In addition to oil, gas, and fish, the states along the North Sea also take millions of cubic metres per year of sand and gravel from the ocean floor. These are used for beach nourishment, land reclamation and construction. Rolled pieces of amber may be picked up on the east coast of England.
Mineral resources
North Sea
North Sea | Mineral resources
Sand, gravel and rolled pieces of amber Sand and gravel Sand and gravel and amber. Oil and gas
when will the new dunkirk film be released on dvd
user
18 December 2017
assistant
what is this film about?
user
Dunkirk evacuation of World War II
assistant
can you mention a few members of the cast?
user
Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles
assistant
where was it shot?
user
Dunkirk and Urk, Netherlands
assistant
can you tell me anything about the latter place's past?
user
Until 1475 the High and Low Lordship of Urk and Emmeloord was in the hands of the Van Kuinre family
assistant
what does the economy of this place depend upon?
user
Fishery
assistant
is there any waterbody nearby ?
user
North Sea
assistant
what kind of marine organisms are found in this sea?
user
Cod, haddock, whiting, saithe, plaice, sole, mackerel, herring, pouting, sprat, and sandeel
assistant
what kind of minerals are found in this sea?
user
In addition to oil, gas, and fish, the states along the North Sea also take millions of cubic metres per year of sand and gravel from the ocean floor. These are used for beach nourishment, land reclamation and construction. Rolled pieces of amber may be picked up on the east coast of England.
North Sea | Mineral resources
Copepods and other zooplankton are plentiful in the North Sea. These tiny organisms are crucial elements of the food chain supporting many species of fish. Over 230 species of fish live in the North Sea. Cod, haddock, whiting, saithe, plaice, sole, mackerel, herring, pouting, sprat, and sandeel are all very common and are fished commercially. Due to the various depths of the North Sea trenches and differences in salinity, temperature, and water movement, some fish such as blue-mouth redfish and rabbitfish reside only in small areas of the North Sea. Crustaceans are also commonly found throughout the sea. Norway lobster, deep-water prawns, and brown shrimp are all commercially fished, but other species of lobster, shrimp, oyster, mussels and clams all live in the North Sea.
North Sea | Fish and shellfish
There are a number of marine invertebrates that use minerals that are present in the sea in such minute quantities that they were undetectable until the advent of spectroscopy. Vanadium is concentrated by some tunicates for use in their blood cells to a level ten million times that of the surrounding seawater. Other tunicates similarly concentrate niobium and tantalum. Lobsters use copper in their respiratory pigment hemocyanin, despite the proportion of this metal in seawater being minute. Although these elements are present in vast quantities in the ocean, their extraction by man is not economic.
Marine invertebrates | Minerals from sea water
In the North Sea waters at the base of the cliffs can be found certain marine mammals, including the common seal ("Phoca vitulina") and the grey seal ("Halichoerus grypus"). Seals can be observed in summer months hauling out on the rugged rock formation of Craiglethy Skerry. Further offshore are frequently sighted dolphins. Bony fishes found in the offshore waters include Atlantic shad ("Aosa sapidissima"), Atlantic salmon ("Salmo salar"), and brown trout ("Salmo trutta"). Marine algae occurring immediately offshore at the Fowlsheugh Nature Reserve include "Dudresnaya verticillata", "Sauvageaugloia griffithsiana", and "Streblonema infestans".
Fowlsheugh | Marine life
Searles Lake is a huge resource of sodium and potassium minerals of the carbonate, sulfate, borate and halide classes of mineralogy. The manufacture of industrial minerals involves a complex solution mining operation in which naturally occurring brines are pumped from wells completed in several salt beds. The brine wells range in depth from near-surface to over below the salt pan. A network of production wells, injection wells, solar ponds and piping are used in the production and treatment of the brines. Industrial minerals are extracted from the brines at the Argus, Trona and Westend plants. Minerals are crystallized from the brines, screened, washed, and dried.
Searles Lake | Mineralogy
Recently non-indigenous species have become established including the Pacific oyster and Atlantic jackknife clam.
North Sea | Fish and shellfish
Due to the heavy human populations and high level of industrialization along its shores, the wildlife of the North Sea has suffered from pollution, overhunting, and overfishing. Flamingos and pelicans were once found along the southern shores of the North Sea, but became extinct over the 2nd millennium. Walruses frequented the Orkney Islands through the mid-16th century, as both Sable Island and Orkney Islands lay within its normal range. Gray whales also resided in the North Sea but were driven to extinction in the Atlantic in the 17th century Other species have dramatically declined in population, though they are still found.
North Sea | Biodiversity and conservation
In terms of mineral resources the major constituents of the Red Sea sediments are as follows:
Red Sea | Mineral resources
The deep sea contains many different resources available for extraction, including silver, gold, copper, manganese, cobalt, and zinc. These raw materials are found in various forms on the sea floor. Minerals and related depths Diamonds are also mined from the seabed by De Beers and others. Nautilus Minerals Inc and Neptune Minerals are planning to mine the offshore waters of Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.
Deep sea mining | Resources mined
In this period the area now named the North Sea was in the subtropics and was a non-marine arid environment.
Geology of the North Sea | Variscan Orogeny
Oriel Sea Minerals () is a variety of Irish sea minerals. Oriel Sea Minerals are concentrated sea mineral salts in liquid form and are harvested from the Irish Sea by Oriel Marine Extracts. They are harvested from the bay of Port Oriel near Drogheda. Oriel Sea Minerals received Protected designation of origin in 2016.
