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Assessing mining impacts in the deep sea

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New studies that document the effect of polymetallic nodule mining vehicles on deep-sea biodiversity suggest that keeping up with technological innovations will be key to more realistic impact assessments of deep-sea mining.

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Fig. 1: Comparison of tracks from abyssal polymetallic nodule mining experiments and their respective disturbers or prototype collectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth Sciences New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand

    Jeroen Ingels, Daniel Leduc, Ailish Ullmann & Ashley Rowden

  2. Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    Ailish Ullmann & Ashley Rowden

Authors

  1. Jeroen Ingels
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  2. Daniel Leduc
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  3. Ailish Ullmann
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  4. Ashley Rowden
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Correspondence to
Jeroen Ingels.

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Competing interests

The authors are involved in scientific research projects that are funded in part by prospective deep-sea mining companies, which has provided valuable insights into technical and operational aspects of test mining operations. These companies did not fund this publication, nor did they contribute to or have any influence on the findings or opinions expressed by the authors.

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Ingels, J., Leduc, D., Ullmann, A. et al. Assessing mining impacts in the deep sea.
Nat Ecol Evol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02965-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02965-4

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