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There appear to be rich seabed rare earth deposits that are feasible to mine. [1] [1] https://phys.org/news/2013-03-japan-rich-rare-earth-deposits.html https:
by ridgeguy 9y ago
There appear to be rich seabed rare earth deposits that are feasible to mine. [1]
[1] https://phys.org/news/2013-03-japan-rich-rare-earth-deposits.html https://phys.org/news/2013-03-japan-rich-rare-earth-deposits...
- cobbzilla 9y agoI know it sounds terrible, but at geologic time scales, the sea floor is recycled at a higher rate than non-coastal land [1], maybe it's better to keep more land in a better state, if that's the choice? The sea floor is immense. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_crust#Life_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_crust#Life_cycle
- ridgeguy 9y agoI agree there's much more sea floor than land area to use, and that it gets 'renewed' faster than continental land masses. On the other hand, we know so little about submarine ecosystems - what might be important in sustaining humans, what isn't, how they get damaged, recovery times, etc. It seems much harder to get that info from sea bed sites than from land sites. Complicated decisions with no apparent easy choices.