Oriel Sea Minerals | Introduction
The North Sea is also home to marine mammals. Common seals, and harbour porpoises can be found along the coasts, at marine installations, and on islands. The very northern North Sea islands such as the Shetland Islands are occasionally home to a larger variety of pinnipeds including bearded, harp, hooded and ringed seals, and even walrus. North Sea cetaceans include various porpoise, dolphin and whale species.
North Sea | Marine mammals
The sea's mineral resources include tin deposits off the coasts of Malaysia and Thailand. Major ports are Port Blair in India; Dawei, Mawlamyine and Yangon in Myanmar; Ranong port in Thailand; George Town and Penang in Malaysia; and Belawan in Indonesia.
Andaman Sea | Mineral resources
Seawater has been used as a source of sea salt since prehistoric times, and more recently of magnesium and bromine. Potassium is sometimes recovered from the bittern left after salt precipitation. The oceans are often described as an inexhaustible resource.
Brine mining | Seawater
The Southern Ocean probably contains large, and possibly giant, oil and gas fields on the continental margin. Placer deposits, accumulation of valuable minerals such as gold, formed by gravity separation during sedimentary processes are also expected to exist in the Southern Ocean. Manganese nodules are expected to exist in the Southern Ocean. Manganese nodules are rock concretions on the sea bottom formed of concentric layers of iron and manganese hydroxides around a core. The core may be microscopically small and is sometimes completely transformed into manganese minerals by crystallization. Interest in the potential exploitation of polymetallic nodules generated a great deal of activity among prospective mining consortia in the 1960s and 1970s.
Southern Ocean | Natural resources
Mineral reserves exceed four billion tons.
Searles Lake | Mineralogy
Plant species in the North Sea include species of wrack, among them bladder wrack, knotted wrack, and serrated wrack. Algae, macroalgal, and kelp, such as oarweed and laminaria hyperboria, and species of maerl are found as well. Eelgrass, formerly common in the entirety of the Wadden Sea, was nearly wiped out in the 20th century by a disease. Similarly, sea grass used to coat huge tracts of ocean floor, but have been damaged by trawling and dredging have diminished its habitat and prevented its return. Invasive Japanese seaweed has spread along the shores of the sea clogging harbours and inlets and has become a nuisance.
North Sea | Flora
The Dead Sea's mineral composition varies with season, rainfall, depth of deposit, and ambient temperature. Most oceanic salt is approximately 85% sodium chloride (the same salt as table salt) while Dead Sea salt is only 30.5% of this, with the remainder composed of other dried minerals and salts. Major ion concentrations in the water of the Dead Sea have given the following results (which do not necessarily reflect those of Dead Sea "salt"): The major minerals present in Dead Sea mud—the result of runoff streams flowing into the Dead Sea and bringing large deposits during the Holocene era—have been shown to be the following:
Dead Sea salt | Mineral composition
North Atlantic right whales, sturgeon, shad, rays, skates, salmon, and other species were common in the North Sea until the 20th century, when numbers declined due to overfishing. Other factors like the introduction of non-indigenous species, industrial and agricultural pollution, trawling and dredging, human-induced eutrophication, construction on coastal breeding and feeding grounds, sand and gravel extraction, offshore construction, and heavy shipping traffic have also contributed to the decline. For example, a resident killer whale pod was lost in the 1960s, presumably due to the peak in PCB pollution in this time period. The OSPAR commission manages the OSPAR convention to counteract the harmful effects of human activity on wildlife in the North Sea, preserve endangered species, and provide environmental protection.
North Sea | Biodiversity and conservation
In northwestern Europe, chalk deposits from the Upper Cretaceous are characteristic for the Chalk Group, which forms the white cliffs of Dover on the south coast of England and similar cliffs on the French Normandian coast. The group is found in England, northern France, the low countries, northern Germany, Denmark and in the subsurface of the southern part of the North Sea. Stagnation of deep sea currents in middle Cretaceous times caused anoxic circumstances in the sea water. In many places around the world, dark anoxic shales were formed during this interval. These shales are an important source rock for oil and gas, for example in the subsurface of the North Sea.
Geology of the North Sea | Cretaceous period sea floor spreading
The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located between Great Britain (England and Scotland), Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. An epeiric (or "shelf") sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north. It is more than long and wide, with an area of . The North Sea has long been the site of important European shipping lanes as well as a major fishery. The coast is a popular destination for recreation and tourism in bordering countries, and more recently the sea has developed into a rich source of energy resources, including fossil fuels, wind, and early efforts in wave power.
North Sea | Introduction
Every time the ice sheet reached its greatest extent, the North Sea became almost completely dry. The present-day coastline formed after the Last Glacial Maximum when the sea began to flood the European continental shelf. In 2006 a bone fragment was found while drilling for oil in the North Sea. Analysis indicated that it was a Plateosaurus from 199 to 216 million years ago. This was the deepest dinosaur fossil ever found and the first find for Norway.
North Sea | Geology
The area we now call the North Sea was interspersed amid several separate continental areas (Siberia, Baltica, Gondwana, and Laurentia) as well as the Iapetus Ocean and Tornquist Sea. Plate tectonics and continental collisions (orogenies) brought the features together of the North Sea that we recognise presently.
