GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 619

Subsea Mineral Resources 

and Problems Related 

to Their Development

Subsea Mineral Resources 

and Problems Related 

to Their Development

By V. E. McKelvey, J. I. Tracey, Jr., George E. Stoertz, and 

John G. Vedder

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 619

Statements made by United States representatives before 

the Economic and Technical Subcommittee of the United 

Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of the Seabed 

and Ocean Floor Beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction during its March 7 969 meeting

Washington 1969
United States Department of the Interior

ROGERS C. B. MORION, Secretary

Geological Survey

V. E. McKelvey, Director

First printing 1969

Second printing 1969

Third printing 1972

Free on application to the U.S. Geological Survey, Washington, D.C. 20242
FOREWORD

In December 1967, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution establishing an ad hoc committee to study the peaceful uses of the seabed and the 

ocean floor beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. 

It thus began the complex and difficult task of trying to 

lay the groundwork for inter national arrangements regarding thepeaceful exploration and exploitation of seabed resources.

The ad hoc committee, composed of 35 member nations, formed two working groups the Economic and 

Technical Subcommittee and the Legal Subcommittee 

that included representatives of all the member nations and that met in working sessions in New York 

from June 17 to July 9, and in Rio de Janeiro from 

August 19 to August 30, 1968. In these meetings, the 

Economic and Technical Subcommittee reviewed the 

extent of seabottom mineral resources, the outlook for 

their economic development, possible repercussions 

of the exploitation of mineral resources on other uses 

of the sea, the prospects for international cooperation 

in the exploration of the sea floor, and related problems. The Legal Subcommittee considered principles 

that might govern the exploration and exploitation of 

the seabeds. The full committee considered the need 

for a long term program of scientific research and exploration and the desirability of reserving the deep 

ocean floor for peaceful purposes, and it tried to reach 

agreement on a statement of principles that would be 

submitted to the General Assembly. The ad hoc committee failed to agree on a statement of principles, but 

all members of the committee seemed to agree that 

there is an area of the seabed and ocean floor that is 

beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. The ad hoc 

committee report (U.N. Doc. A/7230) usefully identifies the salient problems and their complexities and 

indicates something of the range of views expressed 

in the meetings.

Recognizing the need for a continuing focal point for 

the consideration of all of these problems, the General 

Assembly in December 1968 appointed a standing committee on the Peaceful Uses of the Seabed and the Ocean 

Floor Beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction; this 

committee was composed of 42 member states. The 

new committee was instructed to study legal principles

that would promote international cooperation in the exploration and use of the seabed and ocean floor for 

the benefit of mankind, economic and other requirements which such a regime should satisfy, means of 

promoting international cooperation, and measures to 

prevent marine pollution stemming from exploitation 

of seabed resources. At its organization meeting in 

February 1969, the committee again formed legal and 

economic and technical subcommittees and held its 

first substantive sessions in New York from March 11 

to March 27, 1969.

Members of the U.S. Geological Survey have served 

as United States representatives at meetings of the 

Economic and Technical Subcommittee of both the ad 

hoc and the new standing committees. In the sessions 

thus far, our principal purpose has been to help provide a base of under standing concerning the character, 

distribution, and potential of seabed mineral resources 

and the problems related to their development. This 

has been done mainly through statements and discussion at the meetings themselves.

At its March meeting the Economic and Technical 

Subcommittee considered two agenda items progress 

in seabed mineral resource exploration and exploitation, and the ways and means of promoting the exploitation and use of mineral resources beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. In essence, the latter item 

is interpreted as the economic and technical requirements that must be met by a regime governing the development of seabed resources beyond the limits of 

national jurisdiction, regardless of its structure or 

political affinity. The statements presented on these 

topics by the representatives of the United States are 

reproduced here because of their interest to those concerned with the seabed juridical issues and with other 

aspects of subsea resource development.

W. T. Pecora,

Director.

Ill

CONTENTS

Page

Foreword ----------------------------- III

Subsea physiographic provinces and their mineral potential, by

V. E. McKelvey, George E. Stoertz, and John G. Vedder- ------- 1

Progress in the exploration and exploitation of subsea petroleum

resources and its implications for development beyond the limits

of national jurisdiction, by V. E. McKelvey ------------- 10

Progress in the exploration and exploitation of hard minerals

from the seabed, by V. E. McKelvey ---------------- 13

Potential ill effects of subsea mineral exploitation and measures

to prevent them, by V. E. McKelvey ---------------- 14

Topographic and geologic mapping of the sea bottom, by

J. I. Tracey, Jr. ------------------------- 16

The origin, incidence, effects, and means of prevention and control

of oil-well blowouts, by V. E. McKelvey -------------- 19

Implications of geologic and economic factors to seabed resource

allocation, development, and management, by V. E. McKelvey - - - - 22

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

Figure 1. Cross section showing the floatational equilibrium between

oceanic and continental crust -------------- 1

2. Diagrammatic profile of continental margin showing

average widths and depths and terminology- ------- 2

3. Map showing shoreline positions along the Atlantic Coast

resulting from melting of the ice caps- --------- 3

4. Map showing major provinces of the Atlantic Ocean ------ 4

5. Map showing world oceanic ridge system- --------- 5

6. Schematic crustal sections showing the formation of 

midoceanic ridges and continental drift by mantle 

convection currents- ------------------ 6

7. Reconstructions of the map of the world showing the 

separation and drift of the continents since Late 

Carboniferous time ------------------- 7

Subseo Mineral Resources and 

Problems Related to Their Development

By V. E. McKelvey, J. I. Trace/, Jr., George E. Stoertz 

and John G. Vedder

SUBSEA PHYSIOGRAPHIC PROVINCES AND THEIR MINERAL POTENTIAL

By V. E. McKelvey, George E. Stoertz, and John G. Vedder

[Statement distributed informally to the Economic and Technical 

Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful 

Uses of the Seabed and Ocean Floor Beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction in March 1969]

The oceans and adjacent seas cover an area of 362 

million square kilometers or about 72 percent of the 

earth's surface. The sea bottom over this vast area 

is by no means uniform in geologic composition and 

resource potential, and its physiography, including 

both the configuration of the sea bottom and that of 

the land-sea boundary, is complex also.

To help provide a background of understanding that 

will aid the Economic and Technical Subcommittee in 

its deliberations, the physiography and geology of the 

sea bottom are briefly reviewed here with particular 

reference to their bearing on the mineral potential of 

the various subsea provinces.

CONTINENTS AND OCEAN BASINS

Seen as a dry surface, with surface waters drained 

off, the earth's surface consists of two major physiographic features the continents and ocean basins (fig. 

1). The boundaries between these two features, as they 

would be seen in hemispheric perspective, are abrupt, 

with the continental blocks rising to mean heights of 

about 4,300 to 5,800 meters above the floor of the ocean 

basins and to maximum heights of 6,200 to 13,000 meters. These physiographic features reflect profound 

differences in the geology of the underlying crust, for 

the continental crust is lighter in density, thicker, 

richer in silica, alumina, and the alkalis and poorer 

in iron and magnesia than the oceanic crust. The compositions of the continental and oceanic crusts are 

sometimes described as granitic and basaltic, respectively, after the common igneous rocks that characterize them, and both rest on mantle that is even richer

Figure 1. Idealized cross section showing the 

floatational equilibrium between oceanic and 

continental crust (modified from Takeuchi 

and others, (1968).

in magnesia and poorer in alumina than the basaltic 

crust. The continental crust averages about 35 km (kilometers) in thickness compared to about 5 km for the 

oceanic crust. Like icebergs, with only part of their 

mass showing, the continents rise above the ocean 

basins because they are lighter in density and they are 

in floatational equilibrium with the oceanic crust on the 

underlying mantle.

The ocean basins, of course, are not dry but are 

filled with water. They are more than filled, in fact, 

for the ocean everywhere laps over the margins of the 

continents a distance ranging from a few kilometers 

to many hundreds of kilometers. The margins of the 

continents in many places have been planed off by wave 

erosion or prograded by deposition of marine sediments so that part of their surface in most parts of
the world forms a nearly flat or gently dipping shelf, 

the seaward edge of which lies at depths ranging from 

50 to 550 meters below present sea level. Beyond the 

shelf, the surface of the continental margin slopes 

more steeply to the floor of the ocean basins (fig. 2). 

Its edge, however, is in many places concealed beneath 

the surface by an apron of erosional debris the surface 

of which is called the continental rise derived from 

the adjacent continent.

Neither world sea level nor its local position have 

been constant during the past. For example, the melting of the ice caps since their maximum development 

during the Pleistocene has gradually raised world sea 

level from 135 to 160 meters. Coastal erosion, sedimentation, and tectonic movements of the crust also 

lead to change in the location of shorelines. As a result of such changes in the location of the shoreline, 

at many times in the past the sea has covered much

larger parts of the continents than it does now. At one 

time or another, in fact, all parts of the continents 

have been submerged for long periods, and marine 

sedimentary rocks are widespread on the continents 

(fig. 3).

While the continents and ocean basins are grossly 

different from each other, they also display great differences and variations in their internal physiography 

and geology (fig. 4). The continents, for example, may 

be broadly described in terms of three kinds of geologic 

provinces:

1. Mountain chains composed of highly folded and 

faulted sedimentary rocks, several tens of thousands of feet in thickness, and intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks; the island arcs that lie 

along the northern and western border of the 

Pacific Ocean basin are continuations of such 

mountain chains.

Average depth, 130 meters

Continental 

shelf Depth, 1,400-3,200 meters

Average depth, 4,000 meters

Avg width, 65km

Avg slope 0.1

Continental terrace Continental rise Deep sea bed

Continental margin

Figure 2. Diagrammatic profile of continental margin showing average widths and depths and

terminology (modified from Heselton, 1969).
2. Shield areas underlain by ancient and generally 

highly deformed and metamorphosed sedimentary and igneous rocks.

3. Ancient basins, embayments, and platforms, in 

which a few thousand to a few tens of thousands 

of feet of sediments accumulated from epicontinental seas that spread over ancient shields; they 

are now generally areas of low relief underlain 

by flat lying or gently dipping sedimentary rocks.

These provinces reflect a complex geologic history 

during which the processes of subaerial weathering, 

crustal movement, photosynthesis and other biologic 

activities, sedimentation in shallow marine environments, and rock heating, compression and melting at 

depth have contributed to the differentiation of the 

material from which the continental crust was originally derived into a great variety of rock and mineral 

types. Thus, petroleum, coal, sulfur, phosphate rock, 

limestone, potash, salt and other salines, and many 

other minerals are typically concentrated by biologic 

and sedimentary processes in sedimentary rocks. Copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, mercury, fluorspar, beryllium, tungsten, tin, and many other metallic and 

nonmetallic minerals are concentrated as part of the 

igneous and related hydrothermal processes that operate within the continental crust. And many minable

45

40

25°,

19.000 YEARS AGO

11,000 YEARS AGO

PRESENT

FUTURE f _i 35

Figure 3. Past, present, and future(?) shoreline positions along the Atlantic Coast resulting from melting of the ice caps (modified from Emery, 1967a).

concentrations of iron, alumina, manganese, gold, tin, 

and other minerals are formed as the result of weathering processes. Although several minerals are already being mined from the seabed, it is significant 

that all of the 130 or so minerals and fuels currently 

produced and used by man have commercial continental sources, and that it is the continents, including 

their submerged margins, that, on the basis of our 

present knowledge, are the only likely sources of many 

of them.

The physiography of the large ocean basins beyond 

the continental margin and rise is also varied, but it 

is dominated by a few kinds of provinces:

1. Oceanic ridge and rise often called the midoceanic 

ridge and rise, although it does not everywhere 

occur in midocean. The oceanic ridge and rise 

is essentially a worldwide mountain chain with 

many branches in all, it is some 75,000 miles 

long (fig. 5). A rift valley along the crest of the 

ridge is a prominent feature in many places, as 

are volcanoes and volcanic fields, many of which 

are islands, such as Iceland.

2. Abyssal plains and hills, lying on both sides of the 

oceanic rise; both the oceanic ridge and rise and 

the abyssal plains and hills provinces are cut by 

fracture zones and faults that in places produce 

an extremely rugged topography.

3. Individual volcanoes or composite volcanic ridges 

formed by overlapping volcanoes that are scattered over the ocean basin but are often clustered 

to form groups of islands or seamounts.

4. Trenches and associated ridges whichwherepresent generally occur along island arcs or young 

mountain chains at the periphery of the large 

ocean basins.

Small ocean basins in places lie between two continents or between the continents and adjacent island 

arcs. Characteristically, they have an abyssal plain 

below a depth of 2,000 meters and a few also have 

trenches along the concave sides of bordering island 

arcs. Geologically, many of them are more closely 

allied to the continent than to the ocean basin.

These physiographic features also have a geologic 

base, primarily in the igneous origin of the ocean floor 

and the process of ocean floor spreading. Thus, basaltic igneous rock is brought to the surface along the 

oceanic ridge at the junction of giant convection cells 

in the mantle, which may be likened to two adjoining 

conveyor belts moving in opposite directions (fig. 6). 

New oceanic crust forms along the ridge as these conveyor beltlike convection currents carry the entire 

floor away from the ridge at the rate of a few centimeters a year; old crust is buckled in ridges or forced 

down in trenches along the junction of convection cells 

where currents move toward each other and bring the 

overlying crusts under compression at the juncture. 

Much is still to be learned about the behavior and history of this process, but it appears that the continents 

have split apart and drifted away from each other along
30°w.

