Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

sediments and are distinctly different in texture and composition from
hydrogenetic Fe-Mn crusts, especially with regard to the extreme fractionation
of manganese and iron (Table 1) and low multiple-trace metal contents in the
hydrothermal deposits (4). In the hydrothermal deposits, iron/manganese
varies from about 24,000 (up to 58% iron) for hydrothermal ironstones to 0.001
(up to 52% manganese) for hydrothermal strata bound manganese oxides.
Many other minor types of iron and manganese mineralisation occur in the
ocean basins (Table 2), but this paper is confined to cobalt-rich hydrogenetic
Fe-Mn crusts.
China
Australia
Mariana
FSM
Wake
RMI
Johnston
Hawaii
Cook
Is.
New
Zealand
0 1800 3600 5400 7200 9000 km
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY
Kingman-Palmyra
Kiribati
French
Polynesia
Figure 1. Exclusive Economic Zones (200 nautical mile limits) for island nations within the Pacific, only a few
of which are named on this figure; those marked in purple are Territories, Possessions, and Commonwealths of
the United States, as well as the State of Hawaii; RMI = Republic of the Marshall Islands; FSM = Federated
States of Micronesia; most seamounts in the Pacific are associated with the islands that compose these nations
and consequently much of the potential Fe-Mn crust resource occurs within these EEZs (taken and modified
from the web site of SOPAC, (www.sopac.org.fj).
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