Critical minerals are key components of clean-energy technologies, which are essential to replacing fossil fuels and stabilizing the climate. At present, the United States is highly dependent on critical minerals to support a growing electric vehicle market. Yet, the United States is also vulnerable to growing geopolitical realities and supply-chain bottlenecks. China, a major supplier of these minerals to global markets, just announced a ban on some exports to the United States.
This situation raises a red flag for Ocean Conservancy as we strive to protect our ocean forever and for everyone. While some are looking to the ocean as the next frontier for securing these minerals, countries like China are positioned to mop up the international seafloor. Should they do so, this would only further weaken the United States by bolstering China’s dominance over critical mineral supplies.
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However, according to two new reports by Planet Tracker, an award-winning nonprofit that focuses on sustainable finance, deep-sea mining would be an economic boondoggle, particularly for developing countries. Simply put, seabed mining would be little more than a gold rush, benefitting the few at the expense of the many.
In its first report, Planet Tracker evaluated the financial impact of deep-sea mining on the economies of 12 developing countries that currently obtain critical minerals from land-based mines. All 12 countries are characterized as dependent or highly dependent on the mining sector for revenue.
A market influx of marine-derived minerals, particularly cobalt, copper and nickel, is expected to directly compete with these land-based sources, depressing export earnings of countries with land-based mining operations. Planet Tracker estimates that these 12 countries, with a combined $560 billion in export revenue, would be vulnerable to potentially destabilizing price shocks as a result.
The International Seabed Authority (ISA) previously confirmed that seven of the countries in Planet Tracker’s analysis are at the greatest risk of economic harm from market saturation if or when companies begin extracting polymetallic nodules from the seabed. ISA is required to compensate developing countries for economic losses related to the impacts of seabed minerals on their export or market prices. However, the annual amount of ISA compensation each country could expect would be only $1.1 million, a paltry sum considering the 12 countries each currently generate between $5-240 billion in critical mineral export revenues.
In Planet Tracker’s second report, ISA member countries or states sponsoring mining companies were found to receive nominal payments, either in taxes or royalties, should deep sea mining proceed. The amounts of payments to members depends on the number of ISA’s financial and legal obligations, which could be substantial and take precedence over payouts to members. For example, ISA could be required to restore seafloor habitats damaged by mining, with the potential to significantly reduce royalties to member states. By one estimate, the cost to restore the seafloor on a per km2 basis could be as high as $5.3-5.7 million. According to ISA, a typical 20-year mining operation could impact an area of around 8,500 per km2. This means the potential total cost to restore the footprint of a 20-year mining tract could be as high as $48 billion, all but depleting funds for payments.
Developing countries sponsoring mining companies also might not see a dime in corporate income taxes because of the sponsorship agreements that waive company taxes. Small Island Developing States could also receive far fewer royalties than more populous countries if the amount of money to be distributed from the ISA royalty fund is tied to population size.
To add salt to the wound, Small Island Developing States could potentially experience a greater share of the environmental impacts from mining operations if the marine ecosystems on which they depend for food or cultural uses are harmed. According to one study, some Small Island Developing States or developing countries catch as much as 10% of their tuna from areas likely to see some of the earliest and largest deep-sea mining operations. In a separate study, Ocean Conservancy identified the overlap of fisheries with prospective locations for mining critical minerals in U.S. federal waters. The potential impacts of deep-sea mining on ecosystem services like fisheries and seafood are among the reasons Ocean Conservancy is advocating for a moratorium on deep-sea mining.
When you add up all the financial and economic impacts, the conclusion is that deep-sea mining would be tragically unnecessary for the ocean and for local communities, especially those located in Small Island Developing States.
But we can put the energy transition on a different path, one not dependent on minerals scoured from the deep seafloor. Technological innovation is already rapidly moving electric car batteries away from the types of minerals or metals found on the deep seabed. Some minerals, such as cobalt, a critical component in electric vehicle batteries, can instead be extracted directly from seawater, which contains 70 times more cobalt than land. Decommissioned offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico could serve as structures for harvesting cobalt, an elegant example of how old energy infrastructure can support new sources of climate- and ocean- friendly energy.
An international moratorium on seabed mining is needed to prevent further dominance of the global mineral supply chain by China and other countries. This action would give the U.S. valuable time to achieve critical mineral independence through a domestically centered supply-chain strategy that prioritizes technological efficiency, material substitution and circularity.
Society simply has too much to lose ecologically—and very little to gain economically—by plundering the deep seabed for critical minerals.
If we don’t act now, we risk sleepwalking into deep-sea mining and doing irreversible harm to the ocean. Take action with Ocean Conservancy to halt seabed mining in its tracks.
The post The Risks of Deep-Sea Mining appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.
Ocean Acidification
Dr Heidarzadeh’s TV interview with SkyNews on the massive M7.7 Panama earthquake on 9 October 2026
Dr Heidarzadeh’s TV interview with SkyNews on the massive M7.7 Panama earthquake on 9 October 2026. Click here for the full story.
Dr Heidarzadeh’s TV interview with SkyNews on the massive M7.7 Panama earthquake on 9 October 2026
Our ocean is an incredibly vast and mysterious place. And there is no place where that is more evident than the deepest ocean area in the world: the legendary Mariana Trench. Located east of the Philippines, the Mariana Trench lies in the Mariana Archipelago in the western portion of the North Pacific. The greater area of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument is made up of more than 95,000 square miles of ocean. Beneath these waters lie incredibly complex aggregations of submerged islands and volcanoes … and of course, an astoundingly massive trench.
Dive in with us to have your biggest questions answered about the famed Mariana Trench.
How deep is the Mariana Trench?