Geology of the North Sea | Precambrian
Trace elements from buried sediments, percolating rain water, and trapped sea water meant various inorganic ions were present within the porous rock, among them chlorine, fluorine, sulphate, calcium, barium, lead, zinc and even uranium. Organic material from the decomposing bodies of marine animals in the sediments formed hydrocarbons, precursors of oil and gas. At high pressure a hot mineralised fluid formed and was forced into fractures and other voids in the rock. From this fluid, catalysed by the hydrocarbons, compounds such as galena (lead sulphide, PbS), sphalerite (zinc sulphide, ZnS), baryte (barium sulphate, BaSO) and fluorspar (calcium fluoride, CaF) were precipitated as solid crystals.
Treak Cliff Cavern | Blue John
Across the north central and northern North Sea, the Chalk Group is a major seal unit, overlying a number of blocks of reservoir rocks and preventing their fluid contents from migrating upwards. The Silverpit crater, a diameter suspected impact crater in the North Sea The age of the feature is constrained between 74 – 45 million years (Late Cretaceous – Eocene). The Sole Pit Basin was created by deep burial of depocentres.
Geology of the North Sea | Cretaceous period sea floor spreading
When the tide is at its lowest the sea recedes and an expanse of sand in excess of wide is uncovered, offering excellent opportunities for walking and littoral discoveries. The rockpools at the base of the cliffs create perfect places for small fish and crabs to hide until the tide turns, and there is an abundance of small molluscs such as periwinkles, limpets and mussels clinging in clusters to the rocks. In the sea beyond low water mark is Gull Rock (or Otterham Rock).
Trebarwith Strand | Natural history
Clevedon Shore () is a 0.38 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest adjacent to the Severn Estuary at Clevedon, North Somerset, notified in 1991. It is the side of a mineralised fault, which runs east-west adjacent to the pier, and forms a small cliff feature in dolomitic conglomerate on the north side of Clevedon Beach, containing cream to pink baryte together with sulphides. The minerals identified at the site include: haematite, chalcopyrite, tennantite, galena, tetrahedrite, bornite, pyrite, marcasite, enargite and sphalerite. Secondary alteration of this assemblage has produced idaite, Covellite and other Copper sulphides. The site is listed as a Geological Conservation Review site as several of the minerals found here are rare, in particular the beudantite.
Clevedon Shore | Introduction
Shallow epicontinental seas like the current North Sea have since long existed on the European continental shelf. The rifting that formed the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, from about , caused tectonic uplift in the British Isles. Since then, a shallow sea has almost continuously existed between the uplands of the Fennoscandian Shield and the British Isles. This precursor of the current North Sea has grown and shrunk with the rise and fall of the eustatic sea level during geologic time. Sometimes it was connected with other shallow seas, such as the sea above the Paris Basin to the south-west, the Paratethys Sea to the south-east, or the Tethys Ocean to the south.
North Sea | Geology
It can be found in the subsurface of most of the Netherlands.
Lower North Sea Group | Introduction
Minerals have been extracted from seawater since ancient times. Currently the four most concentrated metals – Na, Mg, Ca and K – are commercially extracted from seawater. During 2015 in the US 63% of magnesium production came from seawater and brines. Bromine is also produced from seawater in China and Japan. Lithium extraction from seawater was tried in the 1970s, but the tests were soon abandoned. The idea of extracting uranium from seawater has been considered at least from the 1960s, but only a few grams of uranium were extracted in Japan in the late 1990s.
Seawater | Mineral extraction
The sandstones of the Southern North Sea region form gas reservoirs. Deposition started in the early Permian, and near the end of the early Permian finer sediment was deposited in an environment of lacustrine and saline/sabkha.
Geology of the southern North Sea | Rotliegend group
Sedimentation rates were high, and the bottom waters were rather anoxic. Organisms that inhabited this sea include dinoflagellates, ammonites, and belemnites.
Acamptonectes | Palaeoecology
Dark layers of shale rich in organic material with low planktonic diversity are indictive of dysaerobic waters (those with a low amount of dissolved oxygen) near the bottom. This sea would have been located at a latitude of approximately 70° S, within the polar regions. The presence of glendonite, ice-rafted boulders, and coniferous driftwood with dense growth rings indicate a seasonal climate with near-freezing temperatures. The average temperature of this region has been estimated at approximately . This suggests that "Umoonasaurus" was able to tolerate these cold conditions. The Bulldog Shale has yielded fossils of plants, invertebrates, fish, and reptiles.
Umoonasaurus | Paleoenvironment
He noted that the ratios of minerals in both fluids were similar with the exception of sodium chloride, which he adjusted. Quinton selected sea water from regions which also contained micro algae.
Deep ocean minerals | Sea water and holistic nutrition
Some of the heavy minerals upstream include micas (biotite and muscovite made of potassium, aluminum, and silica), hematite (iron), and limonite (iron oxides). Near the coastal shoreline and mouth of the Yaquina Bay estuary, the sand grains are mostly feldspars and chert (silica), and volcanic fragments (most likely high in silica, potassium, aluminum, sodium, and calcium). In nearshore marine deposit sediment, the source material is less quartz (less silica) compared to upriver sources; heavy minerals include pyroxene (a group of silicate minerals), hypersthene (magnesium iron silica), and diopside (magnesium calcium silica).
Yaquina Bay | Silicon
Magnesium values in natural seawater are between 1250 and 1350 mg/l, around 3.7% of the total seawater mineral content. Dead Sea minerals contain a significantly higher magnesium chloride ratio, 50.8%. Carbonates and calcium are essential for all growth of corals, coralline algae, clams, and invertebrates. Magnesium can be depleted by mangrove plants and the use of excessive limewater or by going beyond natural calcium, alkalinity, and pH values.
