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Zinc is an important industrial raw material, and the ocean is an important reservoir of zinc and other key metals. The research team of Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey Bureau recently discovered that deep-sea sediments play a key role in the marine zinc cycle. The relevant research results were recently published in the international authoritative academic journal Geology.

The Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey Bureau announced on August 3 that a recent study by the bureau's deep-sea element circulation and resource effect team found that deep-sea pelagic sediments rich in iron-manganese oxides are the main reservoir of zinc in the ocean. These oxides act like tiny "zinc traps" that capture and enrich zinc from the vast ocean water.

Traditionally, it is believed that marine zinc is mainly found in ferromanganese nodules on the seafloor and cobalt-rich crusts on seamounts. "This is because in the past few decades, people have focused on metal minerals such as ferromanganese nodules and cobalt-rich crusts in ocean exploration, while ignoring the 'ordinary' marine sediments," said team leader Deng Yinan. "Our team has long focused on the study of deep-sea sediments and has long noticed that there are huge reservoirs of metal elements in sediments."

The Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey Bureau has been engaged in deep-sea ocean geological survey and research for more than 40 years. The team has obtained a large number of marine sediment samples and data, and through comparative analysis of the zinc content and isotopic characteristics in the deep-sea ocean sediments of the Pacific Ocean, it was found that zinc in the deep sea is mainly present in the iron-manganese oxides in the sediments.

"This discovery changes our understanding of the distribution of zinc in the ocean, indicating that deep-sea sediments may be important reservoirs of many key metals, and provides a new perspective and direction for the study of deep-sea mineral resources in my country and even the world," said Deng Yinan. (Reporter Zhou Ying)