The study thus challenged the accepted theory that life emerged when organisms began producing oxygen through photosynthesis ...

This unexpected source of “dark oxygen,” as it’s called ... such a moratorium is so important for protecting these deep-sea nodules in a comment to the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition ...

There is currently no commercial deep-sea mining happening anywhere in the world, though companies have been pushing for years. They appear to have found a new champion in Trump.

Oxygen seeps ... harm these deep-sea ecosystems before their value and workings are fully understood. Seafloor mining could target three kinds of metal-rich deposits: nodules, crusts and mounds.

Large swathes of the deep-sea floor contain nodules of the critical minerals cobalt, copper, manganese and nickel. "This is an exciting opportunity for the U.S.," Gerard Baron, CEO of The Metals ...