Worms, crabs, sea cucumbers, carnivorous sponges and others that look like glass chandeliers guard an underwater treasure between Hawaii and Mexico that has become one of the great dilemmas in the history of mankind. The future of green energy rests on a continent of polymetallic nodules the size of Australia, reached by diving to a depth of 40 football fields, and which resembles a bed of charred potatoes. Each potato is made up of four essential metals for car batteries, mobile phones, solar panels and almost everything needed for society's transition to renewable energy: 0.2% cobalt, 1.3% nickel, 1.1% copper and 28% manganese.

It is estimated to be the largest deposit of nickel, manganese and cobalt on the planet. The mining industry wants to get its hands on it, but it is currently banned in areas outside national jurisdiction, although it can explore its wealth. The International Seabed Authority (ISA), formed by 167 countries, including Spain, and created to regulate exploitation, promised to find out first what kind of creatures survive in the depths of the so-called Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), between the Mexican Clarion Island and the French Clipperton Island, in the dark, with temperatures of minus 2 degrees Celsius and at a pressure 400 times greater than on the earth's surface.

Now you know. The latest research published in the journal Current Biology gives the first data of something resembling another planet, or at least a planet earth hitherto unknown to science. In this Jurassic territory, since each polymetal nodule grows just a few millimeters every million years, 5,578 different species inhabit between hills, valleys, steep walls, mountains, craters and volcanic calderas. Between 88% and 92% were unknown until now to science.

"We share this planet with all this incredible biodiversity, and we have a responsibility to understand and protect it," says Muriel Rabone, an ecologist and analyst in the deep-sea research group of the Natural History Museum in London, United Kingdom, whose work has been to unite all the records of species made in the area since mining companies discovered it in the 60s of the last century.

Muriel Rabone, ecologist and deep-sea analyst with some specimens from the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ). NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM LONDON

The announcement comes just as mining expected to receive the first authorizations this July, start work in 2024, and start removing the nodules in 2027. It is believed that in the CCZ there could be about 27,000 million tons of nodules, which would allow to supply the planet with the copper it will need for the next 30 years. The problem is that the ecosystem of those more than 5,000 species is connected to the nodules. Sponges and anemones need them to live, and observations show that there are more fish, larger and more diverse where there are more nodules.

Of the six million square kilometres of the CCZ, 1.2 million are already affected by 17 contracts for mineral exploration. "We need to know what lives in these regions before we can begin to understand how to protect these ecosystems. It is imperative that we work with companies seeking to exploit these resources to ensure that such activity is conducted in a way that limits its impact on the natural world," said study co-author Adrian Glover, a merit researcher at the Natural History Museum in London.

Investigators navigated the area, sending remote-controlled vehicles or simple box dredgers landing on the bottoms. "It was incredible, in each sample we saw new species," says Rabone. So up to 100,000 records. "There are some extraordinary specimens down there. Some of the sponges look like the classic bath sponges and others look like vases. They are simply beautiful. One of my favorites is glass sponges. They have small spines that under the microscope look like sculptures or tiny chandeliers," Rabone explains.

Most of the recorded specimens were arthropods such as shrimp or crabs, and groups of annelids and nematodes including several worms. "But we still predict that there are between 6,000 and 8,000 more unknown animal species in the CCZ, which means that about 90% are not known to science."

Extraction of polymetal nodules from the seabed. USGS

The deep ocean below 200 meters is the largest habitat for life on Earth and the most difficult to access. CCZ remains one of the few remaining areas of the ocean with a largely untouched wilderness due to the extreme conditions of the depths. "We should keep in mind that the percentage of species not described here is similar to that recorded for the global ocean," he explains.

The study also revealed that some regions of the CCZ have hardly been studied, especially rocky outcrops where unique communities are already known to exist.

Since mining operations in the area could be imminent, the use of biological data for environmental management has become more important than ever, the study stresses. In 2022, more than 10 million electric cars were sold worldwide and sales this year are expected to reach 14 million, which will represent 18% of the total vehicle fleet. According to the latest report of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Global EV, the electrification of vehicles will avoid the consumption of five million barrels of oil per day by 2030.

However, many technology and car companies have publicly pledged not to use minerals from the seabed, such as BMW, Volkswagen, Volvo, Google or Samsung.

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