The Clipperton Fracture Zone, also known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, is a geological submarine

fracture zone A fracture zone is a linear feature on the ocean floor—often hundreds, even thousands of kilometers long—resulting from the action of offset mid-ocean ridge axis segments. They are a consequence of plate tectonics. Lithospheric plates on eit ...

of the Pacific Ocean, with a length of around 4500 miles (7240 km). The zone spans approximately . It is one of the five major lineations of the northern Pacific floor, south of the Clarion Fracture Zone, discovered by the

Scripps Institution of Oceanography The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (sometimes referred to as SIO, Scripps Oceanography, or Scripps) in San Diego, California, US founded in 1903, is one of the oldest and largest centers for oceanography, ocean and Earth science research ...

in 1950. The fracture, an unusually mountainous topographical feature, begins east-northeast of the

Line Islands The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands (in Gilbertese, ''Aono Raina'') are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawa ...

and ends in the

Middle America Trench The Middle America Trench is a major subduction zone, an oceanic trench in the eastern Pacific Ocean off the southwestern coast of Middle America, stretching from central Mexico to Costa Rica. The trench is 1,700 miles (2,750 km) long an ...

off the coast of Central America. It roughly forms a line on the same latitude as Kiribati and Clipperton Island. In 2016, the seafloor in the Clipperton Fracture Zone – an area being researched for

deep-sea mining Deep sea mining is a growing subfield of experimental seabed mining that involves the retrieval of minerals and deposits from the ocean floor found at depths of or greater. As of 2021, the majority of marine mining efforts are limited to shal ...

due to the abundant presence of manganese nodule resources – was also found to contain an abundance and diversity of life, with more than half of the species collected being new to science. The zone is sometimes referred to as the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ), with reference to Clarion Island at the northern edge of the zone.

Geography

The fracture can be divided into four distinct parts: *The first, 127°–113° W, is a broad, low welt of some 900 miles, with a central trough 10 to 30 miles wide; *The second, 113°-107° W, is a volcano enriched ridge, 60 miles wide and 330 miles long; *The third, 107°-101° W, is a low welt with a central trough 1,200–2,400 feet deep which transects the

Albatross Plateau Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacifi ...

; and *The fourth, 101°-96° W, contains the

Tehuantepec Ridge The Tehuantepec Ridge is a linear undersea ridge located off the west coast of Mexico in the Pacific Ocean. It is the remnant of an old fracture zone, and not a tectonic spreading center ridge (''see'' mid-ocean ridge). It extends from the easte ...

which extends 400 miles northeast to the continental margin. The Nova-Canton Trough is often seen as an extension of the fracture.

Deep sea mining

The zone, which is administered by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), contains

nodules Nodule may refer to: *Nodule (geology), a small rock or mineral cluster *Manganese nodule, a metallic concretion found on the seafloor *Nodule (medicine), a small aggregation of cells *Root nodule Root nodules are found on the roots of plants, p ...

made up of various rare-earth elements dubbed as playing an essential role for the

energy transition The energy transition is the process of downshifting fossil fuels and re-developing whole systems to operate on low carbon energy sources. More generally, an energy transition is a significant structural change in an energy system regarding ...

to a

low carbon economy A low-carbon economy (LCE) or decarbonised economy is an economy based on energy sources that produce low levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. GHG emissions due to human activity are the dominant cause of observed climate change since the mi ...

. The zone has been divided into 16 mining claims spanning approximately . Further nine areas, each covering , have been set aside for conservation. The International Seabed Authority estimates that the total amount of nodules in the Clarion Clipperton Zone exceeds 21 billions of tons (Bt), containing about 5.95 Bt of manganese, 0.27 Bt of nickel, 0.23 Bt of copper and 0.05 Bt of cobalt. The ISA has issued 19 licences for deep-sea mining exploration within this area. Exploratory full-scale extraction operations are set to begin in late 2021. The ISA are aiming to publish the deep sea mining code in July 2023 though there is contention if they will meet this deadline, commercial licences will be accepted for review thereafter. These nodules are seeded by biogenic processes, micronodules are then further aggregated and accreted into the large clumps targeted for harvesting. Areas of the fracture zone that have been licensed for mining are home to a diversity of deep-sea

xenophyophores Xenophyophorea is a clade of foraminiferans. Members of this class are multinucleate unicellular organisms found on the ocean floor throughout the world's oceans, at depths of . They are a kind of foraminiferan that extract minerals from their s ...

, with a 2017 study finding 34 species new to science in the area. As xenophyophores are highly sensitive to human disturbances, deep-sea mining may have adverse effects on the group; further, as they play a keystone role in benthic ecosystems their removal could amplify ecological consequences. Research is being conducted by different research organisations, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology and TU Delft, who have observer status in the International Seabed Authority, in order to fully investigate the potential impact of collecting these elements and compare it to the extensively researched

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

and human impact of terrestrial mining, with the intention of mitigating these impacts through policy. It is currently unknown how the release of tailings from nodule processing into the water column would affect pelagic organisms or the detrimental effects they may have on the benthic communities below.

Environmental concerns about deep sea mining

Deep sea mining has the potential for large impacts on the environment, specifically the polymetallic nodules found in this area are considered "critical for food web integrity". In April 2021 scientists from JPI oceans project travelled to the CCZ to carry out more in depth studies into the mining technology and its possible effect on the seabed. Major NGO's and governments have called for a moratorium on deep sea mining within the deep sea until more is known about potential environmental impacts.

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=March 2017 Fracture zones Pacific Ocean Mining Environmental conservation