How it all began

By Gerd Schriever Many different mineral resources can be found on the deep sea floor. Beside manganese nodules, manganese crusts, massive sulphides and rare earth elements are of commercial interest. The first manganese nodules were found in 1872 during the English “Challenger” expedition in the Atlantic Ocean but were quickly forgotten. During the late 1960s/early […]

My piece of cake

By Dr. Clara Rodrigues and Dr. Patricia Esquete Garrote, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal The Box-corer is one of the stars of this DISCOL revisited cruise. This stainless steel sampling box has been used since the 1980s to determine the fauna composition at the abyssal floor. The surface area of the box is a quarter of […]