The deepest part of the Mariana Trench, known as Challenger Deep, is almost 36,000 feet below the ocean’s surface. For context, Mount Everest is about 29,000 feet above sea level, so the Mariana Trench is about 7,000 feet deeper than Mount Everest is tall. For one more comparison, the RMS Titanic lies at a depth of about 12,500 feet below sea level. The Challenger Deep is in waters nearly three times deeper than this ship’s final resting place.
Due to its enormous size, the Mariana Trench has at times been affectionately nicknamed the Grand Canyon of the ocean. This is certainly a picturesque image, but don’t let the mammoth size of this U.S. national terrestrial park fool you into thinking the Mariana Trench matches its size. The trench’s footprint is estimated to be 120 times larger than the Grand Canyon’s, and to reach the bottom of Challenger Deep, you’d need to descend through almost six Grand Canyons stacked on top of each other before you’d reach the seafloor.
Oh … and did we mention it’s five times wider than it is deep? It’s about 43 miles wide!
What is Challenger Deep, and how long would it take to reach it?
Challenger Deep is the deepest point of the Mariana Trench. Fewer than 30 people have ever journeyed to this area. The trek below the surface is long, dark and time-consuming, and it’s not an expedition considered lightly by scientists and explorers.
The first people to descend into the depths of this area in 1960 were oceanographers Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, and it took them close to five hours to reach Challenger Deep. Since then, more advanced submersibles have been created, but it still takes two to four hours for modern vessels to reach such depths. For example, explorer and filmmaker James Cameron reached the seafloor in a little more than 2.5 hours in the first documented solo submarine dive to the area, and it took oceanographer Dr. Dawn Wright about four hours in 2022. It is crucial that these submersibles descend slowly and steadily beneath the surface, as the immense water pressure compounds with every mile a submersible descends. Speaking of pressure …
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What is the water pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench?
If you thought the depth of the Mariana Trench was its only jaw-dropping feature, think again. Water pressure is one of the most important factors affecting deep-sea life. In the ocean, pressure increases by one atmosphere for every 33 feet (10 meters) of depth. One atmosphere (a unit of measurement for pressure equivalent to average air pressure at sea level) is equal to about 14.7 pounds per square inch (PSI), which is the approximate standard atmospheric pressure at sea level. If you were to convert atmospheric pressure into weight, one atmosphere is about the weight of a bowling ball. Stay with me, friends.
If a vessel were to dive 2,000 feet below the surface, the pressure would equal that of 60 bowling balls stacked atop every square inch of that submersible. But 60 bowling balls is simply nothing compared to the pressure in the Mariana Trench. The atmospheric pressure at the depths of Challenger Deep is equal to about 16,000 PSI. That pressure is about the same as the weight of an entire full-grown elephant on every square inch of a submersible!
Need a more extreme comparison? If a human were to be placed at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the pressure would be equal to that of 50 jumbo jets piled on top of a person!
Do any animals live in the Mariana Trench?
The depths of the Mariana Trench come with immense pressure and extreme darkness, but somehow, life finds a way to survive. Organisms that live at an extreme depth, like that of Challenger Deep, have to be highly adapted to low temperatures (typically just above freezing), high pressure and virtually no light at all.
Species found in the depths of the Mariana Trench might look vastly different from animals from other ocean depths because their anatomy has been refined to thrive in harsh conditions. At such great depths, these animals typically depend on chemosynthesis (using nutrient-rich waters being pumped out of hydrothermal vents) or descending detritus (dead matter that has fallen from higher parts of the ocean) for food, such as whale falls. Just a handful of these animals include species of octopuses and squids, sea cucumbers, amphipods, sea jellies, shrimp, sea worms and some wild-looking fish!
In 2025, more than 7,000 new species were discovered in the Mariana Trench, including the hadal snailfish (Pseudoliparis swirei). This is the deepest-dwelling fish currently known to science. Now, the fish has been dubbed “the Mariana snailfish.”
How was the Mariana Trench formed?
The process by which the Mariana Trench was created is a geologically fascinating one known as subduction. On the Earth’s surface, there are thin plates that cover the planet’s mantle, which is made of molten rock. If two of these plates collide, one pushes down into the Earth’s mantle while the other is pushed over the bottom plate. When this happens, a trench is formed from the drag of the bottom plate. This process can sometimes create incredibly strong earthquakes. The plates that forged the Mariana Trench’s creation are estimated to be up to approximately 180 million years old.
This trench was unknown to scientists until 1875. It was then that a team of explorers on the HMS Challenger measured the depth of the sea by simply lowering a weighted rope into the water. They were baffled when they measured that first portion of the seafloor to be five miles below the surface. And so was born the origin of some of the most daring deep-sea explorations known to mankind to date.
Is the Mariana Trench protected?
The Mariana Trench is in waters off Guam and the Mariana Islands. The region is protected from some human activities under its status as a marine monument. The creation of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument signified that international, national and local leaders all recognize the importance of protecting this area.
However, just because the region is protected does not mean it’s not vulnerable to modern threats to ocean health. Plastic bags have been spotted in the Mariana Trench during several expeditions, highlighting the far-reaching impact of the marine debris problem. No corner of our ocean is safe from the ever-present threat of plastic pollution. The reality of a changing climate makes the future well-being of wondrous places like the Mariana Trench uncertain. What’s more: More than 70% of the global ocean has yet to be mapped. And what we don’t yet know about, we cannot wisely work to protect.
It’s up to us to work together to defend our ocean, from the sandy shores of our favorite beaches to the deepest, darkest parts of the sea. Together, we can work to protect our ocean as a whole, which ultimately helps protect treasured places like Challenger Deep.
Find out how you can join Ocean Conservancy’s wave of momentum to secure a healthy ocean and a thriving planet, forever and for everyone!
The post The Mysteries of the Mariana Trench appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.