyssal depths of the Pacific Ocean, this place was one of the remotest and quietest on our planet. Far away from the brute natural forces of storms, floods, landslides, tsunamis and […]