The Indian Ocean Nodule Field: Geology and Resource Potential

314 Pages·2008·6.97 MB·English

by  Ranadhir Mukhopadhyay

V O L U M E T E N
H E
ANDBOOK OF XPLORATION AND
E G
NVIRONMENTAL EOCHEMISTRY
The Indian Ocean Nodule
Field: Geology and
Resource Potential
HANDBOOK OF EXPLORATION
AND ENVIRONMENTAL
GEOCHEMISTRY
Series Editor
MARTIN HALE
1. Analytical methods in geochemicalprospecting
2. Stastistics and data analysis in geochemicalprospecting
3. Rock geochemistry in mineral exploration
4. Regolithexplorationgeochemistryintropicalandsub-tropicalterrains
5. Regolith exploration geochemistry in arctic and temperate terrains
6. Drainage geochemistry
7. Geochemical remote sensing of the sub-surface
8. Life cycle of the phosphoria formation: From deposition to the
post-mining environment
9. Biogeochemistry in mineral exploration
10. The Indian Ocean nodule field: Geology and resource potential
V O L U M E T E N
H E
ANDBOOK OF XPLORATION AND
E G
NVIRONMENTAL EOCHEMISTRY
The Indian Ocean Nodule
Field: Geology and
Resource Potential
RANADHIR MUKHOPADHYAY
National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India
ANIL K. GHOSH
University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India
SRIDHAR D. IYER
National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India
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C
ONTENTS
Preface vii
SeriesEditor’sForeword xi
AbouttheAuthors xiii
1. TheIndianOceanNoduleField 1
1. PhysiographyandGeology 5
2. Physics,ChemistryandBiology 25
3. EvolutionoftheIndianOceanNoduleField 31
2. TectonicsandGeomorphology 37
1. Ridge-NormalLineaments 40
2. RidgeParallelLineationsandAnomalies 45
3. Seamounts 54
3. Volcanics 67
1. MajorVolcanics 69
2. MinorVolcanics 86
3. AlterationofVolcanics 103
4. TectonicsandVolcanics:Interrelations 112
4. Sediments 115
1. DistributionandSource 117
2. SedimentaryProcesses 135
5. FerromanganeseDeposits 155
1. NoduleCharacteristics 157
2. FactorsInfluencingNoduleFormation 184
3. DynamicsofNoduleFormation 194
4. FerromanganeseEncrustation 205
5. TheWorldOceansScenario 211
v
vi Contents
6. ResourceManagement 225
1. ResourceIdentification 225
2. MiningTechnology 231
3. EnvironmentalImpactAssessment 233
4. MetalExtractionandProcessing 249
5. LawoftheSea 254
6. GlobalPerspectives 255
References 261
AuthorIndex 283
SubjectIndex 289
ColourInsertbetweenpages18and19
P
REFACE
Oceans,withtheirenormityandmysterycovering259millionkm2andsome
72% of the earth’s surface, have always been a part of human consciousness.
Climateandweather,andeventhequalityoftheairpeoplebreathe,dependin
greatmeasureontheinterplaybetweentheoceanandtheatmosphereinways
stillnotfullyunderstood.Besidesbeingaprimesourceofnourishmentforlifeit
helpedtogenerate,theoceanisconsideredasastorehouseforseverallivingand
non-livingresources.Makinguseofsuchresources,ingeneral,andminerals,
inparticular,essentiallyneedsintelligentandsustainabletreatment.The1982
UnitedNationsConventionontheLawoftheSea,sinceitsentryintoforceon
16November1994,providedforthefirsttimeauniversallegalframeworkfor
therationalmanagementofmarineresourcesandtheirconservation.
TheCentralIndianOceanBasin(CIOB),borderedbytheIndianSubcon-
tinent,theNinetyeastRidgeandtheIndianOceanRidgesystem,isthelargest
andmostuniqueofallthebasinsintheIndianOcean.Becauseofitscomplex
tectonic fabric, vastness and ferromanganese deposits, this basin has attracted
the attention of oceanographers since long. However, in comparison to the
quantumofinvestigationscarriedoutinthePacificandtheAtlanticoceans,the
studyintheCIOBhasleftmuchtobedesired.Eventheinternationaldrilling
programmes(DeepSeaDrillingProject,OceanDrillingProgramme)havenot
extensivelycoveredthisbasin.Asaresult,apaucityofdatahaslimitedaproper
understandingofthebasinandtheevaluationofitsresources.
Duringthelasttwodecades,theCIOBwasexploredinsomedetailforits
mineral resource potential, with India taking the lead. The broad objectives
were to explore and delineate economically feasible manganese nodule-
bearing areas, and ultimately concentrate on resource exploration from the
Self-allocated area. Extensive exploration for the resources saw more than
50 oceanographic voyages to this basin. The amount and type of underway
datacollectedareimmense,rangingfromsingle-beamtomulti-beambathym-
etry, to seafloor magnetism and gravity and to underwater photography.
A large number of manganese nodules, rocks, sediments and water column
samples were recovered from an area more than 700,000km2, bordered
(cid:1) (cid:1) 0 (cid:1) (cid:1)
between 9 S and 16 30S and 72 E and 80 E. This helped delineate a
nodule-richareatobelaterknownastheIndianOceanNoduleField(IONF).
Subsequently, close-grid exploration, followed by the critical resource
assessmentoftheIONF,identifiedthe‘firstgenerationminesite’.Globally,
theIONFrepresentsthesecondlargestandsecondrichestdeep-seamanga-
nese nodule resources after those of the Equatorial North Pacific.
vii
viii Preface
A conservative estimate places the total manganese nodules availability in
the IONF as more than 1400 million tons, with an average abundance of
little more than 4.5kg of nodules per square metre. Considering the
