A Site-Specific Sampling System for EEZ Hard Mineral Deposits

  • John R. Toth
  • Craig A. Amerigian
Chapter

Abstract

Accurate evaluation of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) hard mineral deposits requires survey and sampling techniques more advanced than those currently in use. In response to this need, a tethered, multiple coring system for the recovery of site-specific samples of manganese crust has been designed, fabricated, and tested at sea. This system consists of an array of thirty core guns, bottom triggering and sequencing electronics, an acoustic telemetry system, and a 35 mm camera system. It can be operated to depths up to 5000 m from typical oceanographic research vessels using a standard mechanical deep sea wire.

The coring system was deployed in March 1987 from the French research vessel Jean Charcot, sampling crust deposits in the Tuamotu archipelago. Based on these successful sea trials, plans have begun for a number of future developments:
  1. (1)

    refinement of the current sampler for easier rigging on deck and to enable greater core penetration,

     
  2. (2)

    modification of core barrels to recover other consolidated substrates for site-specific sampling of glassy and weathered basalt and massive sulphides,

     
  3. (3)

    interfacing of the system with a conducting cable and addition of real-time video and remote firing to enable interactive selection of sampling sites, and

     
  4. (4)

    (4) design of a small, untethered sampler that will recover a single sample and return to the surface, similar in concept to the freefall grab samplers used in exploration for manganese nodules.

     

Keywords

Syntactic Foam Exclusive Economic Zone Manganese Nodule Core Tube Sidescan Sonar 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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References

  1. Lockwood, M.A. and Hill, G. (1986) Symposium Summary and Recommendations, Proceedings, The Exclusive Economic Zone Symposium Exploring the New Ocean Frontier, Washington DC, October 1985, pp.1–5.Google Scholar
  2. Toth, J.R. and Amerigian, C.A. (1986) ‘Development of an advanced sampling device for the investigation of marine ferromanganese crust deposits’, Proceedings, 18th Annual Offshore Technology Conference, pp.127–134.Google Scholar
  3. Yuen, P.C., Corell, R., Craven, J., Takahashi, P. and Seymour, R (1986), unpublished draft, Symposium Summary and Recommendations, The Blue Revolution: Engineering Solutions for the Utilization of EEZ Resources, Honolulu, 28pp.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Kluwer Academic Publishers 1990

Authors and Affiliations

  • John R. Toth
    • 1
  • Craig A. Amerigian
    • 1
  1. 1.Analytical Services CompanyCarlsbadUSA

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