EXPLANATION

1. Shelf and slope

2. Rise

3. Ocean basin

4. Ridge and rise 

("midocean 

ridge")

5. Ridge not known 

to be volcanic

6 . Island arc and 

trench

7. Poorly defined 

elevation

Volcano

30°w.

o-i

NORTH

AMERICA /Shelf Sediments 

/ .ci«ne \ Bermuda 

Rise Rise

i/> icH

cu -p

S2CH

40-

MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE

,Rift Valley

Shelfs 

Slop<

AFRICA

Mantle partially 

converted to crust

Figure 4. Major provinces of the Atlantic Ocean (modified from Menard and Smith, 1966), illustrated by a diagrammatic profile across the North Atlantic (modified from Heezen, 1962).
Figure 5. World oceanic ridge system (Takeuchi and others, 1968, from Runcorn, 1962).

what are now ocean ridges in the Atlantic and Indian 

Oceans (fig. 7) and that the continental mass is still in 

the process of separation in the Gulf of California, the 

Red Sea, and along the African rift valley system.

In contrast to continental crust, oceanic crust is thin 

and relatively uniform in composition. Basalt bedrock 

lies at or near the surface over much of the ridge and 

rise province and although sediments increase in thickness toward the edge of the ocean basin (reflecting the 

longer time available for their accumulation), they 

probably do not attain a thickness of more than a few 

hundred meters, except in some of the small ocean 

basins and trenches. Although there is some evidence 

to suggest that deposits of a few metals may occur in 

the oceanic ridges, some of the processes that operate 

to differentiate rocks and minerals in continental crust 

have much limited play in the deep ocean. On the basis 

of present knowledge, therefore, the large ocean basins 

are not likely to contain the wide variety of minerals 

found in continental crust. The manganese nodules, in 

fact, are the only likely potential resource over much 

of the large ocean basins, although it is possible that 

petroleum may occur in some areas where sediments 

have accumulated in exceptional thicknesses. The 

trenches and the small ocean basins have somewhat 

better prospects, as is indicated below.

AREA OF SUBSEA PHYSIOGRAPHIC PROVINCES

The total world areas of the major subsea physiographic provinces, including the submerged parts of 

the continents, are summarized in the following table, 

drawn from Menard and Smith (1966), Menard (1967), 

and James (1968).

Province

Area (millions 

of sq km)

Percentage Approximate

of total median

area depth (km)

Continental shelf

and slope- ----- 55.t

Continental rise --- 19.2

Abyssal plains and

hills 151.5

Trenches and associated ridges---- 6.1

Oceanic rise and

ridge 118.6

Volcanic ridges and 

cones and other 

features- 11.2

15.3 

5.3

U1.8

1.7

32.7

3.2

1 

2.5

Total 362.0 100.0

Small ocean basins 

(included above 

in "Continental 

rise" and 

"Abyssal plains 

and hills") 

The abyssal plains and hills and the oceanic rise and 

ridge are thus far the largest subsea physiographic 

provinces. Even though they may be smaller percentagewise, however, the total areas of each of the other 

provinces are large indeed. Thus, the small ocean 

basins, excluding the shelf and slope on their margins, 

are nearly as large in total area as the conterminous 

United States.

Prominent among the various proposals concerning 

the location of boundaries of national jurisdiction over 

seabed resources are the 200 meter and 2,500 meter 

isobath, often taken to be the average depth of the shelf 

edge and the toe of the continental slope, respectively. 

According to Menard and Smith (1966), the total world 

seabottom area within the 200 meter isobath is 27.1 

million square kilometers or about half that shown
^Island arc

Mantle convection current

Midoceanic ridge

Figure 6. Schematic crustal sections showing in successive stages the formation of midoceanic 

ridges and continental drift by mantle convection currents (modified from Wilson, 1963).

above for the shelf and slope combined, and the area 

within the 2,500 meter isobath is 74.3 million square 

kilometers, 1 which is nearly that shown above the continental shelf, slope, and rise.

The physiography, geology, and resource potential 

of these provinces are discussed more fully below.

PHYSIOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, AND RESOURCE POTENTIAL 

OF SUBSEA PHYSIOGRAPHIC PROVINCES

Continental Shelf and Slope

The continental shelf and slope, together called the 

continental terrace, are part of the continental margin,

1 Obtained by interpolation from estimates given by Menard and 

Smith (1966) for the areas to the 2,000 and 3,000 meter isobaths.

which in most places extends some distance beyond 

the toe of the slope beneath the continental rise. Whereas the continental margin is a geologic province, the 

shelf and slope are physiographic provinces within a 

geologic one and are defined by the configuration of 

their surface. But although the continental shelf is a 

part of the continent, a shelf in the physiographic sense 

may also occur around oceanic islands as a result of 

wave cutting or sedimentation; such shelves, however, 

are generally narrow they are a few miles in width 

at the most. Included as part of the continental terrace 

are the floor of many large seas that are partly or 

almost entirely surrounded by land for example, the 

North Sea, Baltic Sea, Irish Sea, Adriatic Sea, Barents 

Sea, Kara Sea, Chukchi Sea, Hudson Bay, Yellow Sea, 

East China Sea, Java Sea, Timor Sea, Arafura Sea, 

Gulf of Carpentaria, Gulf of Siam, and the Persian
LATE CARBONIFEROUS

EARLY QUATERNARY

Figure 7. Reconstructions of the map of the 

world showing the separation and drift of 

the continents since Late Carboniferous 

time. Dotted areas represent shallow seas 

(modified from Wegener, 1922).

Gulf. The seabed beneath the straits and channels that 

separate most offshore islands from the mainlandBase Straits, the Santa Barbara Channel, and the English Channel, for example is also part of the continental terrace.

Although the continental shelf in many places is the 

nearly flat or gently dipping surface that the name implies, in some places the bottom adjacent to the coast 

is irregular and consists of ridges or banks, separated 

by troughs or basins, much like the hilly or mountainous terrain adjacent to many coasts. Such provinces are sometimes called borderlands. In other 

areas, a deep channel may separate a shallow bank 

from the mainland. The narrow trench that reaches a 

depth of about 800 meters along the Norwegian coast 

of the relatively shallow North Sea is an example. 

Where a well-defined shelf is present, its surface is 

in many places uneven. The steepening of the declivity

marking the shelf edge is not sharp but may take place 

over a distance of less than 1km or more than 10 km, 

and locally, two or more separate zones of steepening 

may be present. Although the shelf edge is considered 

to lie at an average water depth of 200 meters, its 

depth may range from 50 meters to more than 550 meters. Submarine canyons similar in configuration to 

subaerial canyons, locally dissect the margins of the 

continental shelves and borderlands and add to the 

bathymetric irregularity. The shelf is also variable 

in width, for although its width is considered to average about 100 km, it ranges from less than a mile to 

more than 1,300 km.

The limits of the continental slope are also variable 

and difficult to define, not only at the upper limit but 

at the lower limit also. For convenience, the slope has 

sometimes been defined to end where the gradient deer eases below a ratio of 1:40. If this definition is applied, the width generally ranges from 15 to 30 km, 

but the depth at which the lower boundary occurs ranges 

from 1,000 to more than 4,000 meters (Emery, 1967a).

Geologically, the continental terrace is underlain by 

continental crust, including older sedimentary and igneous rocks and even shields in some areas, such as 

along the coast of New England, where these have been 

planed off by wave action or glaciation. Commonly, 

however, the continental terrace contains a thick sequence of young sedimentary rocks that were deposited 

in the same terrace environment in which they are now 

found and that reflect a seaward growth of the continents (Emery, 1968). Sediment traps, formed by dams 

created by fault blocks, reefs, or mud or salt intrusions, play an important part in the accumulation of 

sediments on some terraces.

These accumulations of sediments beneath the continental terrace have already been shown to be rich in 

petroleum in many areas, and they have also yielded 

sulfur and salt; placer minerals such as gold, tin, diamonds, rutile, ilmenite, and magnetite; and sand, gravel, lime mud, and shells. Phosphorite also occurs in 

surficial sediments and bedrock, although it has not 

yet been mined from the terrace. Older rocks beneath 

the shelf have been mined for coal, tin, copper, and 

other minerals in underground mines entered from 

artificial islands or the adjacent land. It is not profitable yet to mine minerals from the bedrock far from 

land, but without doubt the rocks of the continental 

terrace are potential sources of nearly all the minerals now produced on land and they have by far the 

greatest potential mineral value of all subsea provinces (McKelvey, 1968).

Continental Rise

The continental rise is the gently sloping surface 

that extends from the toe of the slope to the abyssal 

plain. Its seaward boundary is also indefinite and has 

sometimes been defined arbitrarily to be where the 

slope becomes less than 1:1,000. Under this definition 

it may occur at depths ranging from 1,000 to 5,000
meters. Its width may be as great as 1,000 km, but in 

some regions it is extremely narrow or is absent altogether, particularly where trenches are present. As 

with the continental terrace, some extensive areas of 

continental rise lie in bays or seas, partly surrounded 

by a few coastal states; large areas of rise in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal are examples.

The continental rise is a depositional feature, for it 

is underlain by sediments that were transported from 

the continents by bottom currents, gravitational creep, 

and turbid flow down submarine canyons. In many 

areas, the sediments of the continental rise are as 

much as 3,000 meters thick, and in the aggregate they 

make up the largest volume of sediments on earth 

(Emery, 1967b). Their petroleum potential is therefore 

perhaps even greater than that of the continental terrace, although because of the greater water depth its 

profitable exploitation will require considerable advance in technology over that available now.

Small Ocean Basins

The small ocean basins that are between or are nearly surrounded by continents, such as the Mediterranean 

Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, or are protected by island 

arcs, such as the Caribbean Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, 

have extensive areas deeper than 2,000 meters. Other 

examples include basins in the Bering Sea, Sea of 

Japan, South China Sea, Sulu Sea, Celebes Sea, Banda 

Sea, Andaman Sea, Black Sea, and the Red Sea. Those 

basins that receive the drainage from large land areas 

may contain sequences of sedimentary rocks that are 

as thick as 10,000 meters or more. Except for the fact 

that they lie in enclosed basins, the sediments of some 

of the small ocean basins resemble those of the continental rise, and in total geologic aspect many of these 

basins are more continental than oceanic.

Because of their very large volume of sediments, 

the petroleum resource potential of the small ocean 

basins is large, and it probably approaches that ofTher 

continental rise and is probably far larger than that 

of the abyssal plains and hills and oceanic ridge and 

rise. Sulfur and a considerable variety of other minerals are also very likely potential resources. The 

metal-bearing muds recently discovered at depths of 

about 2,000 meters in the Red Sea, for example, contain small amounts of copper and zinc. Because of their 

water depth, these resources of the small ocean basins 

cannot be exploited profitably now, but their potential 

value for the future is large.

Trenches and Associated Ridges

The deep ocean trenches, and the complex of low 

ridges and swales that in some places are associated 

with them, are located adjacent to the convex sides of 

island arcs or along tectonically active coastal mountain ranges. Most trenches lie around the margin of 

the Pacific Ocean, but a few, such as the Puerto Rico 

and Sunda trenches, are on the edges of the Atlantic 

and Indian Oceans. The trenches include the deepest 

parts of the sea floor and their floors are generally at

depths greater than 6,000 meters. The slopes of their 

walls are generally in the range of 4° to 16°, although 

steeper slopes occur locally. Some of them may contain considerable thickness of sediment, and thus they 

have some petroleum potential and may also have a 

wider variety of other minerals than do the adjacent 

abyssal plains. Except in areas of shallow water, however, where some of the trenches pass into island 

arcs, these minerals are not likely to be exploited within the next few decades.

Abyssal Plains and Hills

The abyssal plains and hills lie at depths of about 

3,000 to 5,500 meters and at an average depth of about 

5,000 meters. They consist of relatively flat to rolling 

and hilly plains, studded with seamounts largely of 

volcanic origin, but in some areas their surface is 

rugged as the result of extensive fracture zones and 

faults. The cover of unconsolidated sediment is generally less than 1 km in thickness; because the area is 

enormous, thicker accumulations may be found locally in areas favorably situated to trap sediment transported from the continental terrace by turbidity currents. Underlying rocks consist predominantly of basalt.

Manganese nodules, averaging about 24 percent manganese, 14 percent iron, 1 percent nickel, 0.5 percent 

copper, and somewhat less than 0.5 percent cobalt, 

are abundant in many areas of the abyssal plains and 

hills. Improved mining and beneficiation techniques 

must be developed before these deposits can be produced profitably, and because land sources of these 

metals are adequate for the foreseeable future, it is 

possible that the nodules may not be exploited for 

several decades. However, one company, Deep sea 

Ventures, Inc., recently announced its initiation of a 

program of exploration and research, which it believes will result in the production of metals within 

five years. If breakthroughs in mining and extraction 

technology are achieved, the outlook for exploitation 

of the nodules could change. In any case, the aggregate 

amount of metals concentrated in the nodules is so 

large that they constitute an important resource for 

the future.

With the possible exception of local areas in which 

sediments may exceed 1 km in thickness, most of 

the abyssal plains and hills province probably contains 

little petroleum, and because of its great depth, as 

well as the availability of petroleum from other 

sources, what petroleum is present is not likely to 

be recovered for many years. Except for deposits of 

siliceous and calcareous ooze and red clay, which are 

of no prospective value for the foreseeable future, 

resources of other minerals are very likely sparse, 

if not absent altogether, in the abyssal plains and hills. 

