Search

For cobalt-rich crusts in a contract area, the regular-shaped cells for relinquishment are obviously different from the natural ore distribution, and this brings challenges in evaluating the resources within them. Based on survey data in the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association (COMRA) contract area, this study analyzed factors that could influence the relinquishment of cobalt-rich crusts. According to the guidelines of the International Seabed Authority, each original block of the COMRA contract area was subdivided into 16 cells. The contract areas were then divided into orebodies, unclear areas, and non-resource areas based on the distribution of the orebodies. Then, these attributions were assigned to the cells and the resources inside each cell were evaluated and identified, according to resource quantity, as resource cells, unclear cells, and non-resource cells. Finally, relinquishment was assessed by a step-by-step method in the following priority order: non-resource cells, unclear cells, and resource cells. This method was applied to the Caiqi Guyot (a guyot in the COMRA contract area) as a case study. The results show that the proposed method is suitable for the relinquishment of cobalt-rich crusts in the COMRA contract area and can also be applied to other contract areas worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) current plays a crucial role in storing and transporting heat, water, and nutrients around the world. However, it is impossible to monitor AABW in the Plio-Pleistocene by direct measurement. Hence, abyssal erosion was usually chosen as an effective indicator of the presence of the AABW in the Indian and Eastern Pacific Oceans during that period. Here, we report a high-resolution magnetostratigraphy of a gravity core, the JL7KGC-01A from the south of the Mariana Trench, northwest Pacific Ocean. The main results are as follows: (1) polarity data suggest that the sequence recorded the late Gauss chron to the early Brunhes chron, including the Jaramillo, Cobb Mountain, and Olduvai normal subchrons; (2) the sedimentary processes in the study area since 2.9 Ma show three stages of sedimentation: 83 cm/Ma during 2.9–1.2 Ma, 183 cm/Ma during 1.2–0.7 Ma, and no sedimentation since ~0.7 Ma; (3) the area south of the Mariana Trench experienced a significant change in the deposition rate at 1.2 Ma, which could be correlated with the intensified desertification in inland Asia, and experienced a prominent depositional hiatus since the early middle Pleistocene, which likely resulted from the enhanced/expanded AABW. Based on these new polarity data and comparisons with previous studies around the Pacific Ocean, we therefore propose that the AABW experienced a notable change during the early–mid Pleistocene transition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The microbial communities of marine seep sediments contain unexplored physiological and phylogenetic diversity. Here, we examined 30 bacterial metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from cold seeps in the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Scotian Basin, and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as from deep-sea hydrothermal sediments in the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California. Phylogenetic analyses of these MAGs indicate that they form a distinct phylum-level bacterial lineage, which we propose as a new phylum, Candidatus Effluviviacota, in reference to its preferential occurrence at diverse seep areas. Based on tightly clustered high-quality MAGs, we propose two new genus-level candidatus taxa, Candidatus Effluvivivax and Candidatus Effluvibates. Genomic content analyses indicate that Candidatus Effluviviacota are chemoheterotrophs that harbor the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas glycolysis pathway. They gain energy by fermenting organic substrates. Additionally, they display potential capabilities for the degradation of cellulose, hemicellulose, starch, xylan, and various peptides. Extracellular anaerobic respiration appears to rely on metals as electron acceptors, with electron transfer primarily mediated by multiheme cytochromes and by a flavin-based extracellular electron transfer (EET) mechanism that involves NADH-quinone oxidoreductase-demethylmenaquinone-synthesizing enzymes, uncharacterized membrane proteins, and flavin-binding proteins, also known as the NUO-DMK-EET-FMN complex. The heterogeneity within the Ca . Effluviviacota phylum suggests varying roles in energy metabolism among different genera. While NUO-DMK-EET-FMN electron transfer has been reported predominantly in Gram-positive bacteria, it is now identified in Ca . Effluviviacota as well. We detected the presence of genes associated with bacterial microcompartments in Ca . Effluviviacota, which can promote specific metabolic processes and protect the cytosol from toxic intermediates., Importance: The newly discovered bacterial phylum Candidatus Effluviviacota is widespread across diverse seepage ecosystems, marine environments, and freshwater environments, with a notable preference for cold seeps. While maintaining an average abundance of approximately 1% in the global gene catalog of cold seep habitats, it has not hitherto been characterized. The metabolic versatility of Ca . Effluviviacota in anaerobic carbon, hydrogen, and metal cycling aligns with its prevalence in anoxic niches, with a preference for cold seep environments. Variations in metabolic potential between Ca . Effluvivivax and Ca . Effluvibates may contribute to shaping their respective habitat distributions., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.