Lecture Notes in

AQUATIC RESOURCES AND ECOLOGY

Mentor: GARDEL XYZA LIBUNAO
4 SEPTEMBER 2021

Click to edit Master title style AQUATIC RESOURCES

AND ECOLOGY
NON-LIVING AQUATIC RESOURCES
GARDEL XYZA LIBUNAO

Lecture 5
04 September 2021

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FISHERIES TECHNOLOGISTS 2021 1

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Non-living resources

Main non-living ocean resources are

mineral resources, crude oil, natural gas
and gas hydrates.

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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/243964173_Ocean_non-living_resources

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4 SEPTEMBER 2021

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Non-living resources

Marine Placer deposits

• A placer can be defined as a surficial mineral deposit
formed by the mechanical concentration of mineral
particles from weathered debris.
• Marine placers are mostly metallic minerals or gems
which have been transported to the seafloor in a solid
form. They are mainly mechanically and chemically
resistant minerals which have been liberated on
breakdown of their parent rocks.

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https://cdn.britannica.com/26/1526-004-B5FD325C/minerals-weather-vein-deposit-mass-wasting-water-stream.jpg

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Non-living resources
Mineral Deposits

Marine Placer deposits

• These include : Cassiterite (tin), ilmenite (titanium), rutile (titanium), zircon (zirconium), chromite (chromium),
monazite (thorium), magnetite (iron), gold and diamonds.
• The iron-titanium-rich placer mineral magnetite has been mined in large quantities from the northwestern coast
of New Zealand (North Island), Indonesia (Java), the Philippines (Luzon), and Japan (Hokkaido)
• Generally confined to locations within a few tens of kilometres from their source rocks, and are limited to
continental shelf regions less than 120 m deep

4 4

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Lecture Notes in
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Mentor: GARDEL XYZA LIBUNAO
4 SEPTEMBER 2021

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Non-living resources
Mineral Deposits

Marine phosphorite deposits

• Phosphorites are natural compounds containing
phosphate in the form of a cement binding
sediments in tropical to sub-tropical regions. They
tend to occur in waters of medium depth and are
widely distributed on the continental shelves and
upper slopes in areas of deep-water upwelling.

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https://www.frontiersin.org/files/Articles/25092/fmicb-03-00241-r2/image_m/fmicb-03-00241-g001.jpg

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Non-living resources
Mineral Deposits

Marine evaporite deposits

• Marine evaporites, formed by evaporation of sea water
and other natural brines in geologic basins of restricted
circulation, comprise mainly anhydrite and gypsum
(calcium sulphates), sodium and magnesium salts and
potash-bearing minerals
• Because of the widespread occurrence of anhydrite,
gypsum and common salt on land, and the ease of
obtaining salt by evaporation from seawater in many
coastal regions, these minerals are already widely
available. Consequently, there is little value in marine
deposits except perhaps in areas far removed from
other supplies.

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https://image.slidesharecdn.com/topic6-evaporitesaltdeposits-121206173554-phpapp02/95/topic-11-
evaporite-salt-deposits-14-638.jpg?cb=1515417262

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Non-living resources
Mineral Deposits

Marine Polymetallic sulphides

• The majority of sub-sea polymetallic sulphides (PMS)
are massive ore bodies containing varying proportions
of pyrrhotite, pyrite/marcasite, sphalerite/wurtzite,
chalcopyrite, bornite, and isocubanite
• Polymetallic mineral deposits on the seafloor are
intimately related to the formation of new oceanic
crust by seafloor spreading and volcanic activity.
• Some massive polymetallic sulphides located on
spreading centres near deep-ocean trenches also
contain galena (lead sulphide) and native gold.

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https://worldoceanreview.com/en/files/2014/05/wor3_c2d_fig_2-27.jpg

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Non-living resources
Mineral Deposits

Marine manganese nodules and crusts

• Their abundance, composition, (including strategically valuable
metals) and their occurrence as loose material lying on the surface
of the seabed make nodules potentially attractive to future mining.
• Manganese nodules were first dredged during the HMS Challenger
Expedition in the Pacific Ocean in 1872-76.
• Manganese nodules are concentrations of iron and manganese
oxides, that can contain economically valuable concentrations of
nickel, copper and cobalt (together, making up to 3 wt. %). The
nodules include trace amounts of molybdenum, platinum and other
base metals .

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https://worldoceanreview.com/en/wor-3/mineral-resources/manganese-nodules/

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Non-living resources
Mineral Deposits

Marine manganese nodules and crusts

• Manganese nodules grow when metal compounds dissolved in the water column (hydrogenous growth) or in water
contained in the sediments (diagenetic growth) are deposited around a nucleus. The growth core (nucleus) can be,
for example, a shark’s tooth or a fragment of a clam shell, around which the nodule grows.

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https://worldoceanreview.com/en/wor-3/mineral-resources/manganese-nodules/

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Non-living resources
Mineral Deposits

Marine hydrocarbon deposits

• Generally, large quantities of
hydrocarbons can be formed only at
depths within sedimentary sequences
greater than 1,000 - 2,000 meters.

• Oil and natural gas are the most valuable non-living resources taken from the ocean.
• The estimated reserves of oil world wide at the beginning of the 21st Century are about one trillion barrels. Of this
amount, about 252 billion barrels (25 %) lie in marine environments.
• Of the twenty-five largest offshore production fields, eight are in the Persian Gulf and eight others are in the North Sea.
The remaining ones are located in the Gulf of Mexico, East Asia, South Asia, South America, West Africa and North
Africa.

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https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/giVSnZBgEwM-s941tUGi92l4GR2grK-
dqPPQYQdK2arKQgIiQHzKSVJNkxCi5LAXKZ__4svPbK1cfVLoXvHIh7KZKc8mar2MXNnIZ4c

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Non-living resources
Mineral Deposits

Marine hydrocarbon deposits

• Crude oil is such a valuable non-living resource that it is referred to as “black gold”. Crude oil is
mainly composed of the hydrocarbons paraffin, napthene and aromatic hydrocarbon series.
• Natural gas is mainly composed of the first four members of the paraffin series, methane (CH4),
ethane (CH6), propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10)
• Hydrocarbons are mainly formed in marine sedimentary basins. These geologic environments
contain strata comprising mineral and biochemical elements including, importantly, unoxidised
organic matter. Over millions of years, these becomes subjected to high pressures and
temperatures. These conditions fractionate the organic material, forming liquid (oil) and gaseous
(natural gas) hydrocarbons. .

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Non-living resources
Mineral Deposits

Marine gas hydrate deposits

• Gas hydrate is a crystalline compound composed of gas
molecules, normally methane, encaged within water
molecules to form a solid similar to ice.
• Gas hydrates are estimated to hold many times more methane
than presently exists in the atmosphere and up to twice the
amount of energy of all fossil carbon-based fuels combined.
• Gas hydrate reservoirs of methane are identified as a potential
future natural resource, possibly comprising up to ten times the
fuel value of current conventional gas and oil resources

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