Although this conclusion is supported not only by the 

sea floor samples and other data already in hand but 

by broader knowledge of the character of oceanic crust 

and the processes that operate within and above it, 

at this early stage of sea floor exploration, allowance
must be made for the unknown and the surprises it may 

hold. The ocean floor is a big place, ore deposits are 

small features (the huge porphyry copper deposits, 

for example, generally underlie an area less than a 

square mile in size), and most of them are geologic 

accidents, some of which may occur in unexpected 

places. Even allowing for discoveries not now anticipated, however, the resource potential of the abyssal 

plains and hills of the large ocean basins appears to 

be much less than that of the continental terrace, rise, 

and small ocean basins.

Ocean Rise and Ridge

The oceanic mountain ridges and slopes rise 1,000 

to 3,000 meters above the adjoining abyssal plains and 

reach the surface in places in volcanic islands. Commonly a rift valley is present at the ridge crest, bordered by high ridges offset along numerous transverse 

fractures or faults, which also cut the adjacent slopes. 

Although most of the ridges and oceanic rise are underlain by bare rock, largely basalt, a thin veneer of 

sediment such as red clay or ooze is present in some 

areas and thin sequences of older sedimentary rocks 

also occur in places along the flanks of the oceanic 

rise.

The possibility that petroleum exists on the oceanic 

ridges and rises is remote but perhaps cannot be ruled 

out altogether. Concentrations of chromium, platinum, 

copper, and related metals may exist in the ridge, 

where some of the rocks with which these minerals 

are associated elsewhere have already been found in 

a few places. The Red Sea metal-bearing muds are 

forming in a young rift zone and although the muds 

and associated brines show evidence of continental 

influence (James, 1968), it is possible that similar deposits may be found in closed basins in some places 

in the rift zone of the oceanic ridge. Manganese nodules also occur in places on the ocean rise, although 

they are not as abundant as they are on the abyssal 

plain. More likely as a source of mineral production 

in the near future than any of these metals are the 

more prosaic shell deposits, such as those already 

being mined off Iceland, and coral, which may provide 

lime not available on most of the volcanic islands on 

the ocean ridge.

Volcanoes and Volcanic Ridges

Islands, banks, ridges, guyots, and seamounts composed of basalt of volcanic origin are common in the 

ocean basin, and in fact most islands in the ocean basin 

are of this origin. More than 1,400 seamounts are 

known in the Pacific Ocean alone. Some of the seamounts are capped by a smooth platform on which 

manganese nodules or lime deposits may occur, and 

coral reefs fringe some of the volcanic islands. Guano 

and phosphatized rock derived from it occur on some 

of these islands and it would not be surprising to find 

some subsea phosphorites on seamounts in the zone 

of equatorial upwelling. The shallow depth of some 

of these seamounts might permit early production of

such deposits if they occur in suitable concentrations. 

Other kinds of minerals are not likely to occur in this 

environment.

CONCLUSIONS

The continental shelf, slope, and rise and the small 

ocean basins have by far the greatest potential mineral 

value of the subsea provinces. Most of this is in the 

form of petroleum, but a variety of other minerals 

occur in these provinces, some of which are already 

being produced near shore and others of which may 

come within technologic and economic reach in the 

future. The resource potential of the remaining area 

of the seabed nearly SOpercent of the total is largely 

restricted to the manganese, copper, nickel, and other 

metals in the manganese nodules. Although the tonnages of metals in these nodules are so enormous that 

they may attract enough interest in research to yield 

the breakthroughs in mining and extraction technology 

necessary to make them competitive with other 

sources, the odds are that the deep sea nodules will 

not be exploitable for many years. Metal-bearing muds 

of the Red Sea type and petroleum may be present in 

some places in the large ocean basins, but the prospects for exploitable deposits are not bright. As judged 

from available knowledge, therefore, the exploitable 

mineral wealth of the seabed in the near future is 

largely confined to the submerged parts of the continents and the debris piles in the continental rise and 

small ocean basins that have been derived from them. 

But as James (1968) put it, after reaching a similar 

conclusion, "This appraisal of the resource potential 

of the deep ocean is based almost entirely on inferences drawn from existing knowledge and theory. These 

inferences seem reasonable in fact inescapable but 

it must be remembered that the area of the oceans is 

enormous and that the amount of specific information 

on the underlying rocks is minute in comparison."

REFERENCES CITED

Emery, K. O., 1967a, Geological aspects of sea-floor 

sovereignty, in Alexander, L. M., ed., Chapter 9, 

The Law of the Sea: Ohio Univ. Press, p. 139-159.

____1967b, Some stages in the development of knowledge of the Atlantic Coast of the United StatesProgress in oceanography (The Quaternary history 

of the ocean basins): Oxford and New York, Pergamon Press, v. 4, p. 307-322.

___ 1968, Shallow structure of continental shelves

and slopes, in Proceedings of a Symposium on Mineral Resources of the World Ocean: Rhode Island 

Univ., Graduate School of Oceanography Occasional 

Pub. 4, p. 9-22.

Heezen, B. C., 1962, The deep-sea floor, inRuncorn, 

S. K., ed., Continental drift: New York and London, 

Academic Press, Internat. Geophysics Ser., v. 3, 

p. 235-288.

____1968, The Atlantic continental margin, in A. 

coast to coast tectonic study of the United States: 

UMR Journal, no. 1, p. 5-25.
Heselton, L. R., Jr., 19 69, The continental shelf: Naval 

Studies Inst., Center For Naval Analyses Research 

Contr. 106, 44 p.

James, H. L., 1968, Mineral resource potential of the 

deep ocean, in Proceedings of a Symposium on Mineral Resources of the World Ocean: Rhode Island 

Univ., Graduate School of Oceanography Occasional 

Pub. 4, p. 39-44.

McKelvey, V. E., 1968, Mineral potential of the submerged parts of the continents, in Proceedings of 

a Symposium on Mineral Resources of the World 

Ocean: Rhode Island Univ., Graduate School of 

Oceanography Occasional Pub. 4, p. 31-38.

Menard, H. W., 1967, Transitional types of crust under 

small ocean basins, Jour. Geophys. Research, v. 

72, p. 3061-3073.

Menard, H. W., and Smith, S. M., 1966, Hypsometry of 

ocean basin provinces: Jour. Geophys. Research, 

v. 71, p. 4305-4325.

Runcorn, S. K., ed., 1962, Continental drift: New York, 

Academic Press Inc.

Takeuchi, Hitashi, Uyeda, Seiya, andKanamori, Hiroo, 

1968, Debate about the earth Approach to geophysics through analysis of continental drift: San 

Francisco, Calif., Freeman, Cooper and Co., 253 p.

Wegener, Alfred, 1922, Die Entstehung der Kontinente 

und Ozeane [The Origin of Continents and Oceans] 

(translated from 3d German edition by J. G. A. 

Skerl): New York, E. P. Dutton and Company, 212 p.

Wilson, J. Tuzo, 1963, Continental drift: Scientific Am., 

April, v. 208, no. 4, p. 86-100.

PROGRESS IN THE EXPLORATION AND EXPLOITATION OF SUBSEA PETROLEUM RESOURCES AND 

ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT BEYOND THE LIMITS OF NATIONAL JURISDICTION

By V. E. McKelvey

[Statement by United States Representative before the Economic 

and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee 

on the Peaceful Uses of the Seabed and the Ocean Floor Beyond 

the Limits of National Jurisdiction, March 12, 1969]

In the year since the ad hoc committee on seabeds 

resources convened its first meeting, much progress 

has been achieved in the exploration and exploitation 

of subsea petroleum resources. On the whole, these 

developments do not change any of the conclusions 

reached by the ad hoc committee, but they do add 

justification for its "cautious optimism" concerning 

the future exploitation of the resources of the ocean 

floor beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.

Some of the more notable of these advances of the 

past year in the exploration and exploitation of seabed 

petroleum are summarized here, along with their economic implications.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Progress in offshore petroleum exploration and exploitation was significant on every front in the development of exploration methods prior to drilling, in 

extending the capability for drilling to greater depths, 

in adding new producing provinces, in increasing production, and in improving facilities for storage and 

transfer of petroleum at sea. These advances provide 

a basis for continued optimism concerning the future 

development of seabed petroleum resources, but incidents such as the Torrey Canyon and Santa Barbara 

oil spills are an uncomfortable reminder that exploitation of seabed resources involves some serious hazards and underscore the need to further improve offshore technology and its practice.

Reflection seismic surveys have for many years been 

the principal means of identifying possible oil-bearing 

structures at depth. The energy used to create the 

seismic waves was dynamite an expensive source and

one sometimes dangerous to marine life. In recent 

years, tools and methods employing nonexplosive energy sources have been steadily improved and have 

been brought to the point now where they virtually 

eliminate the need for dynamite as an energy source. 

This not only reduces the damage to fish and other 

living resources, but also the cost and the time required. It also makes possible continuous recording, 

which yields a more detailed seismic profile than is 

obtainable from widely spaced explosions. Moreover, 

digital recording of the data permits computerized 

analysis, which not only speeds up the process but 

more importantly allows for the use of a wider array 

of interpretative procedures. Developments during the 

past year have been of an incremental rather than a 

revolutionary nature, but they have added to both the 

speed and sensitivity of the method.

Perhaps the most dramatic of the achievements of 

the past year were those of the drilling ship, the 

Glomar challenger, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. You may recall that, while our Rio 

meeting was in progress last August, we received and 

reported to you the exciting news that a hole drilled 

by theGZomar Challengerin theSigsbee Knolls in the 

Gulf of Mexico, in water 11,720 feet deep, penetrated 

the caprock of a salt dome and found a show of oil, gas, 

and sulfur. Since then, the ship set a record for the 

deepest penetration into the deep ocean floor and the 

longest drill string ever suspended from a floating 

platform. Both records were set in a hole drilled 

2,759 feet below the sea floor in water 16,316 feet deep 

in the North Atlantic. The total length of the drill string 

was thus 19,075 feet. It is hard to imagine, you know, 

a string of drilling pipe nearly 4 miles long being 

powered into the ocean floor from a floating vessel. 

To help his friends visualize it, one marine engineer 

scaled down the size and strength of such a drill string 

to a single strand of spaghetti dangling a thousand feet

10
to the street from the top of the Empire State Building. 

The technology for drilling in such water depths does 

not yet include reentry capability, although that may 

be developed soon, or the capability to test adequately 

for oil and gas, or to produce them, and hence we do 

not know for certain that petroleum occurs in recoverable quantities beneath the deep ocean floor. Nevertheless, the direct observation of petroleum at these 

depths is highly significant.

We are distributing a brief statement about the Deep 

Sea Drilling Project,of which the work of theGlomar 

Challenger is a part, but I may just say here, Mr. 

Chairman, that the ship is now on the fourth and last 

leg of its Atlantic track, and that it will begin its Pacific track soon. Its results are being published and a 

descriptive catalog of the cores collected on its first 

leg will be ready for distribution during the coming 

summer. Samples of the cores will be made available 

to qualified scientists from many countries. The international cooperation that characterizes this project 

is also shown in the shipboard participation of scientists of other countries. Scientists from Canada, 

Italy, Switzerland, and Brazil have already shared in 

the work aboard ship. Scientists from many other 

countries are also expected to participate.

Although, as the Glomar Challenger work so dramatically shows, it is now possible to obtain core samples in deep water, the depth limit for exploratory 

well drilling that is holes that can be reentered to 

make the tests necessary to determine whether or not 

producible petroleum is present is still rather shallow. The record water depth of 640 feet for exploratory 

petroleum well drilling held at the time of the last 

meeting of the ad hoc committee, however, was broken 

by drilling in the Santa Barbara Channel, first by a 

hole in 990 feet of water and then by one in 1,350 feet. 

A drilling ship is being outfitted now to drill in 1,600 

feet of water and new kinds of systems are under consideration and design to permit well drilling and production in still deeper water. One of these designed to 

operate at depths of 2,000 feet, and perhaps greater 

later on, plans an occupiable cylinder moored to the 

sea floor and surrounded by a ring of automatically 

operated wellheads. This "satellite" would contain 

equipment and controls activated by a surface station. 

It would be serviced by a submersible, however, and 

would be occupied intermittently.

Several new deep submersibles and work vehicles 

were completed during the year, and the technology 

for undersea habitats and work units is being advanced 

by the Sealab program, Tektite, and other projects.

Petroleum exploration is now underway offshore in 

nearly 40 countries, including several in which it has 

just begun during the year. Important new discoveries 

have been made off many areas, including the United 

States, Mexico, Trinidad, Brazil, Norway, Dahomey, 

Nigeria, Cabinda (Angola), and Australia, and geophysical exploration and exploratory drilling is underway in many other favorable areas.

In recent years, offshore petroleum production has 

been increasing at the rate of about 10 percent per 

year, and it now supplies about 5 million barrels per 

day or 16 percent of the total output of non-Communist 

nations. Private investment in off shore exploration and 

production has been increasing at the rate of about 18 

percent per year and amounted to about $2.3 billion in 

1968. The cumulative total is now nearly $13 billion.

Important new developments have also taken place 

in the construction of offshore storage and loading facilities. A 500,000-barrel undersea storage tank, for 

example, is being installed in 150 feet of water 65 miles 

off the coast of Dubai on the Persian Gulf. Such units 

not only reduce the probability of storm damage but 

solve the loading problem for supertankers unable to 

use conventional port facilities.

