Abyssal Plain with Manganese Nodules

The deep-sea plain is a vast, flat desert on the seafloor at around 5,000 meters depth. Scattered all over it are manganese nodules, small lumps of metal. They grow so slowly that a single centimeter takes millions of years.

For scientists

Manganese nodules grow as metals such as manganese, iron, nickel and cobalt build up layer by layer around a core, often a shark tooth or a chip of rock. They lie loose on the sediment of the abyssal plain and are prized as raw material for batteries, which is why deep-sea mining is hotly debated. Because they grow so slowly, a destroyed nodule field would be lost for millions of years.

Source: Smithsonian Ocean

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