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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Economic Geology
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2024.1495673

Resource Abundance of Cobalt-rich Ferromanganese Crusts in the KC-8 Seamount, West Pacific

Provisionally accepted
Gyuha Hwang Gyuha Hwang 1,2Youngtak Ko Youngtak Ko 1Seung-Jin Yang Seung-Jin Yang 1Wonnyon Kim Wonnyon Kim 1*
  • 1 Ocean Georesources Research Department, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST), Busan, Republic of Korea
  • 2 Department of Astronomy, Space Science, and Geology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    We have estimated the resource potential of cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts (CFCs) on the summit area of the KC-8 seamount in the West Pacific, based on the acoustic backscatter intensity (ABI), ROV video footage, and CFC thickness measurements. To estimate the spatial distribution of CFC across 13 equally divided blocks within a 360 km 2 area, shipboard and deep-tow ABIs were compared with visual data. The presence of CFCs is evident in the areas where ABI is higher than average, validating the use of ABI data to delineate the exposure of CFCs. With high accuracy in distinguishing between CFCs and sedimentdominant areas, the distribution area of CFCs was precisely calculated. The variation in CFC thickness across the KC8 seamount summit was measured through CFC samples retrieved using a CFC corer. CFC thickness is highly variable even between adjacent sites, but it shows a roughly increasing trend from south to northwest. Based on the CFC distribution area associated with thickness, we calculated a CFC resource abundance. Of the estimation, 82% have remained on the gentle slope (<10°) areas, which can be accessible for future mining.Overall, our study suggests that the combination of an acoustic survey with reliable thickness information is highly effective in estimating CFC abundance.

    Keywords: cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts, CFC thickness, Resource abundance, Deep-sea survey, West Pacific

    Received: 13 Sep 2024; Accepted: 21 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hwang, Ko, Yang and Kim. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Wonnyon Kim, Ocean Georesources Research Department, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST), Busan, Republic of Korea

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.