IMPACT AND OUTLOOK

The developments during the past year bring much 

new ground within the reach of economic exploitation 

laterally in new areas of the shelves now shown by 

exploration to be productive or promising and vertically in deeper waters that advancing technology has 

made accessible to exploratory drilling. The results of 

the Glomar challenger ' s deep tests do not extend the 

depth range of petroleum exploration and production 

capability, but they substitute evidence for what heretofore has been largely speculation as to the occurrence 

of petroleum in parts of the deep ocean floor.

World demand for fluid hydrocarbons certainly will 

continue to increase. How much of it will be met by 

synthetic fuels derived from tar sands, oil shales, 

and coal how much from land sources of petroleum, 

and how much from offshore petroleum is difficult to 

predict; for the amount that will come from each of 

these sources depends on future discoveries, on the 

future development of technology including, in the 

case of offshore production, that relating to the prevention and control of pollution and on the economic 

and political policies set by governments.

One of the largest elements of uncertainty in the extent to which offshore production will share in future 

growth of the world market stems from the recent huge 

discovery of oil on the Arctic Slope of Alaska and from 

others that may come there and elsewhere in the future. 

Offshore costs are generally higher than onshore costs 

under comparable conditions of drilling depth and field 

size. For example, according to figures recently released by Shell, drilling costs for a 14-well, 120,000- 

barrel-per-day oil field would be about $11.5 million 

offshore in water of moderate depth, compared with 

$4 million onshore, and development costs would be 

about $13.5 million offshore compared with $4.7 million onshore. In spite of these costs, of course, offshore exploration has increased because the virgin 

offshore ground offers a better opportunity to find giant 

fields, producible at costs low enough to offset increased exploration and development costs, than does

11
much of the already partly explored onshore. But important new discoveries are still possible onshore and 

their rate and magnitude will influence the rate and 

magnitude of offshore petroleum development.

Synthetic hydrocarbons from oil shale or coal are 

not expected to make significant inroads on the market 

for petroleum during the next decade or so, but because their costs are not much above those of natural 

petroleum, a breakthrough in oil shale or coal conversion technology could make them competitive 

earlier. In the meantime, they serve to set a ceiling 

on the price of petroleum at a figure not much higher 

than it is now in the United States and many other 

areas, for with a modest increase in price these large 

sources of fluid hydrocarbons would become competitive.

Fuels in many of their uses are interchangeable. 

Thus it does not matter to a boiler whether the heat 

comes from coal, gas, oil, or nuclear fission, and even 

water power is exchangeable with other forms of energy through the medium of electricity. Therefore, 

technologic developments that influence the availability, cost, and use of sources of energy other than 

hydrocarbons also will affect the overall demand for 

petroleum. The development of an efficient electric 

automobile and a low-cost electric heating system, for 

example, could markedly reduce the rate of increase 

in the demand for petroleum.

The Santa Barbara incident has brought to the fore 

another factor that may influence the rate of offshore 

development namely, public concern about the potentially disastrous effects of an oil-well blowout, no 

matter how rare it may be. Without doubt, improved 

safety technology will develop as a consequence of the 

Santa Barbara accident and will much reduce the hazard from this source. But in the meantime, caution 

may somewhat retard the rate of growth of the offshore 

industry, and added safety measures may add to cost 

and thus narrow the area in which off shore production 

is competitive.

The economic and political policies established by 

governments also effect the competitive position of 

various fuels and their component sources, and because 

they are subject to change, they add an important element of uncertainty about the competitiveness of individual fuel sources inthefuture. In the United States, 

for example, a change in State or Federal production 

control policies or import controls could, depending 

on the direction of the change, act to stimulate or retard the development of the offshore industry. In the 

same way, the decisions and arrangements that come 

to govern the development of seabed petroleum resources beyond the limits of national jurisdiction can 

also act to aid or hinder petroleum exploration and 

development.

Recognizing then, that such uncertainties may invalidate any projection made now, present trends suggest that offshore production will supply something of 

the order of 30-35 percent of the world market by 

1980. Very likely, nearly all of this will be produced 

from water depths of less than 2,000feet,not only because it will take time to develop the new drilling 

systems that will be required and to reduce their cost 

to a competitive level, but also because the less expensive onshore and shallower offshore sources are 

ample to meet the demand to and some years beyond 

1980. _____

[Following is additional statement on the National Science Foundation's Deep Sea Drilling Project distributed to the Economic and 

Technical Subcommittee March 12, 1969]

The deep sea drilling project of the National Science 

Foundation's National Ocean Sediment Coring Program 

is being carried out under a contract with the Scripps 

Institution of Oceanography. Scientific planning and 

guidance for the program is provided by the members 

of the Joint Oceanographic Institution for Deep Earth 

Sampling (JOIDES), which include the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic 

Institution, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of 

Columbia University, the Institute of Marine Sciences 

at the University of Miami and the University of Washington.

The project involves an 18-month program to coredrill deep ocean sediments in water depths of as much 

as 20,000 feet in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 

Global Marine Incorporated designed and constructed 

a special drilling ship, the Glomar Challenger to 

carry out under a subcontract from Scripps the drilling 

operations at sea. Many of her features are unique 

and represent breakthroughs in Oceanographic engineering and drilling. She has a dynamic positioning 

system, employing tunnel thrusters which, with the 

ship's own screws, enable her to remain on station. 

While drilling is in progress, a computerized system 

automatically controls both thrusters and propulsion 

to maintain her position with reference to a sonar 

beacon system on the ocean floor. She is the first commercial ship to utilize satellite navigation.

The Glomar Challenger is now on the fourth and 

last leg of her Atlantic track. Already she has set a 

record for the deepest penetration into the ocean floor 

and the longest drill string ever suspended from a 

floating platform. Both records were set in a hole 

drilled 2,759 feet below the sea floor in water 16,316 

feet deep in the North Atlantic. A hole drilled in the 

Sigsbee Knolls in the Gulf of Mexico, in water 11,720 

feet deep, penetrated the caprock of the salt dome and 

found a show of oil, gas, and sulfur.

The preliminary core descriptions of the Deep Sea 

Drilling Project are being published for the benefit of 

the world scientific community as they are completed. 

A descriptive catalog of the cores collected on the first 

leg of the Atlantic cruise will be ready for distribution

12
during the coming summer. Catalogs describing cores 

from subsequent legs will be published at 3-month intervals thereafter. Samples of the cores will be made 

available to qualified scientists from many countries. 

Scientists from Canada, Italy, Switzerland, and Brazil

have already shared in the work aboard ship. Scientists 

from many other countries are expected to participate 

during the drilling operation and in the subsequent 

studies and analyses of the cores.

PROGRESS IN THE EXPLORATION AND EXPLOITATION OF HARD MINERALS FROM THE SEABED

By V. E. McKelvey

[Statement by United States Representative before the Economic 

and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee 

on the Peaceful Uses of the Seabed and the Ocean Floor Beyond 

the Limits of National Jurisdiction, March 13, 1969]

Continuing our review of the progress and exploitation of seabed resources since the report of the ad 

hoc committee was completed, we can say, as we did 

for petroleum, that while the advances of the past year 

in the field of hard-mineral seabed mining have been 

encouraging, they do not change any of the conclusions 

reached last year. Nevertheless, it may be worthwhile 

to briefly review some of the highlights of the recent 

achievements in this area.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Advances in offshore mining of hard minerals have 

not been nearly as rapid as those relating to petroleum. 

Progress in solving the difficult problem of prospecting for and evaluating seabed mineral deposits has 

come in recent years through the development of a 

detached "boomerang" corer, which is brought to the 

surface by a float after it has taken its sample; a series 

of such corers can therefore be dropped from a moving ship on traverse and picked up on its return. A 

sediment analysis pod has also been developed that 

will transmit a digitized signal by cable to the surface, 

giving data on acoustic velocity, bearing strength, temperature, and bulk density. Another new device is a 

radioisotope-powered acoustic pinger that has a 5-year 

life, is usable in water as deep as 6,000 feet, and will 

precisely mark undersea locations, a fundamental need 

in both mineral evaluation and mining. The advances 

in geophysical exploration, submersibles, undersea 

work vehicles and habitats, and deep-drilling techniques already mentioned also contribute to the development of subsea hard-minerals technology.

Mining is in progress in waters less than 200 feet 

offshore in many countries sulfur in the Gulf of Mexico; sand, gravel, and shell off the United States, Japan, 

Iceland, and Great Britain; lime mud off the Bahamas; 

magnetite off Japan; tin off Indonesia and Thailand; diamonds off the southwestern coast of Africa; and rutile 

and ilmenite off Australia. Exploration underway in 

other areas includes that for gold and platinum in Norton Sound and the Bering Sea; gold off northern California, the Gulf of Alaska, Nova Scotia, and British 

Columbia; gold, chromite, and magnetite off the Philippines; gold off the Soviet Union in the Laptev Sea and

the Sea of Japan; gold and tungsten off Australia; tin off 

Malaysia, Borneo, Solomon Islands, and Great Britain; 

metal-rich mud in the Red Sea; and phosphorite off 

the United States, Palau, and Mexico. Interest continues 

in the manganese nodules, particularly for their content of nickel and copper, and research is underway on 

mining systems that will make their economic recovery feasible. Most of the companies who have investigated the manganese nodules have found the prospects 

for their development in the next decade or so discouraging. One American company, Deepsea Ventures, 

Inc., recently announced plans, however, to begin research on the recovery of the nodules, has a vessel 

equipped to prospect and appraise certain deposits, and 

believes it will reach production of metals within 5 

years.

IMPACT AND OUTLOOK

The exploration in progress may lead to the development of offshore mining in new areas, but none of 

the developments of the past year constitute breakthroughs that substantially enlarge the scope of marine 

mining in the near future or that will speed economic 

access to the sea-floor minerals in deep water.

The drag on the development of hard minerals in 

deep water has several origins. Ore-finding technology, particularly for bedrock minerals beneath the 

floor, is poorly developed as indeed it is for wholly 

concealed deposits on land and knowledge of the regional and local geology necessary to guide prospecting is as yet fragmentary. Evaluation technology for 

most subsea minerals is both weak and expensive. Lowcost systems for deep-sea mining are not much beyond 

the conceptual stage, and each of the major surficial 

deposits the manganese nodules, the phosphorites, 

and the sulfide muds poses difficult beneficiation or 

extraction problems. On the economic side, low-cost 

onshore sources of most seabed minerals are ample 

for the foreseeable future, and this dampens the incentive to press the research and development necessary to speed development. They do not kill it, however, and even though the advance of deep-sea-mining 

technology may be slow, it seems certain to come 

eventually. And, of course, a real breakthrough that 

would reduce mining and extraction cost to competitive levels would have a substantial impact on world 

supplies in the case of the manganese nodules and perhaps also the sulfide muds and an important impact on 

regional supplies in the case of the phosphorites.

13
POTENTIAL ILL EFFECTS OF SUBSEA MINERAL EXPLOITATION AND MEASURES TO PREVENT THEM

By V. E. McKelvey

[Statement by United States Representative before the Economic 

and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee 

on the Peaceful Uses of the Seabed and the Ocean Floor Beyond 

the Limits of National Jurisdiction, March 17, 1969]

Subsea mineral exploitation inevitably carries the 

potential to create hazards to other uses of the sea 

and to damage other marine resources. The nature of 

some of these dangers is already known from experience gained in coastal waters, but others, particularly 

as viewed with respect to the deep-sea floor far from 

land, are as yet poorly understood. Experience thus 

far indicates that the hazards and damages stemming 

from subsea mineral exploitation can be largely 

avoided if it is properly managed, but at this stage it 

is essential to recognize that some of the problems to 

be faced and overcome are as yet unknown and that the 

dimensions of others are as yet not defined.

The potential ill effects of subsea mineral exploitation relate to (1) safety of personnel, (2) damage to 

living resources, beaches, and other installations from 

pollution, (3) interference with navigation and fishing, 

and (4) aesthetic and recreational values. These ill 

effects may be associated with each phase of the exploration-exploitation process. In areas under national 

jurisdiction, government should establish procedures 

and practices governing the exploitation and extraction 

of the subsea mineral resources so as to insure, to the 

extent feasible, that the operations are at all times 

safe, do not interfere with the other uses of the sea, 

and do not in any way damage the other resource values. Under any international arrangements agreed to 

relating to the seabed beyond the limits of national 

jurisdiction, it will be necessary to insure that seabed operations there are conducted in a manner that 

will avoid damage to other values.

At this stage in our deliberations, it may be helpful 

to review the nature of the potential ill effects of subsea mineral operations and the approaches taken to 

prevent them by regulatory authorities. Most of what 

is known of these topics comes from experience with 

petroleum exploration and production. It is this experience in U.S. waters and the U.S. regulatory procedures that govern these operations that form the primary basis for the following review. Several other 

governments represented here also have procedures to 

cope with these problems, and we hope they will report their experience also.

HUMAN SAFETY

Subsea mineral exploration and exploitation undertaken from floating vessels combine the hazards to 

the safety of operating personnel related to shipping 

and fishing and those associated with onshore drilling 

or dredging. In U.S. waters and vessels the U.S. Coast 

Guard, advised by a Merchant Marine Council, maintains a Merchant Marine Safety Program, providing 

for safety inspection and regulation of vessels, their 

construction, repair, and their equipment, and for the 

investigation and review of marine casual ties and acts 

of incompetency and misconduct. The Coast Guard also 

maintains a search and rescue program to provide assistance to ships at sea. Experience in these activities 

is sufficient to form the basis for safety regulations 

and practices, which nevertheless deserve continuing 

review and improvement.