Magnesium chloride | Occurrence
In general the reservoir potential is restricted to aeolian sandstone, although poorer quality potential reservoirs are found in fluvial sediment. About 85% of the gas production in the southern North Sea basin comes from the pre-Zechstein Permian sandstones and 13% from the Triassic fluvial sandstones. The sandstone deposited prior to the Zechstein evaporites are essentially the area in which the oil industry is pulling the natural resources from due to high quality seal from the salt diapers and pillows which acted as a buffer between structural segments. Triassic sequence fluvial sandstones are of lesser quality of a reservoir because it was not sealed in a trap such as the Rotliegend.
Geology of the southern North Sea | Petroleum geology
The north-eastern Atlantic Ocean may be divided into two main biogeographic regions - the Lusitanian (west of British Isles, Bay of Biscay, Iberian coast as far as Gibraltar), and northern European seas (including North Sea and Baltic Sea). A clearly distinct area is also the Macaronesian Biogeographic Region. The North Sea is home to about 230 species of fish. Cod, haddock, whiting, saithe, plaice, sole, mackerel, herring, pouting, sprat, and sandeel are common and target of commercial fishing. Due to the various depths of the North Sea trenches and differences in salinity, temperature, and water movement some fish reside only in small areas of the North Sea (e.g.
Fauna of Europe | Atlantic Ocean
Some fault zones of crushed rock (breccia) are re-cemented by dark brown coloured iron and manganese oxide minerals. The present landscape is due to prolonged erosion having carved out deep valleys, removing parts of the once continuous Table Mountain Group sandstone cover from the Cape Flats and leaving high residual mountain ridges.
Marine geology of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay | Cape orogeny
Petroleum and natural gas fields, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules, sand and gravel aggregates, fish, seals and whales can all be found in abundance in the region. The political dead zone near the center of the sea is also the focus of a mounting dispute between the United States, Russia, Canada, Norway, and Denmark. It is significant for the global energy market because it may hold 25% or more of the world's undiscovered oil and gas resources.
Arctic Ocean | Natural resources
The offshore waters around the archipelago contain deep-sea ferromanganese nodules, with globular, dendritic and laminated microstructures formed from iron-manganese oxide. Due to the US military presence on the island the US Geological Survey has conducted water resource analysis since 1984.
Geology of the British Indian Ocean Territory | Introduction
The geology of the North Sea describes the geological features such as channels, trenches, and ridges today and the geological history, plate tectonics, and geological events that created them. The basement of the North Sea was formed in an intraplate setting during the Precambrian. Rigid blocks were overlaid with various depositions, sands and salts. These rigid blocks were transformed to a metamorphic base due to tectonic processes such as continental collisions which cause horizontal pressure, friction and distortion in the Caledonian plate cycle as well as the Variscan plate cycle. The blocks were also subjected to metamorphic evolution during the Triassic and Jurassic periods when the rock was heated up by the intrusion of hot molten rock called magma from the Earth's interior.
Geology of the North Sea | Introduction
The Exclusive economic zone of Japan has an estimated large quantities of mineral resources such as methane clathrate, natural gas, metallic minerals and rare-earth mineral reserves. Seabed mineral resources such as manganese nodules, cobalt-rich crust and submarine hydrothermal deposits are located at depths over . Most of these deep sea resources are unexplored at the seabed. Japan's mining law restricts offshore oil and gas production. There are technological hurdles to mine at such extreme depths and to limit the ecological impact. There are no successful commercial ventures that mine the deep sea yet. So currently there are few deep sea mining projects to retrieve minerals or deepwater drilling on the ocean floor.
Geography of Japan | Marine resources
Fossils, such as brachiopods and crinoids associated with a shallow sea environment, can be found in the rock. East of the south Wales coalfield and in the south east the rock is increasingly dolomitised (where some calcium is replaced by magnesium).
Hunts Bay Oolite | Introduction
Fossil fuels, marine minerals, methane hydrate, offshore generation of renewable energies hold great potential for mankind, but can also be endangering not just for the climate and ecology. All this is illustrated in this chapter.
World Ocean Review | 7. Marine minerals and energy
In the early 1960s, oil companies had found some crude oil in Great Britain, as well as in the Netherlands and Germany, and suspected that there was more to be found under the North Sea. Unfortunately there were some barriers that had to be overcome before it was to be possible to search for oil and gas. There had been no international agreements that addressed the rights to the various minerals and areas outside the limit. Also, the technology required was not yet developed, or had not matured enough to be commercially usable. The main factor was that the oil companies generally did not think that there were significant enough reserves in the North Sea to warrant the usage of resources to search for oil.
Sea Gem | Background
The sea in this area is shallow and exposed to currents which move westwards along the coast. The seabed has areas of rock and others of sand and gravel, particularly in the more sheltered areas. In rocky areas there are forests of kelp and a wide variety of fish and invertebrates but in more protected locations, eelgrasses dominate.
Raet National Park | Marine area
The species is found in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Bosporus, the English Channel and the North Sea.
