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Article: What lies beneath: in April, the Cook Islands submitted a claim for an area of seabed some 2,500 times its total land area. The claim was one of 51 made to the UN's Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf before the May deadline. At stake is potentially billions of pounds in mineral resources, but the question of who owns what is far from clear.(DOSSIER: Seabed claims)
- Article from:
- Geographical
- Article date:
- August 1, 2009
- Author:
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When Russia dispatched a mini-submarine to plant a titanium flag four kilometres beneath the North Pole in 2007, the gesture was interpreted in some quarters as being tongue in cheek, Soon enough, however, it emerged that no humour was intended: the Russians were perfectly serious about laying claim to the seabed under the North Pole. They even produced rock samples that, they argued, proved that the Lomonosov Ridge, an undersea structure that runs across the Arctic Ocean, was part of Mother Russia.
But the Russians aren't alone. Others also have their eyes on the Arctic seabed, which, according to US Geological Survey estimates, ...