Recommendation : 



Major new efforts directed toward the understand- 

 ing of the reproduction, growth, and development 

 of potentially exploitable marine organisms should 

 be undertaken to provide the base of understand- 

 ing and technology necessary to make the prod- 

 ucts of aquaculture more available. 



III. DEVELOPMENT OF MINERAL 

 RESOURCES 



The panel, mindful of the report of the Re- 

 sources Panel, here confines its discussions to 

 those aspects of resource development which are 

 limited by the lack of fundamental knowledge. 

 The Resources Panel has pointed out the growing 

 contribution to the Nation's needs for oil and gas 

 and sulphur which are being made by offshore 

 deposits, both along our own shoreline and the 

 shorelines of other nations. It points to the need 

 to start now to explore the potential of our 

 continental shelves for the contributions to the 

 Nation's future needs for hard mineral resources. 



Mineral resource development is not presently 

 limited by a lack of basic understanding of mineral 

 formation processes in the sea any more than on 

 land. The principal limitations are in technology, 

 exploration, and economics. The basic nature of 

 the processes leading to mineral deposit- and oil 

 accumulation appear adequately understood to the 

 point where they concern location and exploita- 

 tion of mineral resources under the sea. Further 

 exploitation of these resources depends to a great 

 degree upon the preparation of a complete inven- 

 tory. The needs are for topographic, geophysical, 

 and geologic mapping and charting. There is need 

 for elucidating and portraying the details of the 

 geological structure on the Continental Shelf and 

 slope; the structure of these margins is incom- 

 pletely understood. 



Except for the hot brines and their associated 

 deposits in the Red Sea, the materials of potential 

 economic importance presently known to exist on 

 the deep ocean floors beyond the continental 

 slope are the ferro-manganese nodules and 

 crusts.*' They also contain small percentages of 

 copper, cobalt, and nickel, and these metals appear 



to be of greater potential value than the dominant 

 manganese or iron with which they are associated. 

 The mechanism of formation of these deposits is 

 obscure, and nothing is known about the processes 

 that determine their content of copper, cobalt or 

 nickel. 



Because of the mineralogical dissimilarity to 

 ores now being exploited on land, research on 

 procedures for separating the metals in these 

 nodules is required. 



Although hot brines like those of the Red Sea 

 and the deposits associated with them have not 

 been found in other regions of the ocean, the 

 possibility that similar formations may exist in 

 other regions of the mid-ocean ridge systems 

 should not be overlooked.'* Further studies of 

 the elements and isotopes contained in the brine 

 pools and their underlying sediments should be 

 made for clues about their age and origin, a 

 procedure which may facilitate the search for such 

 deposits elsewhere in the ocean. 



The panel has recommended a much enhanced 

 program of basic science directed at understand- 

 ing our planet through research on the geology and 

 geophysics of the ocean floor. (See "Basic 

 Science-Key to Understanding Our Planet.") It 

 feels that this effort wall satisfy the basic science 

 needs for the mineral resource development. 



As we have indicated, we support the objectives 

 of the International Decade of Exploration'' 

 proposed by the United States. These objectives 

 include: 



Determination of the geological structure and 

 mineral and energy resource potential of the 

 world's continental margins. 



Preparation of topographic, geological, and 

 geophysical maps of selected areas of the deep 

 ocean floor. 



Coring and drilling on the continental margins 

 and deep ocean floor in selected areas. ... 



Investigations of evolutionary processes of 

 ocean basins. 



The Mineral Resources of the Sea, Mero, American 

 Elsevier Publishing Co., 1965. 



Hydrographic Observations of the Red Sea Brines, 

 Munns, Stanly, Densmore, Nature, Vol. 214, No. 5093, 

 1967. 



^^International Decade of Ocean Exploration, Report 

 by the National Council on Marine Resources and 

 Engineering Development, May 1968. 



1-32 



