Ecological impacts of large-scale disposal of mining waste in the deep sea.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Hughes DJ
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4419517 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Ecological impacts of large-scale disposal of mining waste in the deep sea.
Hughes David J DJ Shimmield Tracy M TM Black Kenneth D KD Howe John A JA
Scientific reports 20150505
Deep-Sea Tailings Placement (DSTP) from terrestrial mines is one of several large-scale industrial activities now taking place in the deep sea. The scale and persistence of its impacts on seabed biota are unknown. We sampled around the Lihir and Misima island mines in Papua New Guinea to measure the impacts of ongoing DSTP and assess the state of benthic infaunal communities after its conclusion. At Lihir, where DSTP has operated continuously since 1996, abundance of sediment infauna was substan ...[more]
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