Marine operations undertaken from submersibles 

and from platforms attached to the bottom introduce 

some hazards not encountered in vessels. The submersibles that might be used in conjunction with subsea mineral exploration, evaluation, and exploitation 

are almost entirely in the experimental stage, and much 

research will be required in several fields e.g., in 

materials and structural engineering, in physiology 

and medicine, and in oceanography to make them operational under acceptable licensing, and operation of 

submersibles and the training and licensing of pilots 

are currently under consideration by the Congress of 

the United States.

Fixed platforms are also undergoing continual 

changes in design, and entirely new types are in the 

design or construction phase. An excellent safety record has been achieved by those already in use, but 

nevertheless several have toppled over or have been 

otherwise destroyed during hurricanes and other 

storms. The danger comes not only from the direct 

force of high winds and heavy seas, but also from the 

effects of scouring on the sea bottom. The experience 

gained thus far about these effects is being taken account of in new designs and modification of older structures. Another danger to operating personnel in petroleum exploration, whether undertaken from a fixed 

or mobile platform, comes from fire, particularly that 

resulting from gas or oil blowouts, such as that which 

destroyed the Little Bob rig offshore Louisiana last 

summer and took 10 lives. In U.S. waters, State agencies have regulatory authority over fixed platforms 

in State waters, and the U.S. Geological Survey is responsible for design approval and inspection in Federal 

waters.

The millions of tons of ordnance explosives that have 

been dumped in the sea constitute a hazard to subsea 

mining that may prevent it altogether in some areas 

(a phosphorite lease off southern California was cancelled for this reason) and may be an uncertain threat 

elsewhere.

POLLUTION

Pollution stemming from subsea mineral exploitation may be of three types: (1) oil, gas, brines, or fluids released directly from the well, from production

14
or storage facilities, and from pipelines, (2) particulate matter stirred up from the sea bottom in mining 

or discharge as waste in the course of onsite beneficiation, and (3) human waste and refuse. The last of 

these is readily controllable and needs no further discussion.

Not enough is known yet about the effects of seabed 

mining to assess adequately the hazards stemming 

from the release of paniculate matter even in shallow 

water (the U.S. Bureau of Mines is beginning an investigation of the effects of dredging that will define 

the problem in coastal waters), much less in deep water 

far from shore. Locally, dredging in such waters may 

be expected to pose some hazard to marine life, but 

on the whole paniculate matter released in the course 

of deep-sea mining should have no ill effects on other 

resources or the environment. In fact, over much of 

the ocean beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, 

the capacity of the sea to receive locally generated 

solid waste without producing any harmful effects may 

well prove to be a valuable advantage compared to 

mining either in coastal waters or on land.

Pollution from offshore petroleum exploration and 

production in the past has resulted from blowouts during drilling, from rupture of well casing as the result 

of hurricanes or of ship collisions, from spillage of 

oil in storage at the surface, and from pipeline leaks. 

Earthquakes are a potential source of rupture of well 

casing and pipelines, although thus far no offshore 

spills are traceable to them.

The procedures and equipment to prevent release of 

oil and gas from all of these sources are already available. Drilling technology, for example, already provides for control of unexpected oil or gas pressure 

through the use of heavy drilling mud, well casing, and 

automatic blowout preventers. Storm chokes close the 

well automatically if wellheads are broken by storms 

or ship collision. Valves in surface lines shut off flow 

when loss in pressure signifies a leak. Electronic 

navigational devices are used to guide ships through 

shipping lanes in which oil and gas operations are not 

permitted, offshore platforms are equipped with navigational devices to warn ships that for one reason or 

another ply the water around producing fields, and 

navigation charts are periodically updated to show the 

location of new installations. Weather services are 

employed to provide advance storm warnings and thus 

allow exercise of safety precautions and evacuation 

of personnel if necessary. The surprise and the unexpected elements in many of the events leading to release of oil and gas set the stage for the "accident," 

but in view of the state of development of both prevention procedures and equipment, the accident itself must 

be attributed to human error or equipment failure or a 

combination of the two.

Parallel in importance to procedures and equipment 

to prevent unwanted release of oil and gas are those 

necessary to regain control of the flow and dissipate 

and clean up that already released. As shown by the

Santa Barbara incident, the technology for stopping 

the flow also is available. Means to dissipate and clean 

up a large spill are as yet poorly developed, but many 

valuable lessons have been learned as a result of the 

Tcrrey Canyonand Santa Barbara incidents.

In the United States, State agencies are responsible 

for the supervision of exploration, drilling, and production offshore, and the Secretary of the Interior, and 

under his direction the Geological Survey, are responsible for operations on the outer continental shelf. 

On the outer continental shelf, regulations governing 

procedures have been further supplemented by specific 

orders issued by the Regional Oil and Gas Supervisors 

of the Geological Survey, who must also approve proposed plans for exploration, production, and related 

operations and who also inspect operations in progress. 

That the regulations, procedures, and practices generally have been effective in preventing pollution is 

shown by its very low incidence in off shore operations 

over the years, but the entire process requires further 

improvement.

Although government, of course, bears the responsibility of insuring that safe procedures and practices 

are followed at all times in offshore operations, the 

public purpose in the prevention of offshore pollution 

is also served by industry, which is largely responsible for the development of the highly effective safety 

technology already in use and which is continuing to 

improve both the technology and its practice.

INTERFERENCE WITH NAVIGATION AND FISHING

As already indicated, the establishment of sealanes 

and use of modern aids to navigation have 1 a r g e 1 y 

eliminated interference with navigation by offshore 

mineral operations in coastal waters, and the hazard 

should be diminished further in waters beyond the 

limits of national jurisdiction. There is no denying, 

however, that the increase in the number of fixed or 

stationary installations increases the number of obstacles shipping must face and calls for increasing 

attention and vigilance on the part of both shipping 

crews and authorities. In the U.S. waters the Corps of 

Engineers is responsible for the delineation of sealanes and for preventing obstruction to navigation, and 

the Coast Guard is responsible for other aids to navigation.

In addition to the dam age that may be done to marine 

life by pollution, mineral exploration and extraction 

may interfere with fishing. The use of dynamite as an 

energy source in seismic exploration may kill fish locally, and obstructions in the form of gear or debris 

piles not visible from the surface may cause damage 

or loss of fishing gear. The development in recent 

years of seismic methods of exploration that utilize 

nonexplosive energy sources, however, has nearly 

eliminated the use of dynamite, and in water below a 

depth of several hundred meters, it seems unlikely 

that other mineral operations still interfere much with 

fishing.

15
The 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf 

recognizes the need for multiple use and provides for 

it in several specific terms in Articles 4 and 5. In the 

United States, the Fish and Wildlife Service advises 

the Geological Survey on the issuance of exploration 

permits and other problems related to fishing and, 

through State agencies and the Department of the Army, 

reviews proposals and plans for marine undertakings 

that affect fisheries and other values. The Geological 

Survey requires operators to remove all litter and 

obstructions from the sea bottom on the abandonment 

of a well site.

RECREATION AND AESTHETIC VALUES

Near-shore mineral operations may adversely affect 

sports, fishing, and boating, and it may damage aesthetic values as well, although the sign on the balance 

sheet is by no means clearly negative on either point. 

Many fishermen are of the opinion that oil and gas 

platforms attract fish, others find that they serve as 

navigational aids and emergency ports, and the number 

of boats that visit platforms on a summer weekend 

suggest that they offer some attraction to sportsmen. 

Be this as it may, coastal preserves have been set 

aside in certain areas, and in certain other areas in 

U.S. waters the Geological Survey requires that the 

platforms be camouflaged and that as many well as 

possible (20 or more) be drilled from a single platform to reduce their number.

In waters beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, 

the damage to recreational and aesthetic values will 

be negligible in most areas.

CONCLUSIONS

All of the ill effects that may result from subsea 

mineral exploitation in coastal waters seem at this 

stage to be subject to satisfactory control. Technologic 

improvements in both prevention of cause and remedy 

of effect are necessary in many areas and will come, 

but of equal if not greater importance is improvement 

in the practice of prevention procedures, particularly 

fail-safe procedures that guard against human and 

equipment failures.

The potential ill effects of mineral exploitation in 

waters beyond the limits of national jurisdiction are 

much less well understood at this stage and will require both further study and caution. The danger to 

operating personnel may prove to be greater in certain 

deep-sea undertakings than it is in coastal waters, but 

the ill effects from pollution and the hazard to navigation, fishing, recreation, and aesthetics very likely 

will be less in deep water far from land than they are 

near snore.

Marine industries and operators can be counted on 

to pursue aggressively the development of safe practices and equipment accidents are costly in terms of 

both life and capital and they work hard to avoid them. 

Nevertheless, it is government's responsibility to set 

and enforce safety standards, and this function must 

be provided for in mineral exploitation beyond the 

limits of national jurisdiction.

TOPOGRAPHIC AND GEOLOGIC MAPPING OF THE SEA BOTTOM

By J. I. Tracey, Jr.

[Statement by United States Representative before the Economic 

and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee 

on the Peaceful Uses of the Seabed and the Ocean Floor Beyond 

the Limits of National Jurisdiction, March 19, 1969]

It is evident from the statements of other speakers 

that everyone is aware of the complexity of the problems we face in considering the development of the 

resources of the seabed and ocean floor beyond the 

limits of national jurisdiction in the interest of mankind.

The kinds of basic information that are needed 

before exploitation of the resources can take place are 

put under the general heading of basic documents in 

the excellent paper prepared by the Secretariat for 

this meeting. Basic documents, especially regional 

topographic and geologic maps, lay the groundwork for 

identifying areas favorable for the occurrence of various minerals and for an appraisal of their potential 

resources. They also help to define the physical and 

chemical properties of the bottom sediments and 

underlying bedrock. These properties must be known

in order to determine the stability of the bottom sediments when designing large structures to be placed 

on the bottom, to predict the hazards that might exist 

to bottom operations from slides or slumps, and to 

predict the effects caused by the disturbance of sediments by large-scale mining or dredging operations. 

The uses of such basic data are thus many, and their 

availability is essential as a base for many of the uses 

to be made of the seabed. It is worth emphasizing, 

however, that although such basic maps and data serve 

many purposes, they are not sufficient in themselves 

to guide exploration for specific mineral deposits or 

to evaluate them. Far more detailed studies are necessary for those purposes.

It may be helpful to review briefly the kinds of maps 

that need to be prepared, the procedures for preparing them, and the magnitude of the effort involved, 

illustrated by our own experience in U.S. waters. 

Three principal kinds of maps are needed as a base 

for seabed development: (1) accurate topographic or 

bathymetric base maps that show bottom depth and

16
shape of features by contours and are used as base 

maps for geologic and other studies, (2) surficial- or 

bottom-sediment maps that show the kinds, distribution and thickness of the sediments that lie at the surface of the sea bottom, and (3) geologic maps of the 

bedrock beneath the sea bottom that show the distribution, thickness, and structural relations of rock 

units underlying the sea floor and that make possible 

three-dimensional analysis of potential oil- and 

mineral-bearing structures.

Topographic maps are now made from depth information obtained by fathometers that record depth profiles along the ship trackline. The depths plotted from 

many parallel or intersecting tracks over an area are 

contoured to show the depth and bottom shape. Precise 

navigational systems are required for accurate maps, 

especially for those far from shore, and because such 

systems have become available only in the last decade 

or so, most older maps have very low reliability.

The information required for bottom-sediment 

maps is obtained from several sampling techniquesgravity or piston corers that are dropped to the bottom and retrieved by a line from the ship; detached or 

boomerang corers that are dropped free, take a core 

sample by gravity, and float to the surf ace to be picked 

up by the ship; grab samplers of several kinds, some 

of which will take as much as 1-cubic-meter sample; 

and dredges towed over the bottom to take very large 

samples or to break samples off hard rock outcrops 

on the sea bottom.

Three-dimensional structural maps are made primarily from geophysical information from magnetic, 

gravity, and seismic surveys. Continuous seismic profiling using various gas or electrical energy sources 

is now both an effective and widely used approach to 

obtain information on either shallow or deep rock 

layers, depending on the kind of equipment used. The 

geophysical information so obtained is interpreted 

geologically from information obtained by sampling of 

rock layers on the bottom or from drill holes.

The maps that are produced by these bathymetric, 

geophysical, and geological surveys may be made on 

regional or reconnaissance scales to show general 

features and relations over large areas, or they may 

be made on more detailed scales to show intricate 

local relations. The investigations must be planned to 

accomplish the scale of mapping desired, for this determines the spacing of ship tracks and to some extent 

the number of samples that must be obtained.

Dr. Ewing, in his talk yesterday on the deep ocean 

drilling by theGlomar Challenger, presented a slide 

showing the thousands of kilometers of seismicprofiling tracklines across all the oceans by ships 

from the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory. 

This worldwide reconnaissance and the 40 holes to 

be drilled at sites selected on the basis of the reconnaissance will enable geologists to define the geologic 

character and the sedimentary history of many major

provinces of the oceans. Ship traverses such as these 

constitute a pioneering effort that could be likened, 

in our country, to the knowledge gained by the geological traverses across our western interior the 

Rocky Mountains and Great Basin by the early 

Government surveys of King, Powell, Hay den, and 

Wheeler a century ago.

Much is still to be gained from such widely spaced 

traverses, but we are approaching the time when it 

will be desirable to choose specific areas to investigate in more detail.

