Reference no: EM133206315 , Length: Word count: 1 Page
Assignment Task:
Topic: The Oceans
Another topic that is often strangely missing from physical geography textbooks is the oceans. We can't cover very much in one week, but I do want to cover the recent discovery of resources on the seabed, the development of technologies to exploit those resources, and what this implies for international relations and ocean ecosystems. Fissures along plate boundaries and near hotspots bring valuable minerals up from deep beneath the crust. Many islands and seamounts associated with such processes have thereby accumulated abundant minerals in their seabed. Associated with these environments are some of the most fascinating and vulnerable ecosystems on earth. Unknown forms of life, that we have barely begun to understand, exist within environments that we may soon begin using large machines to dredge up.
Watch: Nutrients from Deep-Sea Vents
Watch: The Next Frontier in Mining: Deep Sea Exploitation in the Pacific
Recommended: Deep sea gold rush [Al Jazeera English]
Recommended: Mining the Deep Sea [Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)]
Recommended: Deep Sea Mining: Searching for the Next Mineral Boom [Roundtable]
Recommended: Seabed Mining in the Deep Sea [University of California Television (UCTV)]
Recommended: Introduction to the International Seabed Authority and Seabed Mining [dyaguilfoyle]
Question 1: What is a hydrothermal vent? Describe how hydrothermal vents produce nutrient-rich water.
Question 2: Discuss the status and prospects of deep-sea mining. What (if anything) is being done or should be done to regulate the exploitation of the seabed for minerals? Discuss the history and significance of national claims of exclusive rights over offshore resources.