The quest to map the mysteries of the ocean floor

The quest to map the mysteries of the ocean floor Getty Images The oceans’ floors are not a flat, sandy expanse – they are every bit as varied as the landscapes above water, with plunging valleys and huge mountains. Far below the ocean’s surface lie precious metals, rare earth elements, oil and diamonds – riches that have, until now, remained inaccessible to even the most intrepid of prospectors In 2017, an international team of experts from around the world, united under the non-profit General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans, launched the first effort to create a comprehensive map of the world’s oceans. A global bathymetric map – that is, a map of the ocean’s floor – would certainly offer a better understanding of our blue planet, but it also might plunge us into a realm once reserved for science fiction: robot submarines, underwater volcanoes, sea jewels, coral with pharmaceutical properties, Wild West maritime law, toxic sediment plumes, and an ocean-based enterprise curiously devoid of humans or ships. “In the Pacific or the Arctic, for example, individual track lines can be quite helpful to better understand poorly mapped areas.” Getty Images Though we have been laying cables across the ocean floor for over 150 years, much of the ocean floor is a mystery Gebco hopes to mitigate this problem by encouraging cargo ships, fishing boats and pleasure craft to participate in the project and transmit their data in real time, effectively crowdsourcing the underwater map. A De Beers spokesperson confirms that the company “does not mine in areas considered to have high diversity of marine life,” and stated that, post-mining, “seabed recovery occurs naturally over a period of time and is assisted by the sediment that we return to the seabed.” This is a race to get a baseline understanding of our ocean, before we change it dramatically – James Bellingham Still, the industry’s economic incentives often outweigh environmental safety concerns.