A scale of 1:1,000,000 that is, 10 kilometers on 

the ground equals 1 cm on the map is a reasonable 

scale for reconnaissance mapping of moderately large 

areas. An area of 1,000,000 square kilometers 1,000 

kilometers on a side would be represented on a map 

1-meter square at such a scale. To obtain the information necessary to make a bathymetric map showing 

detail suitable to this scale would require at least 

200,000 kilometers of ship trackline. These tracks 

would be 5 kilometers apart obviously too widely 

spaced to reveal all the bathymetric detail but adequate for this scale. Furthermore, although some geophysical measurements can be obtained at the same 

time, the geological sampling and coring and o th e r 

geophysical measurements would require at least an 

equal additional amount of ship time. It probably will 

not be necessary to map many areas in such detail, 

but until we have tried we will not know the degree 

of detail that will be justified. Inasmuch as the area 

of the ocean is 362 million square kilometers, it has 

the areal equivalent of 362 maps of this size and scale. 

Plainly, even for most fundamental mapping and the 

easiest and cheapest to prepare we face an enormous 

undertaking in the acquisition of basic information on 

the configuration and character of the surface of the 

sea bottom.

As an example of the kind of investigations needed 

to arrive at a regional or reconnaissance understanding of the geology of a large region, I would like to 

discuss a part of the present program of geologic 

mapping of the U.S. continental margin by the U.S. 

Geological Survey. The shelves off each coast of the 

United States differ greatly in size and geologic 

complexity. I shall speak only of the investigations 

off the Atlantic Coast, for these have been carried out 

for the longest time and the field work for the reconnaissance phase is virtually complete.

The investigations began in 1962 when the Geological Survey started a joint program with the Woods 

Hole Oceanographic Institution under a research contract. The program was directed by Dr. K. O. Emery 

of Woods Hole and has been carried out by about a 

dozen geologists from the Geological Survey and from 

Woods Hole. The purpose of the investigation was to 

obtain a regional understanding of the Atlantic continental margin an area that is relatively well known 

among the margins of the continents because of the

17
many previous hydrographic surveys of the U.S. Coast 

and Geodetic Survey, extensive oceanographic and geophysical work already undertaken by oceanographic 

institutions, and previous biological work of academic 

institutions and of the Bureau of Commercial 

Fisheries.

Because of the wealth of hydrographic information 

available, it was possible to prepare base mapstopographic or bathymetric maps of the entire region 

at a scale of 1:1,000,000 without additional surveys. 

Three large sheets show the Atlantic continental 

margin from Nova Scotia to Florida.

About 20,000 kilometers of continuous seismic profiling was undertaken on widely spaced tracks to show 

the sediment thickness and shallow structure of the 

rock formations of the shelf. More than 2,000 sediments samples were collected using a large grab sampler. The sampler contained a camera that took a 

picture of the bottom area before taking the sample. 

The samples were taken on a rectangular gridpattern 

using a spacing of about 18 kilometers, or one sample for every 324 square kilometers. Outcropping 

rocks in critical areas such as submarine canyons 

down the continental slope, were sampled by dredging 

and were observed and sampled from submersibles 

such as the Alvin. Much valuable information was 

obtained from six core holes drilled across the 

Florida shelf and the Blake Plateau to a maximum 

depth of 1,000 feet below the sea floor by a small 

drilling ship, the Caldrill. This drilling, sponsored 

by the National Science Foundation, was the first project of the ocean-coring program that is now being 

carried on in the deep oceans by the Glomar challenger .

More than a hundred scientific papers and reports 

have been published on the physiography, the sediment size, mineralogy, fossils, biologic fauna, structure, and other aspects of the geology of the Atlantic 

Continental Shelf as a result of this investigation, but 

analyses and preparation of final reports are continuing. We now have a reasonable understanding of the 

geology of the Atlantic continental margin at a reconnaissance scale, although much remains to be done in 

achieving a synthesis of recent work by scientists in 

many agencies and institutions. We know the parts of 

this region that have the most potential for petroleum, 

although exploratory drilling for it has not yet begun; 

we know where pavements and nodules of manganese 

and phosphate are to be found off the Southeastern 

United States, although we do not yet know their economic significance; and we know large supplies of 

sand and gravel occur off the Northeastern United 

States, though we do not as yet know their thickness 

and quality.

I should like to emphasize a point raised at the beginning of this statement. The investigations described 

here have been general-purpose geologic studies 

aimed at finding all the geologic conditions and relations that might affect the use and conservation of all

resources. They were not made solely to find economic sources of minerals. As an example of the general nature of the investigations, all living bottomdwelling organisms collected from the sedimentsampling program are being classified and studied by 

biologists from the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. 

Eventually the sediment studies, the bottom photographs showing bottom conditions, and the biological 

studies will provide a basis for ecologic studies relating to commercial fisheries. If the sand and gravel 

deposits off New York and New Jersey are exploited 

and they will be needed before long, inasmuch as sand 

and gravel from land sources is becoming increasingly expensive in this built-up area information will 

be available not only for locating the most favorable 

areas for dredging but also for predicting the effects 

resulting from disturbance of the sediment by largescale dredging operations and for minimizing the 

effects of these activities on nearby fisheries.

Several areas in each of the major coastal regions 

of the United States are currently being investigated 

and mapped at an intermediate scale of 1:250,000 

i.e., 1 cm on the map rep resents 2.5 km on the ground. 

The Coast and Geodetic Survey of the Environmental 

Science Services Administration (ESSA) has proposed 

a 15-year program to map the bathymetry, magnetics, 

gravity, and sediment thickness of the entire continental margin an undertaking that will require 70 

ship-years of work, and the Geological Survey has 

proposed a related 20-year program to investigate 

and map the geology of the entire regional this scale. 

I should point out, however, that on land, geologic 

studies at a scale of 1:250,000 are called regional 

or reconnaissance mapping, and most geologic mapping by government surveys of many countries is done 

at scales of 1:50,000 (1 cm represents 500 m) to 

1:10,000(1 cm represents 100 m).

Now, what conclusions may we draw from all this 

as applied to mapping of the seabed beyond the limits 

of national jurisdiction? Some of the bathymetric mapping of the deep ocean floor that has already been published has been at a scale of approximately 1:1,000,000, 

nearly the same as we have been using for the U.S. 

margin, and this scale should be considered for universal coverage, although it is possible that many 

areas will not need to be mapped at this scale. Thus 

far, the geologic mapping that has been undertaken 

in the deep oceans has been of a special-purpose type. 

Systematic geologic mapping has not yet gotten underway, and hence we have no direct experience from 

which to judge its complexity. We anticipate that the 

geology will be less complex than that of the coastal 

regions, however, and of course for a long time there 

will not be as much need for three-dimensional knowledge as there is on the margins. Even though the 

1:1,000,000 scale might be used as the base map for 

plotting geologic observations, in many areas the observations themselves will be far more widely spaced 

than would ordinarily be called for at this scale. 

Initially, then, we would not attempt to obtain nearly

18
as much detail as we need on the margins. The cost 

of deep-sea work per unit is certain to be greater 

than that in shallower water, of course, and because 

the area is so large, it is plain that the task of deepsea mapping will be a long and expensive one.

This outlook actually is not much different than that 

for the land. The area is larger than that of the lands, 

it is far more difficult to investigate, and much less 

is known about it. But only a small part of the more 

complex land areas of the world have been mapped 

adequately, and we face an almost never-ending job 

in attempting to gain the knowledge necessary to 

develop and use our land resources wisely. The magnitude of the problem of deep ocean-floor mapping, 

therefore, should not discourage us. We know it is a

big, a difficult, and a costly undertaking, but it is an 

exciting undertaking. We know how to begin it, and 

that is what is important.

It is also important to recognize that resource development need not await the completion of the kinds 

of mapping we have been discussing. Because systematic mapping provides the broad base of understanding needed for wise use and efficient development of the earth and its resources, it is important 

that it be undertaken. But the prospector and developer 

have often preceded the topographer and geologist on 

land and will do so at sea. In the long run, however, 

the base for the full and effective use of the seabed 

will be laid by systematic mapping, just as it is on 

land.

THE ORIGIN/ INCIDENCE/ EFFECTS/ AND MEANS OF PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF OIL-WELL BLOWOUTS

By V. E. McKelvey

[Statement by United States Representative before the Economic 

and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee 

on the Peaceful Uses of the Seabed and the Ocean Floor Beyond 

the Limits of National Jurisdiction, March 20, 1969]

There is much public concern about the hazards 

of offshore petroleum exploitation. This concern is 

also held by the U.S. Government, and no doubt it is 

shared by other governments as well and particularly by those represented he re who are trying to 

lay the framework for the exploitation of seabed resources for the benefit of all mankind. To help provide the delegates here with a basis for evaluating 

these hazards, I will describe briefly the origin, 

incidence, and effects of these kinds of accidents and 

the means for their prevention and control. Although 

we have already touched on this problem in considering the potential ill effects of subsea exploitation 

and measures to prevent them, the blowout problem 

is one generally encountered in petroleum exploitation and is in fact one of the principal concerns of 

governments in the exploration phase of the resourcedevelopment process. It is pertinent, therefore, to the 

exploration item of our agenda.

WHAT IS A BLOWOUT?

As applied to oil and gas wells, the term blowout 

has a much more literal meaning than it does in some 

of its other uses, for it describes the sudden, sometimes nearly explosive release of gas or oil from a 

well that has penetrated a stratum containing oil and 

(or) gas under high pressure. A more familiar term 

for an oil well blowout is a gusher a term implying 

some admiration and envy on the part of those well 

removed from the scene, but one that does not describe the grim realities that face those who must 

try to bring it under control or that must endure its 

effects.

Ground water and geothermal steam are also contained within the earth under high pressure in some 

places, and their penetration by the drill also may 

result in the same kind of sudden and uncontrolled 

release. Although the blowouts of interest to us here 

are artificial in the sense that they are triggered by 

drilling, the phenomenon also occurs naturally when 

strata charged with fluids are breached by erosion 

or other natural processes. Many springs and oil 

seeps, in fact, are the result of natural surface discharge from underground strata under moderate 

pressure, and some of them begin with a blowout.

ORIGIN AND INCIDENCE

Although the occurrence of these fluids under high 

pressure is rather common, blowouts are comparatively rare. For example, of the 7,642 wells drilled 

by January 31, 1969, for oil and gas on the outer continental shelf of the United States, 4,215 of which were 

completed as producers, only 23 resulted in blowouts 

and only one the Santa Barbara well resulted in a 

serious oil spill. The reason blowouts are not more 

common is that the fluids encountered in drilling are 

put under reverse pressure by the weight of fluid kept 

in the well bore as the well is being drilled, partly to 

lubricate the bit and to raise the cuttings from the well 

but also for this very purpose of maintaining counter 

pressure on the formation fluids that may be encountered in drilling. To increase the hydrostatic pressure of the column of water in the well bore, specially 

mixed mud is generally used as the drilling fluidmud that can be made to weigh twice as much or more 

than an equivalent volume of water and it is kept 

under sufficient pressure by pumps at the wellhead 

to contain any high-pressure fluids that may be encountered in drilling. What happens when a blowout

19
occurs is that for some reason, mud pressure is lost 

or reduced below the level of the pressure of the oil 

or gas in the wall of the well. This may be because 

the weight of the mud has been cut by gas, or because 

the hole was not kept full of fluid, perhaps because 

some of it drained off into underground cavities or 

fissures, or because of the swabbing or vacuum effect 

when the drill pipe is being withdrawn. Blowouts from 

these sources occur during drilling and most frequently when the drill pipe is being raised or lowered. 

Blowouts can occur later, however, if a shallow sand 

in weak ground is not cased off and is pressured by 

flow from a deep horizon, or if the casing in part of 

the well is defective.

PREVENTION

There are procedures to tell when all these things 

are about to happen, to prevent them from happening, 

and to stop them before the well goes out of control 

when they have happened nevertheless. For example, 

the density and gas content of the mud are frequently 

checked, its flow is watched constantly to keep the 

hole full of mud, blowout preventers are installed to 

close off the flow on a moment's notice, and drill crews 

are drilled in the procedures to follow at the first 

signs that pressure is building up. If, in spite of these 

precautions, the well does go out of control, procedures are available to stop the flow. Basically, the 

approach is to reenter the well and remarkable procedures and devices have been developed to accomplish this even under adverse circumstances or to 

drill another one aimed to come as close as possible 

to it at the critical depth. The purpose of both the 

reentry and the relief well is to pump mud under high 

pressure into the strata from which the fluids are 

coming and thus seal off their flow. These procedures 

are effective, but if they have to be taken i.e., if the 

blowout preventers fail, or if. the fluids break put of 

the well and the well does not seal itself, as sometimes happens it may take days or weeks to bring 

the well under control.

EFFECTS

Most blowouts are of gas rather than oil. Of the 23 

blowouts that have taken place on the U.S. outer continental shelves only three were of oil alone and two 

others, including the Santa Barbara well, were of both 

oil and gas. The most common hazard, therefore, is 

that of fire and consequent loss of life or injury to 

personnel. It was this kind of tragedy that befell the 

Little Bob drilling rig in Louisiana State waters in 

the Gulf of Mexico last August 22d when an explosion 

was followed by a fire that blazed wild for seven 

days. The blaze was finally extinguished with water 

from high-pressure hoses, after which the well was 

reentered through a specially installed tubing head, 

allowing mud to be pumped in through the tubing to 

kill the well.

Cratering beneath the rig is another hazard of blowouts and occurs when soil and rock are torn loose

and carried out by what may amount to a jet stream. 

Development of such a crater may cause the rig to 

topple over or sink, leading both to loss of life and 

further loss of control of the well.

