Impacts on surface productivity during sediment dispersal experiment in Central Indian Basin

It is anticipated that in the case of mining of marine minerals, sea floor sediments will be brought up along with the mineral ores and discharged on she surface. These nutrient rich sediments would create a set of different physicochemical conditions at the point of discharge thus altering the regimes of productivity in the water column. In order to assess the effects of deep sea sediment discharge on the oceanic surface water-layers (0–50M) after nodule mining, a Sediment Dispersal Experiment (SEDEX) was conducted in Central Indian Basin (CIB). A total of 675 liters of slurry prepared from 225 kg of wet sediment (330 g · l−1) was discharged on the surface during the experiment. Water samples were collected before and after the discharge to monitor the changes in different environmental parameters. There was a general increase in bacterial abundance and primary producers along with suspended particulate matter. Migration of Zooplankton is artificially induced by the stimulatory effect of the sediment and...