10.1594/PANGAEA.761456
De Carlo, Eric Heinen
Eric Heinen
De Carlo
Exon, Neville F
Neville F
Exon
Geochemistry of ferromanganese deposits from the Wombat Plateau
PANGAEA
1992
Drilling/drill rig
Dredge
Leg122
Joides Resolution
Ocean Drilling Program (ODP)
1988-07-09T07:00:00/1988-07-14T13:00:00
en
Supplementary Publication Series of Datasets
10.2973/odp.proc.sr.122.183.1992
2 datasets
application/zip
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
Ferromanganese crusts, nodules, and ferromanganese-rich sediments were recovered on the Wombat Plateau, northwest Australian continental margin, by dredging during Bureau of Mineral Resources cruise 56 of Rig Seismic and by drilling during ODP Leg 122 of JOWES Resolution. We report here the chemistry and mineralogy of the ferromanganese crusts, nodules, and associated ferromanganese-rich sediments. The ferromanganese deposits from the ODP sites are up to 40 cm thick and probably formed in Late Cretaceous to Eocene times. Those from outcrops usually formed in several phases, and their age is unconstrained except that the substrates are Mesozoic. The samples were recovered from present-day water depths of 2000-4600 m, on the Wombat Plateau adjacent to the Argo Abyssal Plain.
Both the nodules and crusts are primarily vernadite (delta-MnO2) and are chemically and mineralogically similar, and not dissimilar from ferromanganese deposits found elsewhere on Australian and other marginal plateaus. They are markedly different from most deep-sea deposits. The only crystalline iron phase identified within the ferromanganese deposits is goethite. Concentrations of metals of potential economic interest are generally low compared to those from vernadite-rich seamount crusts and nodules and from abyssal nodules from areas of high resource potential in the Pacific Ocean. Maximum metal values reach 0.55% Co, 0.58% Ni, and 0.20% Cu in deposits containing 4.8% to 30.9% Fe and 4.4% to 21.1% Mn.
Supplement to: De Carlo, Eric Heinen; Exon, Neville F (1992): Ferromanganese deposits from the Wombat Plateau, Northwest Australia. In: von Rad, U; Haq, BU; et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, College Station, TX (Ocean Drilling Program), 122, 335-345
115.2833
115.5605
-16.954
-16.5167
South Indian Ridge, South Indian Ocean
Southeast Indian Ocean