Oil pollution, whether it results from natural or 

human activities, is a hazard with which most people 

are familiar now, and rare as it is, its effects go a 

long way when it occurs, particularly in the offshore 

environment if the oil is not or cannot be consumed 

by fire. Of the techniques for combating the various 

phases and kinds of blowouts and their effects, those 

for preventing the spread of oil spills at sea and 

cleaning them up are possibly the least developed, 

perhaps precisely because they are so rare. The need 

for improved cleanup technology is clear, and we may 

reasonably expect to have much more efficient techniques for this in the future.

THE SANTA BARBARA BLOWOUT 

AND ITS EFFECTS

Turning now to the Santa Barbara blowout, it took 

place on January 28, 1969, in a well No. A-21 being 

drilled by the Union Oil Company from a platform 

about 5 miles offshore in 188 feet of water. The drilling platform is designed to accommodate 56 wells, 

of which A-21 was the fifth to be drilled. Four other 

wells had been or were being completed, but not 

placed in production. None of them, nor any of the 

previous exploratory wells drilled on the same lease 

or the adjacent lease on the same geologic structure, 

had given any trouble.

Well A-21 had been drilled to its total planned depth 

of 3,479 feet but began to gush drilling mud and then 

a high-pressure stream of gaseous mist as the drill 

pipe was being pulled prior to logging, casing, and 

other steps that would be taken to complete the well. 

Attempts to cap the pipe by installing a high-pressure 

valve designed for this purpose and by reconnecting 

the pipe with the power- and mud-control assembly 

failed, and 13 minutes after the mudflow first began, 

the drill string was dropped back into the well to allow 

it to be closed off completely by the blowout preventer 

at the wellhead. The blowout preventer did shut off 

the flow from the well itself. Ordinarily that would 

have been the end of it, but within a few minutes the 

gas and oil apparently found passage outside the well 

wall and discharged at several points along a line extending about 800 feet eastward from the northeast 

leg of the platform. The exact nature of the leak may 

never be known, but the fluid is believed to have moved 

outward from the well into a porous formation and 

thence to the surface itself.

The amount of oil released cannot be measured, of 

course, but it was estimated to be between 200 and 

500 barrels (or 8,000 to 21,000 gallons) a day. Offshore winds for the first few days prevented the oil 

from reaching the beaches, but with a change of wind 

and its development into a storm, the slick moved to

20
shore on February 5 and eventually accumulated on 

beaches over a distance of about 30 miles along the 

channel shore.

Although the leak was brought under control on 

February 7, it has c on t i n u e d intermittently as oil 

bleeds from contaminated rocks. The leak now is estimated to be only about a barrel an hour, most of 

which is recovered by underwater vents or tents.

REMEDIAL ACTIONS

Actions to eliminate the effects of the well were 

directed at controlling the well itself and collecting or 

dissipating the oil. The basic approach to regaining 

control over the well was to seal off the oil- and gasbearing strata by injecting heavy mud into them under 

pressure, as previously described. Both the reentry 

and relief-well procedures were followed at Santa 

Barbara. Attempts to alternately bleed off gas from 

the well and pump mud into it through a small line 

within the conductor casing with outlets below the 

blowout-preventer assembly were begun within minutes after the blowout preventer was closed. The next 

step was to run drill pipe through the hole through 

special wellhead equipment and stab and reconnect 

the drill pipe previously dropped into the hole. This 

was accomplished only to find that the bottom of the 

drill pipe was plugged and stuck, making it Impossible 

to pump mud through it or to lift the stem. This problem was solved by milling out a valve within the pipe 

to allow a gun perforator to be lowered through the 

pipe. The pipe walls were then perforated near the 

bottom in the vicinity of the sand from which the flow 

was believed to originate, making it possible to pump 

mud into the walls and kill the flow. This s e r i e s of 

operations took about 7 days, and because of bad 

weather and heavy seas, 3 more days were required 

to assemble the auxiliary pumping equipment and supplies necessary for the massive injection of mud into 

the well that brought it under control on February 7. 

In all, about 13,000 barrels of mud were pumped into 

the well at rates of up to 30 barrels per minute, 

equivalent to 43,000 barrels a day. The well was 

finally cemented and plugged to the surface.

While these operations were in progress, a drilling barge was brought in to drill a relief well, which 

was begun on February 2 from a point about 1,000 

feet of well A 21. Drilling was discontinued when the 

reentry procedures succeeded, but it would have been 

used to Intersect and kill A-21 with mud had it not 

been possible to reenter A-21.

On the recommendation of the President's panel of 

experts appointed to Investigate the accident, all of 

the holes previously drilled from Platform A are being pumped to relieve the pressure in the hydrocarbon zones.

Control of the oil on the water took several formsphysical collection of the oil both at sea and on the 

beaches, laying log and plastic booms to contain the

oil within a given area and prevent its entrance into 

marinas and the like, and degradation through the use 

of chemical dispersants and talc. Setting fire to the 

oil a procedure sometimes used was ruled out. All 

of the forms of control used at Santa Barbara had a 

degree of success. Fortunately, no lives were lost, 

as they might have been if the oil and gas had caught 

fire or if the platform had collapsed as a result of 

cratering, and the oil spill itself was not as large as 

it might have been. Thus, in total the spill probably 

amounts to only 3,000 to 6,000 barrels or so, but even 

if it had been ten times that it would have still been 

small compared to the potential spill from a supertanker. The Torrey Canyon, for example, carried 

some 700,000 barrels, and some of the tankers now 

under construction will have the capacity for 2 to 3 

million barrels.

STORM OR COLLISION BREAKS

Storm breaks have taken place previously, particularly during the severe hurricanes in the Gulf of 

Mexico. As I mentioned on a previous day, this kind 

of accident generally involves the rupture of the casing at the wellhead Itself as the result of a storm or 

a ship collision. Automatic storm chokes are required 

within the well and generally prevent any leakage, but 

failures sometime occur. The procedures for regaining control are similar to those described for blowouts, although because such wells are already cased, 

it is usually possible to cap or plug them without resorting to the mud techniques sometimes necessary 

to kill blowouts.

IMPLICATIONS FOR SUPERVISORY CONTROL AND 

FUTURE OFFSHORE DEVELOPMENT

In addressing itself to the Santa Barbara Channel 

incident the U.S. Government has Initiated a comprehensive investigation of the accident itself as well as 

its regulations governing offshore drilling, and it is 

reviewing also the broader problem of offshore 

development of oil and gas. These various studies 

are in progress, and it would be premature to comment on their probable outcome. I may, however, 

briefly outline the procedures that have been followed 

and the changes already made and mention some of 

the general aspects of the problem for the future.

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, and 

the regulations developed to implement it, vest 

authority for supervision of exploration, drilling, and 

production offshore in the Secretary of the Interior, 

and under his direction, the Geological Survey. The 

regulations governing drilling procedures have been 

further supplemented by specific orders Issued from 

time to time by the Regional Oil and Gas Supervisors 

of the Geological Survey, who also must approve proposed plans for exploration, production, and related 

operations and who also inspect operations in progress. That the regulations, procedures, and practices 

have generally been effective in preventing blowouts 

is shown by their very low incidence in offshore operations over the years.

21
Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel has 

already increased the weight of responsibility on the 

operators to insure that the phenomenon of the blowout is reduced from the rare accident that it is now 

to a completely controlled threat.

Basically, the accidents we are dealing with here 

are similar to other accidents fire, airplane and 

other vehicle crashes, structural failures of dams, 

buildings and so on in that they are the re suit of 

either human error or equipment failure or both, for 

the procedures and equipment necessary to prevent 

them have been adequate. The elements of the unexpected, the so-rare-as-to-be-forgotten, and even the 

familiarity-which-breeds-contempt for danger are 

common sources of human error that each of us must 

acknowledge in the small "accidents" that beset us 

daily, and our problem is compounded by the faith we 

have come to place in mechanical devices.

Recognizing the human propensity to err and the 

weakness that may develop undetected in equipment, 

perhaps we cannot hope to eliminate these or other 

kinds of accidents completely. Even rare accidents, 

however, can do damage, and we must reexamine our 

safety technology in exploration to improve our procedures and our practice of them and extend our 

knowledge of the terrain in which we are working to 

better understand the hazards that may have to be 

faced in drilling.

The results of the studies of accidents in U.S. 

waters will, one day, be made public, and we hope 

they may help others in developing the safeguards 

needed to prevent such accidents, as called for by 

General Assembly Resolution 2467B.

IMPLICATIONS OF GEOLOGIC AND ECONOMIC FACTORS TO SEABED RESOURCE ALLOCATION/ DEVELOPMENT/ AND

MANAGEMENT

By V. E. McKelvey

[Statement by United States Representative before the Economic 

and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee 

on the Peaceful Uses of the Seabed and the Ocean Floor Beyond 

the Limits of National Jurisdiction, March 24, 1969]

Many of the questions we have been considering in 

item 2 of our program of work on the ways and means 

of promoting the exploitation of seabed resources 

essentially relate to the requirements of a system 

for seabed resource allocation, development, and 

management, regardless of what might be the structure of such a system or its national or international 

affinity. We have been privileged to hear many cogent 

observations by several of our distinguished colleagues on what these requirements might be as they 

are expressed in the terms governing exploration and 

exploitation. The statements of the distinguished representatives of Australia and Canada, both of whom 

are experts in this field, are especially pertinent, for 

the Canadian and Australian systems have been designed to meet the very objective this committee is 

considering namely to encourage seabed exploration 

and development in regions in which it is not already 

in progress.

In previous discussions of agenda item 2, our delegation has attempted to report relevant U.S. experience and procedures, not as a model by any means, 

but merely as a description of one set of working procedures. We would be glad to describe also our procedures and experience for resource allocation and 

development, but frankly neither are entirely relevant 

to the problem at hand. Our system for leasing on the 

outer continental shelf was designed in 1953 after offshore petroleum development had already gotten 

underway in the state waters in the Gulf of Mexico,

where extensive exploration and development in the 

adjacent onshore area had already shown the existence of a most promising petroleum province, and had 

provided a wealth of information about the nature of 

occurrence of oil and gas in the gulf province. In the 

light of this background of interest and experience, 

our leasing system for oil and gas provided for geophysical exploration under a nonexclusive permit 

with no subsequent rights, followed by the sale of 

lease tracts, each not exceeding 9 squares miles in 

area, by competitive bidding in advance of drilling on 

a cash bonus with a fixed royalty of not less than oneeighth the value of production. These terms are much 

stiffer than those described for Australia and Canada. 

Nevertheless, the offshore industry in the Gulf of 

Mexico has flourished under them, for since 1954 

when production of oil and gas began on the outer continental shelf there, outer continental shelf production 

has come to make up 7 percent of our national production. Our system has also encouraged exploration 

off southern California and in the Gulf of Alaska, 

both of which are extensions of adjacent onshore producing provinces. Other parts of our shelves not adjacent to onshore producing provinces, however, have 

not received nearly as much attention. No doubt there 

are several reasons for this, including the greater 

appeal of the producing provinces and the magnitude 

of the resource potential in their still unexplored 

parts. But when we look at the much greater amount 

of offshore exploration that is in progress on the 

Canadian Atlantic Shelf compared to that on the U.S. 

Atlantic Shelf, where the first exploratory well has 

yet to be drilled, we must recognize that one possible 

reason for the difference may be the more favorable 

terms offered under the Canadian system than under
our own. Australia has also attracted exploration to 

areas with no existing onshore production, as have 

several other countries. At this stage, the systems 

in effect in those countries may therefore be more 

applicable than ours to the problem of encouraging 

seabed petroleum development beyond the limits of 

national jurisdiction. The same may be true also for 

nonpetroleum minerals, for except for sulfur we 

have had little or no offshore exploration for other 

minerals. Many of our leaders in the mining industry 

say that one of the reasons for this is that the terms 

governing exploration and development are unfavorable for such high risk ventures.

For these and other reasons, our policies governing offshore leasing have been undergoing review. 

These studies are not yet complete, but the fact that 

they are in progress makes a point that is significant 

for the deliberations of this committee, namely that 

the needs to be served by a resource allocation, 

development, and management system differ from 

place to place and change from time to time. In seeking the common denominators among existing resource allocation and development systems several 

speakers have recommended that we do this it is 

well to keep in mind that different systems may serve 

different purposes, and that widely differing terms 

may in fact be appropriate in the varied circumstances 

that will be encountered in the development of seabed 

resources beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.

It may be helpful at this stage, Mr. Chairman, to 

describe some of the geologic and economic factors 

that constitute the basic requirements that a resource 

allocation and development system must meet, for 

their identification may help to indicate the flexibility 

that such a system must provide.

GEOLOGIC FACTORS

Two geologic factors are particularly relevant to 

lease terms: One is that the size and mode of occurrence of mineral deposits vary greatly from one mineral or group of minerals to another. The other is 

that the presence of concealed deposits, such as oil 

and gas, can be established only by drilling or other 

means of underground exploration, and that the quality 

and recoverable quantity of minerals in individual 

deposits of nearly all minerals exposed and unexposed 

alike can be determined only by extensive sampling, 

whether done by drilling or other means, and perhaps 

even some production experience.

The differences in the characteristics of deposits 

of different minerals or groups of minerals affect the 

size of the area that an operator must prospect and 

hold to achieve an economically viable operation. For 

example, although some petroleum reservoirs underlie large areas, many producible petroleum reservoirs underlie areas of only a few square miles; the 

largest kinds of copper deposits the porphyry coppers as they are called generally underlie areas of 

a square mile or less; and many other workable hard

minerals either occur in relatively small deposits or 

can be profitably mined from units a few square miles 

in size. Such deposits, however, may be widely scattered, so that even in provinces that are broadly favorable for their occurrence, a far larger area may 

need to be explored to find a deposit suitable for mining.

