Linkages between the Genesis and Resource Potential of Ferromanganese Deposits in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans

In addition to iron and manganese, deep sea ferromanganese deposits, including nodules and crusts, contain significant amounts of economically interesting metals, such as cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), and rare Earth elements and yttrium (REY). Some of these metals are essential in the development of emerging and new-generation green technologies. However, the resource potential of these deposits is variable, and likely related to environmental conditions that prevail as they form. To better assess the environmental controls on the resource potential of ferromanganese deposits, we have undertaken a detailed study of the chemical composition of ferromanganese nodules and one crust sample from different oceanic regions. Textural and chemical characteristics of nodules from the North Atlantic and a crust from the South Pacific suggest that they acquire metals from a hydrogenous source. These deposits are potentially an economically important source of Co and the REY. On the other hand, nodules from the Pacific Ocean represent a marginal resource of these metals, due to their relatively fast growth rate caused by diagenetic precipitation. By contrast, they have relatively high concentrations of Ni and Cu. A nodule from the Arctic Ocean is characterised by the presence of significant quantities of detrital silicate material, which significantly reduces their metal resource

Clustering COVID-19 ARDS patients through the first days of ICU admission. An analysis of the CIBERESUCICOVID Cohort

Background Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) can be classified into sub-phenotypes according to different inflammatory/clinical status. Prognostic enrichment was achieved by grouping patients into hypoinflammatory or hyperinflammatory sub-phenotypes, even though the time of analysis may change the classification according to treatment response or disease evolution. We aimed to evaluate when patients can be clustered in more than 1 group, and how they may change the clustering of patients using data of baseline or day 3, and the prognosis of patients according to their evolution by changing or not the cluster.Methods Multicenter, observational prospective, and retrospective study of patients admitted due to ARDS related to COVID-19 infection in Spain. Patients were grouped according to a clustering mixed-type data algorithm (k-prototypes) using continuous and categorical readily available variables at baseline and day 3.Results Of 6205 patients, 3743 (60%) were included in the study. According to silhouette analysis, patients were grouped in two clusters. At baseline, 1402 (37%) patients were included in cluster 1 and 2341(63%) in cluster 2. On day 3, 1557(42%) patients were included in cluster 1 and 2086 (57%) in cluster 2. The patients included in cluster 2 were older and more frequently hypertensive and had a higher prevalence of shock, organ dysfunction, inflammatory biomarkers, and worst respiratory indexes at both time points. The 90-day mortality was higher in cluster 2 at both clustering processes (43.8% [n = 1025] versus 27.3% [n = 383] at baseline, and 49% [n = 1023] versus 20.6% [n = 321] on day 3). Four hundred and fifty-eight (33%) patients clustered in the first group were clustered in the second group on day 3. In contrast, 638 (27%) patients clustered in the second group were clustered in the first group on day 3.Conclusions During the first days, patients can be clustered into two groups and the process of clustering patients may change as they continue to evolve. This means that despite a vast majority of patients remaining in the same cluster, a minority reaching 33% of patients analyzed may be re-categorized into different clusters based on their progress. Such changes can significantly impact their prognosis

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

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Controls on the composition and extraction of rare earth elements and yttrium (REY) in deep sea polymetallic nodules and sediments

Rising demand for metals is driving a search for new mineral resources and mining of seafloor deposits is likely to commence in the next few years. These include polymetallic nodules and crusts that are highly enriched in Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Mo, Li and Te, and deep-sea clays that can contain high concentrations of the rare earth elements and yttrium (REY). The potential environmental impacts of mining these deposits are, however, poorly constrained and a better understanding of the processes that control metal enrichment in marine resources is essential. In support of this, I have undertaken detailed geochemical investigations of polymetallic nodules and crusts and deep sea sediments. Analyses of deep-sea sediments recovered from the Atlantic Ocean reveal that REY concentrations are highest (up to ~510 ppm) in slowly accumulating pelagic red clays that contain ferromanganese micronodules. Micronodules that have a hydrogenous source, characterised by lower Mn/Fe, have higher REY concentrations than micronodules that have a diagenetic source. REY concentrations in pelagic red clays from the Atlantic are ~4 times lower than concentrations reported for Pacific clays; the area of seafloor required to extract ~10% of the global annual REY demand is ~100 km2, assuming removal of the upper 1 m of sediment.The bulk chemical composition of polymetallic nodules from different areas (UK Claim and APEI-6) of the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone in the eastern Pacific Ocean is rather similar, but high resolution in situ analyses show that the composition of individual layers within nodules is highly heterogeneous. Nodules from the UK Claim area contain a higher proportion of layers with high Mn/Fe and low Co that accumulate relatively rapidly; these layers likely accumulated in the Miocene when the UK Claim area was located closer to the equator, in the zone of high primary productivity.Leaching of sediments and polymetallic nodules with dilute oxalic acid is effective for extracting the transition metals but is ineffective for releasing the REY. The REY are effectively extracted from Pacific nodules and sediments with dilute HCl, but the extraction efficiency is lower for samples from the Atlantic Ocean (~45% vs >~80% in the Pacific).Return of leached residues to seawater has the potential to increase the metal content of seawater above a mining site by up to four orders of magnitude. This may represent a source of toxicity to the benthic ecosystem in a mining area