Adyte | Distribution
The Middle North Sea Group (abbreviation: NM) is a group of geologic formations in the Dutch subsurface, part of the North Sea Supergroup. The three formations of this group form a thick sequence of sediments in the Dutch subsurface, they crop out in parts of the southern Netherlands. The Middle North Sea Group was deposited from the late Eocene to late Oligocene, between 37 and 23 million years ago. Its three formations are (from old to young) the Tongeren, Rupel and Veldhoven Formations. The Tongeren Formation has a continental to paralic facies, the other two consist mainly of shallow marine clays and sands.
Middle North Sea Group | Introduction
Advice on the management of 135 separate finfish and shellfish stocks is provided to the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC), North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO), and the European Commission (EC). Advice and scientific information on anthropogenic impacts to the marine environment are provided to the Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR), the European Commission (EC), and the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM).
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea | Advice
Tidal flat clays are also found in some backwater areas of the sea.
Goldthwait Sea | Sedimentary evidence
The North Sea is part of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Europe. It is located between Norway and Denmark in the east, Scotland and England in the west, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France in the south. The geology of the North Sea describes the geological features such as channels, trenches, and ridges today and the geological history, plate tectonics, geological events that created them. A geological basin is a large low-lying area or depression. It is often below sea level. Depressions are typically formed by tectonic processes acting on the lithosphere, providing "accommodation space" for sediment to be preserved.
Northern North Sea basin | Introduction
Deep ocean minerals (DOM) are mineral nutrients (chemical elements) extracted from deep ocean water (DOW) found at ocean depths of between 250 and 1500 meters. DOW contains over 70 mineral nutrients and trace elements including magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca) and potassium (K) in their bio ionic form. To extract these products, DOW is treated with micro filtration and reverse osmosis to desalinate and concentrate magnesium, other minerals and trace elements whilst eliminating the salt (sodium chloride). Although research about DOM is in its early stages, as it is a source of electrolytes that can help metabolize carbohydrate, proteins and fat plus maintain bone, teeth and muscle function, health benefits are possible.
Deep ocean minerals | Introduction
The south is mainly Torridonian sandstone and shale; the north is grey-banded Archaean Lewisian gneiss and granulite. There are also smaller outcrops of Jurassic shales and sandstones occasionally interspersed with limestone. The related ironstone beds contain low grade oolitic siderite and chamosite ores which were worked commercially in the early 20th century. Remaining reserves are estimated at 10 million tonnes. The seas to the east and west are very deep, large troughs having been created by the Skye icecap in the Pleistocene.
Raasay | Geology and geography
The Authority's main legislative accomplishment to date has been the adoption, in the year 2000, of regulations governing exploration for polymetallic nodules. These resources, also called manganese nodules, contain varying amounts of manganese, cobalt, copper and nickel. They occur as potato-sized lumps scattered about on the surface of the ocean floor, mainly in the central Pacific Ocean but with some deposits in the Indian Ocean. The Council of the Authority began work, in August 2002, on another set of regulations, covering polymetallic sulfides and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts, which are rich sources of such minerals as copper, iron, zinc, silver and gold, as well as cobalt.
International Seabed Authority | Activities
The Searles Lake brine is rich in arsenic, and a unique anaerobic, extremely haloalkaliphilic bacterium which uses arsenic for respiration has been isolated from the mud.
Searles Valley Minerals | Environmental Problems
The North Sea is Europe's main fishery accounting for over 5% of international commercial fish caught. Fishing in the North Sea is concentrated in the southern part of the coastal waters. The main method of fishing is trawling. In 1995, the total volume of fish and shellfish caught in the North Sea was approximately 3.5 million tonnes. Besides saleable fish, it is estimated that one million tonnes of unmarketable by-catch is caught and discarded to die each year. In recent decades, overfishing has left many fisheries unproductive, disturbing marine food chain dynamics and costing jobs in the fishing industry. Herring, cod and plaice fisheries may soon face the same plight as mackerel fishing, which ceased in the 1970s due to overfishing.
North Sea | Fishing
The chalk is also an important petroleum reservoir in the North Sea Central Graben, mainly in Norwegian and Danish sectors and to a lesser extent in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf sector (UKCS). Across the north central and northern North Sea, the Chalk Group is a major seal unit, overlying a number of blocks of reservoir rocks and preventing their fluid contents from migrating upwards. North of the line of the Mid-North Sea - Ringkobing - Fyn structural high, the Chalk Group is still recognisable in drilled samples, but becomes increasingly muddy northwards. North of the Beryl Embayment (59°30' N 01°30'E), the Chalk Group is a series of slightly to moderately calcareous mudstones grouped under the name of the Shetland Group.
Chalk Group | The North Sea
Commercial extraction of oil on the shores of the North Sea dates back to 1851, when James Young retorted oil from torbanite (boghead coal, or oil shale) mined in the Midland Valley of Scotland. Across the sea in Germany, oil was found in the Wietze field near Hanover in 1859, leading to the discovery of seventy more fields, mostly in Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic reservoirs, producing a combined total of around 1340 m³ (8,400 barrels) per day. Gas was found by chance in a water well near Hamburg in 1910, leading to minor gas discoveries in Zechstein dolomites elsewhere in Germany.
North Sea oil | 1851–1963
Fossil marine fish from the Norwich Crag include genera "Chrysophrys" sp. (a snapper), "Acipenser" (sturgeon) and "Notidanus" (a cow shark), and species "Platax woodwardi" (a batfish), "Gadus morhua" (Atlantic cod), "Rhinoptera woodwardi" (a cownose ray) and "Raja clavata" (thornback ray). Teeth of the freshwater fish "Esox lucius" (northern pike) have been found at Bramerton.