recovery capacity of available mining technology and metal extraction
processes, the nodule resources are expected to last for many hundreds of
years, and resource mining would be economically viable too.
Thepublicationsresultingfromthefieldandlaboratorystudies,andcover-
ing diverse aspects (such as evolution of the CIOB, structure and tectonics,
volcanism, sedimentation, and resource characterisation and potential), are
indeed numerous. Several workers from different institutions in various
countries have published their important findings, but these are scattered in
differentjournals,allofwhicharenoteasilyaccessibletoresearchersinterested
inthenoduleresourcesoftheIndianOcean.Inthisscenario,thebasicpurpose
of the present book is to collate the available information in a concise and
systematicmanner,andcarryoutacriticalevaluationofsuchinformation.The
necessityofthisbookisallthemorerelevantbecausethe currently available
books on manganese nodules largely pertain to the Pacific and the Atlantic
oceans,makinginadequatecoverageoftheIndianOcean,ingeneral,andthe
IONF,inparticular.Hence,thisbookistargetedatstudentsandresearchersat
the master’s and doctoral levels, and for all those interested in the marine
geology and resource potentiality of the IONF. We hope that this book
will serve as a ready reference to those involved in the development and
managementofgeo-resources,andtoeconomistsandpolicyplanners.
After introducing the IONF in the firstchapter, we discuss the geomor-
phology and tectonics of this field in the second and volcanics in the third
chapter.Thebottomsedimentaryregimes—sedimentsourceanditscharacter-
istics,dynamics ofsedimentation—arediscussedin Chapter4. The distribu-
tion, grade and processes of formation of ferromanganese deposits (both
nodules and crusts) during the last 5–10 million years are discussed in
Chapter 5. And finally in Chapter 6, we describe the equipment used for
exploration,sketchonprobableminingmethods,assessenvironmentalimpli-
cationsconcerningmining,discussmetallurgicaltechniquesandconverseon
internationallegalconstraintsonexplorationandexploitationofthenodules.
While writing this book, we received help from many quarters. The
Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Ministry of
EarthSciences,bothinNewDelhi,India,arethankedforallthelogisticand
financial support—in the laboratory andat sea—during the last two decades
through grants to the National Institute ofOceanography (NIO), Goa. The
director, National Institute of Oceanography, and the vice-chancellor,
University of Calcutta, are specially thanked for their support and
encouragement.Weplaceonrecordwiththanksthegeneroussupportofall
themembersoftheproject‘SurveysforPolymetallicNodules’inhelpingone
wayortheotherduringcollectionandanalysisofsamples,anddatainterpre-
tation. Many of them readily provided their reprints, preprints and other
Preface ix
unpublished material. The cooperation of the crew of the various ships,
sometimesunderexcruciatingconditions,isacknowledged.
India’s deep-sea mineral campaign owes a great deal to the vision and
untiringeffortsofthelateDrHassanNasiemSiddiquie,theformerdirectorof
theNationalInstituteofOceanography.Werespectfullyrememberhisinitia-
tionofthemanganesenoduleprogrammeforIndia.Dr.S.Z.Qasim,asformer
Secretary of the then Department of Ocean Development and ex- member,
Planning Commission, Government of India, has always been a source of
inspiration to the project. The earlier versions of the chapters received
critical reviews and comments from A. L. Paropkari, G. V. Rajamanickam,
J.N.Pattan,K.S.Krishna,M.ShyamPrasad,M.V.Ramana,N.H.Khadge,
R.K.Drolia,R.P.Das,R.V.Karanth,andV.Ramaswamy.Wethankthem
all. Besides, we had rewarding discussions with many of our colleagues at
NIO and at the University of Calcutta. Technical help from A. K. Saran,
A.Y.Mahale,R.Uchiland S.Akerkarisacknowledged.
WethankElsevierforpublishingthisbookandalsoMartinHale,Series
Editor, for patiently going through the manuscript and for writing the
Foreword. We acknowledge the support (and patience) of Particia Massar,
Pauline Riebeek and Tirza Van Daalen during preproduction stage, to
Conny Krainz for supervising the production of the Title and Prasenjit
Bakshi and his dedicated team for printing the book.
Mostofthematerialspresentedhereareinpublicdomain.Manyofthe
figureswerereprintedfromvariousbooksandjournals.Wethanktheauthors
and publishers for kindly permitting us to reproducethese figures. Last but
nottheleast,weexpressadeepsenseofappreciationtothesacrificeofour
wivesSumita,JayantiandKamakshi,respectively,andtoourchildren.
It is a pleasure to place on record our gratitude to our colleagues both
from within and outside India who helped with literature support and
liberalcommentstohelpcharacterisetheresourcesandtobetterunderstand
theformationalregimesofferromanganesedepositintheIONF.However,
any discrepancyregarding theviewsand opinions expressedinthis bookis
solely the responsibility of the authors.
31 January 2007
Ranadhir Mukhopadhyay
National Institute of Oceanography, Goa
[email protected]
Anil K. Ghosh
University of Calcutta, Kolkata
[email protected]
Sridhar D. Iyer
National Institute of Oceanography, Goa
[email protected]