Controls on the chemical composition of ferromanganese nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, eastern equatorial Pacific

Ferromanganese nodules have long been considered an attractive source for Mn, Co, Ni and Cu and, potentially, for the rare earth elements and yttrium (REY). Sixteen exploration contracts have recently been granted for the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ) in the eastern equatorial Pacific and, because of concern about the environmental impacts of seafloor mining, some parts of the CCFZ have been designated ‘Areas of Particular Environmental Interest’ (APEI) from which mining will be excluded. As the APEIs were selected based on surface ocean characteristics and seafloor topography, estimated from satellite altimetry, the abundance and composition of nodules in these areas are unknown, and as a result their relevance as an intended baseline for mining disturbance has not been demonstrated. To fill this gap, we have undertaken a detailed study of the chemical composition of nodules and seafloor sediments in the UK Contract area in the CCFZ and its closest APEI, APEI-6. There are distinct differences between the two sites: nodules from the UK Contract area are larger (10–15 cm in diameter) compared to those from APEI-6 (2–4 cm diameter), and they have faster growth rates (~11 vs ~3 mm/Ma). Nodules from APEI-6 have, on average, higher contents of Fe (7.2 vs. 5.7 wt%), Co (0.28 vs. 0.13 wt%) and total REY (1120 vs. 715 ppm) relative to those from the UK Contract area. Analyses of individual growth layers reveal that nodules from the UK Contract area contain a greater proportion of Mn-rich phases that are also enriched in Ni and Cu. Although pore waters in the uppermost sediments are oxygen replete today, these layers likely precipitated from suboxic sediment pore waters indicating that the supply of organic material to the sediments in this area has been higher in the past. Sediments from the UK Contract area, in turn, have higher Mn/Al ratios compared to sediments from APEI-6 and have a higher proportion of Mn in easily-reducible phases. Nodules from APEI-6 have a greater proportion of Fe-rich layers that are also enriched in Co and the REY, and likely precipitated from seawater. These differences in the chemical composition of nodules from the UK Contract area and APEI-6, as well as differences in the oxygen penetration depth in the sediments, mean that APEI-6 does not provide a relevant geochemical baseline for mining disturbance in the UK Contract area, or for many other contract areas within the CCFZ

Controls on the distribution of rare earth elements in deep-sea sediments in the North Atlantic Ocean

Deep-sea sediments can contain relatively high concentrations of rare earth elements and yttrium (REY), with a growing interest in their exploitation as an alternative to land-based REY resources. To understand the processes that lead to enrichment of the REY in deep-sea sediments, we have undertaken a detailed geochemical study of sediments recovered from the Atlantic Ocean, on a transect along ~24 ?N that includes the deep Nares Abyssal Plain and the Canary and North America Basins. Total REY concentrations (?REY) range from 7.99 to 513 ppm, and total concentrations of the heavy REY (Eu - Lu) range from 0.993 to 56.3 ppm. REY concentrations are highest in slowly accumulating pelagic red clays, especially in samples that contain ferromanganese micronodules. Factor analysis reveals that hydrogenous Fe- and Mn-(oxyhydr)oxides are the primary REY carrier phase in the red clays. In situ analysis of individual micronodules confirms that they have high ?REY (up to 3620 ppm). REY concentrations are higher in micronodules that have a hydrogenous source, characterized by higher Fe/Mn, compared to micronodules that have a diagenetic source. The ?REY content of North Atlantic deep-sea sediments is ~4 times lower than in Pacific deep-sea sediments. We calculate that the area of seafloor required to extract ~10% of the global annual REY demand is ~100 km2, assuming removal of the upper 1m of sediment

Exhumed conduit records magma ascent and drain-back during a Strombolian eruption at Tongariro volcano, New Zealand

Field evidence from a basaltic-andesite dyke preserved in the eroded wall of a scoria cone at Red Crater, Tongariro volcano, New Zealand, records a history of up-conduit magma flow during a Strombolian eruption, subsequent drain-back and final cessation of flow. The dyke intrudes pre-Strombolian andesite lavas, and the overlying proximal basaltic-andesite scoria deposits associated with contemporaneous lavas, which are, in turn overlain by laminated lapilli-tuff and large blocks. Textural and kinematic evidence of ductile shear recorded in basaltic andesite at the dyke margins records magma deformation imposed by bypassing movement of magma up the centre of the conduit during the eruption, whereas the basaltic andesite occupying the central part of the lowermost exposures of the dyke preserves ductile flow-folds with the opposite (down-flow) shear sense. The evidence indicates that the downward magma flow followed the eruption, and this draining left the central part of the dyke empty (unfilled) at uppermost levels. We discuss the kinematic constraints in the context of the criteria for up-flow of mafic magma and present the factors most likely to result in a final drain-back event. With reference to experimental and numerical work, we propose a draining model for the end of this eruption, and that magmatic drain-back may feature commonly during closing stages of Strombolian eruptions at mafic volcanoes. Drain-back which leaves large cavities in a volcanic edifice could result in hazardous structural instabilities