Norwich Crag Formation | Fish
Marine mammals include seals and porpoises. Fish include bass, shad, and flounder; lobster, crab, mussel, and clam are common. Many types of seaweed, sponges, worms, seajellys and more are also found. Birds include sandpipers, terns (visitors only), eagles, falcons, seagulls, herons, and kingfishers. Fossils are found near Parrsboro, Blue Beach and other areas along the Avon River. Rarely, fossils have been found at Evangeline Beach, Burntcoat Head, and other locations. These fossils include various shells (brachiopods, molluscs), sponges, trees, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and dinosaurs. Trace fossils include vertebrate footprints, fish fin-tracks, invertebrate trackways (ex. scorpions at Blue Beach), raindrop inprints, and wave ripples.
Minas Basin | Nature
The North Sea is bounded by the Orkney Islands and east coast of Great Britain to the west and the northern and central European mainland to the east and south, including Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively. In the north it is bordered by the Shetland Islands, and connects with the Norwegian Sea, which is a marginal sea in the Arctic Ocean.
North Sea | Geography
Polymetallic nodules have economically valuable metals such as Copper, Cobalt, Nickel and Manganese in them and are viewed as potential resources to take care of the depleting land resources and increasing demand of these metals. There are more than 380 million tons of nodules in the retained Indian Pioneer area. However development of deep subsea technology for mining these resources is a major challenge considering the depth of occurrence of these nodules being 4000-6000 m, ultra high pressure environment and very low temperatures, very soft soils for supporting heavy mining equipment and difficulties in vertical transport of the harvested nodules.
National Institute of Ocean Technology | Deep Sea Mining
Volcanism and a rift system developed in the central North Sea area where basaltic lavas were extruded. The mantle warped upwards creating a dome in the middle of the North Sea where the Iapetus Suture intersected the Tornquist-Teisseyre fault system. The dome area was amidst the Viking Graben, Central Graben and Moray Firth Basin. The Scotland rifting and the extrusive centre of the Forties were associated with the uplifted area. The Long Forties and Horda Basin were also volcanic centres. During this time the sea level fell. Major reservoirs were created in the North sea during this time as clastics and sands were deposited in paralic environments.
Geology of the North Sea | Middle Jurassic domal uplift
Since the orogeny reactivated the Mesozoic rifts it permitted the Zechstein salts to act as a buffer or detachment layer separating two structural regimes, which can lead to traps for natural resources.
Geology of the southern North Sea | Cenozoic era
The Quaternary geology was developed through 5 cycles with the intercalation of marine and continental environments. The present Hạ Long Bay, in fact, appeared after the Middle Holocene maximum transgression, leaving ultimate zone of lateral undercutting in the limestone cliffs bearing many shells of oysters, having the 14C age as 2280 to >40,000 y. BP. Geological resources are abundant: anthracite, lignite, oil shale, petroleum, phosphate, limestone and cement additives, kaolin, silica sand, dolomite, quartzite of exogenous origin, and antimony, mercury of hydrothermal origin. Besides, there still are surface water, groundwater and thermal mineral water on the shore of the Hạ Long - Bái Tử Long Bays and other environmental resources.
Hạ Long Bay | Geology and geomorphology
Quaternary deposits are represented by peat in the north, present day marine deposits and raised marine deposits along the southwestern shore and a restricted area of glacial till in the interior.
Scalpay, Inner Hebrides | Geology
Freshwater and seawater fishing is the major profession in the region. Petroleum was discovered in the 1960s in offshore areas, while titanium, low quality iron ore, ilmenite and chromite are the major minerals.
Mono Department | Econonomy
Sturgeon, shad, rays, skates and salmon among other species were common in the North Sea into the 20th century, when numbers declined due to overfishing. Other factors like the introduction of non-indigenous species, industrial and agricultural pollution, trawling and dredging, human-induced eutrophication, construction on coastal breeding and feeding grounds, sand and gravel extraction, offshore construction, and heavy shipping traffic have also contributed to the decline. Various agreements have been made in the course of history. A 15th-century document illustrates shared use, and the "London convention on fisheries" was signed in 1964. The OSPAR commission manages the OSPAR convention to counteract the harmful effects of human activity on wildlife in the North Sea, preserve endangered species, and provide environmental protection.
Fishing in the North Sea | History
The small, historically strategic island of Heligoland was not formed by sediment deposition; it is considerably older and is composed of early Triassic sandstone.
Coastline of the North Sea | Southern shoals and mudflats
Starfish are abundant, as are sea urchins and limpets. The rocks are covered in algae, and seaweed covers much of the submarine slopes of the volcano, with its densest cover between below sea level.
Surtsey | Marine life
In this vein, oxygen isotopic analyses of these forams from drill cores in the North Atlantic have helped precisely date the timing of the onset of northern hemisphere glaciations in the late Pliocene, 2.5–3 million years ago. Magnesium to calcium ratios are also used in "G. bulloides" to reconstruct temperature histories in the world's oceans, as experimental cultures of the foram have shown magnesium to calcium ratios to increase exponentially with increasing ocean temperature. In the 19th century researchers of the life histories of this genus at one point came to the firm conclusion that these animals lived and died in the ooze in which they were found, many hundreds of feet below sea level.
Globigerina bulloides | Introduction
The eastern end of the London Basin merges with the basin of the North Sea, extending on land along the north Kent coast to Reculver and up the east coast of Essex and into Suffolk, where it is overlain by Pleistocene 'Crag' deposits which cover much of eastern Suffolk and Norfolk and are better considered as part of the North Sea basin.
