Growing solid subsurface marine foundations with Biorock Technology

Biorock sea water electrolysis technology has been growing solid foundations below the sediment and reversing coastal erosion for decades (T. J. Goreau, 2012, Marine electrolysis for building materials and environmental restoration, p. 273-290 in Electrolysis, J. Kleperis & V. Linkov (Eds.), InTech Publishing, Rijeka, Croatia).

In Jamaica we made bricks by cementing sand together with calcium and magnesium minerals spontaneously precipitated from sea water in the late 1980s. In New York City we have been growing solid cemented sand foundations underneath structures sitting on the sea floor since 2007. Biorock technology is mature, has been used in around 50 countries around the globe, and is ready for large scale applications in marine construction and erosion prevention worldwide. Such technology could be used to stabilize Venice against sinking (T. J. Goreau, 2010, Reef technology to rescue Venice, Nature, 468:377).

For more on marine construction applications please see: R. Shaw & T. J. Goreau, 2016, Smart Port Breakwater Design and Construction, PORTS 2016, p. 863-872, Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)/ Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute (COPRI), New Orleans.

Biorock sea water electrolysis technology has recently been rediscovered by researchers who have confirmed all our claims (Landivar Macias, A., Jacobsen, S.D. & Rotta Loria, A.F. Electrodeposition of calcareous cement from seawater in marine silica sands. Commun Earth Environ 5, 442 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01604-3). While the authors acknowledge the prior work, the press releases all fail to mention it, and make it appear to be a new discovery.

For more information on Biorock Technology’s many applications to marine engineering, please contact Dr. Tom Goreau or Thomas Sarkisian of the Global Coral Reef Alliance (info@globalcoral.org), which invented and developed Biorock Sea Water Electrolysis Technology, or Blue Regeneration SL, designers and builders of smart, state of the art, Biorock control systems for large marine construction projects, climate change adaptation, beach regeneration, large scale marine ecosystem regeneration, and sustainable mariculture projects (https://blueregeneration.com).

Biorock brick of sand cemented by calcium and magnesium minerals made in Jamaica more than 30 years ago (photo by T. J. F. Goreau)