For the manganese nodules, however, even the area 

required to sustain a viable operation might be 

extremely large. For example, Chester Ensign, the 

Vice President for Exploration of the Copper Range 

Co., has calculated from John Mero's estimate that 

the manganese nodules at the surface of the sea floor 

in the better areas amount to 30,000 tons per square 

mile, that a normal large scale mining operation of 

20,000 tons per day would m'ne out the nodules over 

an area of 235 square miles per year.

Differences in the characteristics of various minerals also influence the time required to bring them 

into production. Thus, where fixed installations are 

required, and where special mining systems of extractive processes have to be devised, several years 

or more may be required to bring a deposit into production after its existence and magnitude have been 

established.

The terms for resource allocation and development, 

therefore, must provide for prospecting and exploration over a far larger area than that in which production may take place; and they must take account of 

differing requirements for individual minerals or 

groups of minerals, both with regard to the area necessary for viable mining operations and the time 

required for development.

The facts that the presence of concealed deposits 

can be established only by drilling and that the quality 

and recoverable quantity of minerals in both exposed 

and unexposed deposits can be determined only by 

extensive sampling also bear on the terms for 

resource allocation and development, for they make 

it nearly impossible to appraise the value of seabed 

resources in advance of exploration, and perhaps 

even in advance of some production experience. In 

producing areas, experience may be sufficient to assign a probability factor to discovery that can be used 

in appraising value, much as one might do in establishing the value of the opportunities on a punchboard. 

For example, if experience shows that producible 

petroleum reservoirs in a partly explored area contain an average of about 10 million barrels of oil, and 

that one out of four structures identifiable from geophysical exploration usually contains oil, the value of 

a property believed to have such a structure might 

be estimated as 25 percent that of the in-place value 

of 10 million barrels of oil, discounted further to take 

account of the present value of money spent for something that will not be fully recovered for many years. 

If, however, there is no previous exploration and production experience to give an indication of the size,

23
quality, and frequency of occurrence of mineral deposits in a given area, the chance of finding a producible deposit can hardly be assigned a numerical 

value. When investigations reach the stage when 

expensive forms of exploration are required to determine whether or not an economic operation is feasible, 

the operator, of course, needs an exclusive right to 

explore and to produce valuable deposits as they are 

found. Because the value of the deposit cannot be 

established in advance, particularly in unexplored 

and nonproducing provinces, the basis for payment 

for the resource produced should be one that is related to actual production rather than to a predetermined estimate of the value of an unexplored area.

As indicated by the distinguished representative of 

France, the right to explore need not be granted on 

an exclusive basis until the stage of expensive 

exploration is reached; in fact, there is much merit 

in giving wide opportunity for geophysical and other 

relatively low-cost means of exploration on a nonexclusive basis in order to encourage prospecting, 

as is permitted under the Canadian exploration 

license as well as our own permit for geophysical 

exploration.

ECONOMIC FACTORS

Now for some observations on the economic side 

of the problem. Four things are worth discus sing here: 

(1) The sources and effects of risk in mineral exploration and development, (2) the concept of net resource 

value, (3) alternative means of resource allocation 

and payment to the resource owner, and (4) the kinds 

of benefits that result from mineral production.

Mining is well known to be a high-risk activity. 

Large sums of money may be spent in searching for 

a producible deposit and evaluating discoveries without any assurance that production will result or be 

sufficient to pay out the investment. The risk is not 

confined to the prospecting and evaluation stage, for 

mining and recovery problems may prove to be insurmountable, the mining process or natural forces 

such as storms may lead to costly accidents, and 

later developments in the market may reduce prices 

or demand and make it necessary to close down operations before the investment has paid off. To compensate for the high risk involved, it is necessary to have 

the opportunity for a higher rate of profit from mining investments than is expected from other kinds of 

enterprises. Thus, if only one out of 10 ventures is 

likely to be successful, profits received from the successful one must be sufficient to cover the losses on 

the other nine. Although several factors contribute 

to risk, its magnitude is generally reduced by increasing knowledge about the occurrence of recoverable minerals in a given area and by increasing 

experience in producing them. Thus, even though risk 

in petroleum exploration and exploitation in a producing province is high, it is much lower than it is 

in a nonproducing area, such as that beyond the limits

of national jurisdiction, where there is little knowledge of the occurrence of specific minerals and no 

experience in production.

Let me speak now of net-resource value, which I 

will define as the surplus remaining after the mineral product has been sold and the costs of production 

plus a normal profit on risk investment have been 

paid. This value is sometimes referred to as economic rent the amount earned by land as a factor 

of production over and above returns to all other production factors, that is, wages to labor, interest to 

capital, and profits to management and it is the 

amount that the resource owner can hope to receive 

in return for the production of his resources. Because 

the price at which the product can be sold is generally established externally, its level is beyond the 

control of either the owner or the producer. The 

amount that remains as net-resource value at any 

given time is thus largely a function of production 

costs and the profit that must be returned to management and to risk investment. If exploration and production costs are high, if the risk of discovery and 

successful production is so high that the investor insists on a high rate of return on invested capital, and 

if prices are relatively low, net resource value may 

be zero; and if costs exceed prices, the operation 

would not be economic even if no payment needs to 

be made for the resource itself. These situations are 

the ones that often prevail at the outset of exploitation in unexplored provinces or in the exploitation of 

minerals in forms of environments from which they 

have yet to be produced economically, and it is these 

situations that may be expected to prevail for seabed 

resources beyond the limits of national jurisdiction 

in the early stages of their development. As exploration, however, shows the existence of workable deposits, as costs are reduced, and as accumulating 

knowledge and experience reduce risks, net resource 

value may increase, particularly if prices do not 

decrease.

Now a word about the means of allocating seabed 

resources and the terms of payment for them. As the 

distinguished representative of Australia pointed out, 

the means of allocation must be impartial. Among 

the systems now in operation, the means for achieving this have included competitive bidding, assignment by lottery, assignment to the first to file 

a claim, or assignment on the basis of a judgment of 

the qualification and the plans of the operator. As I 

mentioned earlier, the United States Government uses 

competitive bidding as the means of assigning title 

to offshore leases; although this has many advantages, 

it probably would not be applicable now to the seabed 

beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, for it involves a predrilling estimate of value. The question 

as to which of the other systems is most desirable 

may not be significant now, for the first to propose 

mining in this environment should be welcomed with 

open arms, but the question will have to be posed 

eventually.
The most commonly used forms of payment of netresource value are a lump-sum cash payment made 

at the time title is assigned, royalty on production, 

and profit sharing. Each of these forms of payments 

has advantages and disadvantages. The advance cash 

payment is an incentive to prompt development, it 

does not add to marginal cost, and is easy to administrate. But it offers a high-capital barrier to entry, 

requires predrilling appraisal of value, and offers 

no means of sharing windfall gains and losses by the 

operator and the resource owner. It is most suitable 

for the payment for resources where the risk is comparatively low and conversely is least suitable where 

risks are likely to be extremely high as they are in 

mining on the deep ocean floor. The royalty payment 

reduces the capital barrier to entry and relates payment directly to production. It may invite irresponsible operators, however, who may later plead for a 

lower royalty rate in order to initiate or continue 

production, and it increases the marginal costs of 

production; if royalty is established at a fixed rate, 

it may therefore lead to premature abandonment of 

the property when these costs can no longer be borne 

by the operator. Profit sharing also reduces the 

capital barrier to entry and because it does not add 

to marginal cost it is less of a deterrent to recovery 

than is a fixed royalty. It is difficult to administer, 

however, because it requires close control of accounting procedures, and it does not assure that title 

will be assigned to the most efficient producer. In 

contrast to the advance cash payment, which is most 

suitable where the risk is relatively low, profit sharing is most applicable where the risk is extremely 

high. These systems of payment can be modified in 

various ways, including combinations with each other, 

to make them more suitable to individual situations, 

but the important thing to note is that each of them 

has advantages and disadvantages that determine its 

suitability for individual operations.

In examining these various forms of payment we 

all have a tendency to view them in terms of the revenue they are likely to yield to the resource owner. As 

the distinguished representative of Australia pointed 

out, however, the direct revenue from the development of seabed resources is only one of two general 

forms of benefit to mankind that may come from their 

exploitation. The other is the addition to the world's 

inventory of useable minerals. For the developed 

countries, this is now by far the most important form 

of contribution that mineral production makes to their 

economies. Built as they are on the extensive use 

of minerals and energy in machines, in industrialized 

agriculture, in housing and construction, in transportation and communications systems, and in manufactured and processed goods of nearly all kinds, it 

is the use of minerals and fuels that supports their 

economies and it is in their use that they benefit most 

from mineral production. The direct revenue that 

comes to them from the sale and production of minerals may not be insignificant, of course. For

example, revenue to the United States from petroleum on the outer continental shelves has been both 

substantial and welcome, for it has already amounted 

to about $4.4 billion. But the value of the raw products, the production of which adds directly to gross 

national product, is four to five times that of the 

revenue to the Federal Government; the total economic activity surrounding production and stimulated 

directly by it may be 10 times this amount; and far 

greater value 100 times or more that of the direct 

revenue from production is represented in the chain 

of activities beginning with the processing and manufacture of petroleum products and ending with their 

use. The value that comes from the use of minerals 

in an industrial society is thus far greater than those 

that come merely from their sale and production, and 

it is these greater values, as I emphasized to the ad 

hoc committee last year, that we hope the developing 

countries and the peoples of the world will eventually come to share. When we think of means to promote seabed exploitation in the long run, then, we 

must recognize the fundamental importance of 

encouraging production for the materials it will yield 

rather than merely for the direct revenue that may 

come from the sale of seabed resources.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

In addition to the problem relating to the selection 

of terms for allocating arid developing seabed 

resources, there is the very important responsibility 

of government to supervise many aspects of the exploration and exploitation processes. Some of these 

aspects we have already discussed in connection with 

the prevention of ill effects from mineral exploration and exploitation, and because the time available 

for our discussion is now drawing to a close, I will 

not elaborate on the other problems involved in resource management. I may mention, however, that 

in addition to maintaining safe practices and preventing damage to other values and interference with 

other uses of the sea, it is necessary for government 

to concern itself with the problem of conservation to 

see that minerals are extracted with maximum ultimate recovery. The requirements here also depend 

on the kind of mineral that is being produced, the 

environment in which it is found, and the mining 

system that is being used. The responsibility on 

supervisory authority in this area is not only heavy, 

but requires superior technical competence in its 

execution.

SUMMARY

In summarizing the implications of geologic and 

economic factors to seabed allocation, development, 

and management, I may list the following points:

1. The terms appropriate for mineral resource 

allocation and development vary from place to 

place and time to time.

25
2. The geologic characteristics of minerals that may 

be exploited from the seabed differ from one 

mineral or group of minerals to another, and 

influence the size of the area required for viable 

operation and the time required to achieve production for various minerals. For nearly all 

minerals a far larger area may need to be explored to find a deposit suitable for mining than 

is finally selected for exploitation.

3. The presence of concealed deposits can be established only by drilling or other means of exploration, and the amount and quality of both 

exposed and unexposed deposits can be determined only by extensive and expensive forms 

of sampling and may even require some production experience. At the stage when such expensive forms of exploration are reached, the 

operator needs an exclusive right to explore 

and to produce if workable deposits are found. 

Because the value of such deposits cannot be 

determined in advance, particularly in wholly 

unexplored areas, the basis for payment for such 

right should be one that is related to actual production rather than a predetermined estimate 

of the value of an unexplored area.

4. The high investment risks characteristically associated with mining must be compensated for by 

the opportunity for higher profits than are 

acceptable in many other enterprises. The risks 

stem from uncertainty of discovery, uncertainties concerning the feasibility of mining and 

recovery systems, possibility of loss from mining accidents, storms, and so on, and from uncertainties concerning future prices, demand, 

and other externalities. Although the high risk 

in mining cannot be eliminated altogether, it 

tends to reduce with increasing knowledge about 

the occurrence of recoverable minerals in a 

given area and with increasing experience in 

producing them.

5. Net-resource value the surplus remaining when 

the mineral has been sold and after production

costs and profits on risk investment have been 

paid is the amount the owner can hope to receive from the sale and production of his 

resources. Limited as it is on one side by production costs and the amount of risk involved 

and on the other by a price that is fixed externally, net-resource value varies considerably 

from place to place and time to time. At the outset of seabed exploitation, it may be nearly 

zero, but if exploration shows the existence of 

workable deposits, if production costs can be 

reduced, if environmental hazards can be controlled, and if prices do not decrease, netresource value may increase over time.

6. Several alternatives exist in the methods of impartial allocation of resources and the means 

of payment of net-resource value, each of which 

has advantages and disadvantages that influence 

its suitability for individual operations.

7. Direct revenue from the production of minerals 

is welcome to all governments, and to developing countries it may be the principal benefit to 

be derived from production of seabed resources 

in the immediate future. The chief value of minerals, however, is in the chain of economic 

activities that surround their production and 

follow on their use, and in the future these benefits should come to be shared by all the people 

of the world. In the long run, therefore, our goal 

should be to encourage subsea production for the 

raw materials it will make available rather than 

merely for the direct revenue that may come 

from the sale of seabed resources.

8. Resource management entails not only responsibility to maintain safe practices and prevent 

damage to other resources and uses of the sea, 

but also for conservation in production to see 

that minerals are extracted with maximum 

ultimate recovery.

 U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1972 O - 453-426

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