Manganese Nodules Ocean Floor

Archer of the london geological museum in 1981.

Manganese nodules ocean floor. So far only a single large area of manganese nodules has been discovered here with an area comparable to that of the penrhyn basin. Yet according to paleontological and radiometric dating methods the nodules are supposedly multi millions of years old the result of extremely slow. Marine manganese nodules those strange fist sized metallic clusters that cover about 30 of the ocean floor have been known for over a hundred years. It felt like watching a new lunar landing.

Each square metre of the sea floor here contains around 5 kilograms of manganese nodules. They vary greatly in abundance in some cases touching one another and covering more than 70 of the sea floor. Nodules on the ocean floor. Plunging into the ocean it begins its three mile descent to the sea floor.

It s sunken treasure because every nodule contains nickel copper cobalt manganese and traces of rare earth elements. Nodules lie on the seabed sediment often partly or completely buried. It is located in the central indian ocean. The most likely place to find abundant manganese nodules is on the.

Mining manganese nodules on the ocean floor is a great source of rare metals but even though you don t generate toxic mine tailings like on land there are certainly some major downsides like. Though generally composed of manganese hence the name they can also be made of iron nickel copper and other metals. Thomas walter manganese nodules have been found in every ocean but are most common in the pacific ocean. Manganese nodules discovered on the deep seafloor in january 2015.

This recently discovered batch located several hundred miles east of barbados is the largest yet discovered in the atlantic ocean. Central intelligence agency cia project to recover the sunken soviet submarine k 129 from the pacific ocean floor in 1974 using the purpose built ship hughes glomar explorer. Hours later it neared the bottom. A abyssal plain far from a continent b continental rise c continental shelf d crest of a mid ocean ridge e all of the above locations are contain manganese nodules.

The total amount of polymetallic nodules on the sea floor was estimated at 500 billion tons by alan a. It s estimated there are more metals on the bottom of the ocean than. Project azorian erroneously called jennifer by the press after its top secret security compartment was a u s. Manganese nodules are found scattered on the ocean floor.