Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumScrutiny for Norwegian fjord rock disposal (BBC)
By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News, Salt Lake City
Out of sight, out of mind - but not for much longer.
The practice of dumping millions of tonnes of waste rock in deep Norwegian fjords is coming under close scrutiny from the country's scientists.
The debris, or tailings, from mining operations has been deposited on the seafloor for decades with little recognition of its likely impacts.
Now, the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (Niva) is mounting a series of studies to assess the consequences.
"The mining companies send these tailings down a long pipe, down below the euphotic zone, below 200m, and essentially smother everything on the seafloor," explained Prof Andrew Sweetman, a research scientist with Niva.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17136821
Dead_Parrot
(14,478 posts)Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)It should frighten anybody:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storegga_Slide
I recently ran into a small article somewhere commenting that Storegga risks were being re-studied by the government, so maybe that is a factor in this decision.
The imagery on this article is beautiful, but scary.
http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?BiotID=301
GliderGuider
(21,088 posts)It's just an ocean, after all. We eat all the tasty fish, and trash the rest of it. Who gives a fuck?
I'm glad to see someone does.