Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Anthropogenic land-based disturbances can cascade into the sea, altering coastal ecosystems over long timescales. Mining exemplifies this land-sea connectivity, yet its full environmental footprint is underestimated when marine impacts are overlooked. Here, we investigate long-term coastal changes associated with nickel mining using a paleoecological approach in New Caledonia. A 226-cm sediment core spanning ~1000 years was analysed, combining ancient sedimentary DNA, foraminifera, and geochemistry. Since its onset in 1875, mining has modified sediment run-off and microbial assemblages. The most pronounced changes occurred in the 1960s after the mechanisation of extraction tools, which intensified soil erosion and increased sediment run-off, altering the richness and structure of both microeukaryotic and foraminiferal communities. Although post-1975 regulations mitigated nickel-rich run-off, persistent ecological disturbances remain. These findings highlight how terrestrial disturbances can induce long-term changes in coastal ecosystems, emphasising that land and sea should be studied and managed as a connected continuum.
Institutions: Ifremer, University of New Caledonia, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Écologie Marine Tropicale des Océans Pacifique et Indien, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Sorbonne Université, Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques, Geo-Ocean, Institut de minéralogie, de physique des matériaux et de cosmochimie, University of Tartu, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Environnements et Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux, Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux
Language: English
Subfield: Building and Construction
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,490
OpenAlex ID: W7164899480