Geology of the North Sea | Cenozoic era intracratonic basin formation
The term 'sea coal' likely originated from chunks of coal, found washed up on beaches, that wave action had broken from coastal outcroppings.
Northumberland | Geology
"Leucia nivea" occurs in the nertheastern Atkantic Ocean, the North Sea as far north as the Skagerrak, the British Isles, southwards to the Azores and in the Mediterranean Sea. It is found in the sublittoral zone at depths down to about on sand, shelly gravel, sponges such as "Desmacidona" and cold water corals.
Leucia nivea | Distribution
The major types of salt structures in this basin are salt pillows or swells which lie in the cores of buckle fold structures.
Geology of the southern North Sea | Salt tectonics
It is remembered as the place where John Ashley conceived of the idea for The Mission to Seafarers. The rocky beach has been designated as the Clevedon Shore geological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is the side of a mineralised fault running east–west adjacent to the pier and forms a small cliff feature in Dolomitic Conglomerate on the north side of Clevedon Beach, containing cream to pink baryte along with sulphides. Minerals identified include haematite, chalcopyrite, tennantite, galena, tetrahedrite, bornite, pyrite, marcasite, enargite and sphalerite. Secondary alteration of this has produced idaite, Covellite and other Copper sulphides.
Clevedon | Geography
Recent explorations in the Bismarck Sea seabed have yielded discoveries of mineral-rich beds of sulfides, copper, zinc, silver and gold. These findings are especially important because they lie in shallow, calm waters. Papua New Guinea owns the mining rights to these minerals under international law.
Bismarck Sea | Mineral wealth
As the Jurassic (200–145 Ma) started, Pangaea began to break up into two continents, Gondwana and Laurasia. At this time sea levels rose. The burial of algae and bacteria below the mud of the sea floor during this time resulted in the formation of North Sea oil and natural gas, much of it trapped in overlying sandstone by deposits formed as the seas fell to form the swamps and salty lakes and lagoons that were home to dinosaurs.
Geology of the North Sea | Jurassic
The geological disposition of the UK's oil and gas fields is outlined in the following table.
North Sea oil | Geology
The next roughly billion years (1.85–0.85 Ga) are often referred to as the "Boring Billion" because little seemed to happen. The more oxidized layer of ocean water near the surface slowly deepened at the expense of the anoxic depths, but there did not seem to be any dramatic change in climate, biology or mineralogy. However, some of this perception may be due to poor preservation of rocks from that time span. Many of the world's most valuable reserves of lead, zinc and silver, are found in rocks from this time, as well as rich sources of beryllium, boron and uranium minerals.
Mineral evolution | Stage 8: Intermediate ocean
Between 1998 and 2013, research conducted at BATS has generated over 450 peer-reviewed articles. Among the findings are measurements showing the gradual acidification of the surface ocean, where surface water pH, carbonate ion concentration, and the saturation state for calcium carbonate minerals, such as aragonite, have all decreased since 1998. Additionally, studies at BATS have shown changes in the Revelle factor, suggesting that the capacity of North Atlantic Ocean surface waters to absorb carbon dioxide has diminished, even as seawater pCO has kept pace with increasing atmospheric pCO.
Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study | Scientific Findings
The seabed contains enormous reserves of minerals which can be exploited by dredging. This has advantages over land-based mining in that equipment can be built at specialised shipyards and infrastructure costs are lower. Disadvantages include problems caused by waves and tides, the tendency for excavations to silt up and the washing away of spoil heaps. There is a risk of coastal erosion and environmental damage. Seafloor massive sulphide deposits are potential sources of silver, gold, copper, lead and zinc and trace metals since their discovery in the 1960s. They form when geothermally heated water is emitted from deep sea hydrothermal vents known as "black smokers".
Sea | Extractive industries
Outside the bay, but influencing the wave patterns in it, is Rocky Bank, an extensive area of sandstone reef between 20 and 30 m depth. A large granite reef, Whittle Rock, lies on the eastern edge of the MPA about halfway between the north shore and the mouth of the bay.
Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area | Bottom morphology
The area is rich with invertebrates as well including molluscs (bivalves, octopus, snails), echinoderms (sea stars, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, and urchins) as well as arthropods (crabs and shrimp). Cnidarians are seen both on the seafloor (anemones, sea pens, and corals) as well as floating in the water column (jellyfish) along with other organisms such as salps, ctenophores, and tunicates.
Ocean Networks Canada | Barkley Canyon
Nordic Ocean Resources AS is a subsidiary of Nordic Mining ASA (80 percent) and Ocean Miners AS (20 percent). The company co-operates with Norwegian petroleum company Statoil ASA and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology regarding subsea mineral resources.
Nordic Mining | Subsea mineral resources
The marine life found here consists of anemones, urchins, sea cucumbers, and eels, which all live on the reefs along with turtles, conch and many varieties of marine fishes. The marine aquafauna is rich in conch, which has pearly-pink shells. Its meat is a favourite food supplement item and their shells are a collectors item. Other species of fish which are recorded close to the shore line in shallow waters are: sergeant majors, the blue chromis, brown chromis, surgeon fish; blue tangs and trumpet fish. On the shore are ghost crabs, which always live on the beach in small burrowed tunnels made in sand, and the hermit crabs, which live in land but lay eggs in water and which also eat garbage and sewerage.
