Overview

• A UK–Université Laval team recently recovered about 60 mud cores from roughly 200 metres in Quebec’s Saguenay fiord.
• The samples were moved to aquariums in Chicoutimi, where researchers use fluorescent sand to track tiny animals’ burrowing.
• Early observations show worms, brittle stars and bivalves actively rework and oxygenate sediment, supporting ecosystem health and carbon storage.
• Scientists describe the seafloor as one of Earth’s largest carbon stores, holding more carbon than rainforests.
• Researchers warn that trawling, dredging or seabed mining could release stored carbon, and say the Convex Seascape Survey aims to pinpoint priority areas for protection tied to the 30% by 2030 pledge.