Saint Barthélemy | Aquafauna
It is the side of a mineralised fault, which runs east–west adjacent to the pier, and forms a small cliff feature in Dolomitic Conglomerate on the north side of Clevedon Beach, containing cream to pink baryte together with sulfides. The minerals identified at the site include: haematite, chalcopyrite, tennantite, galena, tetrahedrite, bornite, pyrite, marcasite, enargite and sphalerite. Secondary alteration of this assemblage has produced idaite, covellite and other copper sulfides. The nearest parking to the pier entrance is on an esplanade above the rocky beach.
Clevedon Pier | Location
silica but with traces of other heavy minerals, garnet, ilmenite, magnetite and pyroxene. The erosion of the cliffs into fine sand carried on the sea currents creates Farewell spit further east. The northern side of the dunes are steeper and unstable being constantly exposed to the prevailing winds which average over 25 km/h. The southern side which faces Golden Bay is more stable and largely covered with vegetation. The tide here can recede as much as seven kilometres exposing some 80 square kilometres of mud flats; a rich feeding ground for the many seabirds in the area but also a trap for frequently stranded whales.
Farewell Spit | Introduction
The elements strontium and calcium are associated with seawater, sand, and small fragments of shells and reefs washed ashore during large storms. X-ray fluorescence shows spikes in both elements at certain points associated with layers of sand in the mud. These sand layers may be storm overwash from hurricanes in Massachusetts Bay over the past 700 years.
Bartlett Pond (Plymouth, Massachusetts) | Geology
While the constituents of table salt sodium and chloride make up about 85 percent of the solids in solution, there are also other metal ions such as magnesium and calcium, and negative ions including sulphate, carbonate, and bromide. Despite variations in the levels of salinity in different seas, the relative composition of the dissolved salts is stable throughout the world's oceans. Seawater is too saline for humans to drink safely, as the kidneys cannot excrete urine as salty as seawater. Although the amount of salt in the ocean remains relatively constant within the scale of millions of years, various factors affect the salinity of a body of water.
Sea | Seawater
In December 2013 surveys by Marine Scotland discovered four new species of animals in the sea around Rockall. These are believed to live in an area where hydrocarbons are released from the sea bed, known as a cold seep. The discovery has raised the issue of restricting some forms of fishery to protect the sea bed. The species are:
Rockall | Discovery of new species
Paleogene and Neogene -age and faulting and extension is restricted to the Victoria Land Basin and Northern Basin.
Ross Sea | The continental shelf
There is a small bay in the east - Haa Geo, and a cave in the west. The North end is called "the Niv". It is approximately long. The geology is moine gneiss and quartzite. It has steep sides, and is over tall.
Uynarey | Geology and geography
The Rheic Ocean or Proto-Tethys Ocean was eliminated during the Hercynian/Variscan orogeny, and the Pangaea supercontinent formed. The continents of Gondwana and Laurussia collided, both were drifting north, however Gondwana was drifting at a faster rate. The mountain range which was created extended along Spain, Brittany, central Germany and into Poland. The closure of the Rheic Ocean in the late Carboniferous formed thrusts in southern England. The Pangaea supercontinent was added to in the late Permian period when Siberia collided with Baltica and Kazakhstan. Pangaea was surrounded by massive subduction plate tectonics. The North Sea area was central to the continental Pangaea supercontinent.
Geology of the North Sea | Variscan Orogeny
There are predators too, pike perch and sterlet. The phytoplankton consists of diatomaceous, peridinium and cyanobacteria algae. At the bottom of the sea are large quantity of molluscs, such as cockles, sendesmiya, mussels and myas. They form an important food source for the fish. In coastal waters there are also dolphins.
Berdyansk | Geography
An intermediate value of is used in the rest of the North Sea between the 56°N and the Essex–Kent border, and in the Irish Sea south of 55°N. Around Devon, Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly, the MLS for males is different () from females (). The Norwegian catch is 8,500 tons annually, compared to 20,000 tons in the United Kingdom, 13,000 tons in Ireland, 8,500 tons in France, and a total 45,000 tons globally. Recent studies have shown that edible crabs are negatively affected by electromagnetic fields emitted from sub-sea power cables around offshore wind farms.
Cancer pagurus | Fishery
Scrubby sea-blite and matted sea lavender are characteristic plants of the drier upper salt marsh here, although they are uncommon in the UK away from the Norfolk coast.
Holkham National Nature Reserve | Other animals and plants
Hainan has commercially exploitable reserves of more than 30 minerals. Iron, first mined by the Japanese during their occupation of the island in World War II, is the most important. Also important are titanium, manganese, tungsten, bauxite, molybdenum, cobalt, copper, gold, and silver. There are large deposits of lignite and oil shale on the island, and significant offshore finds of oil and natural gas have been discovered. Virgin forests in the interior mountains contain more than 20 commercially valuable species, including teak and sandalwood.
Hainan | Natural resources
Others include the blue shark ("Prionace glauca"), the smalltooth sand tiger ("Odontaspis ferox"), "Pristiophorus" sawsharks, "Squatina" angelsharks, bullhead sharks ("Heterodontus" spp.), "Myliobatis" eagle rays, and elephantfish ("Callorhinchus" spp.). "Pachyptila" prion seabirds were found here. It also yielded several marine mammals: a rorqual, "Acrophoca", the sperm whale "Scaldicetus", and "Odobenocetops".
Thalassocnus | Paleoecology