Manganese Nodules

Author jclarke45 posted on may 8 2011 november 8 2013 categories science and technology tags deep sea manganese nodules oceanography research cruise rv eastward leave a comment on those curious manganese nodules.

Manganese nodules. They contain primarily manganese but also nickel cobalt and copper which makes them economically promising. Meaning pronunciation translations and examples. Minor constituents include copper nickel and cobalt making the nodules a potential ore of these valuable elements. Manganese nodule treasures many thousands of square kilometres of the deep sea floor are covered by metal bearing nodules.

Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol mn and atomic number 25. Polymetallic nodules also called manganese nodules are rock concretions on the sea bottom formed of concentric layers of iron and manganese hydroxides around a core. A small irregular concretion found on deep ocean floors having high concentrations of. An additional potential source of manganese is the ferromanganese nodules and crusts that occur on the seafloor in many parts of the world s oceans.

These bean to potato sized nodules are currently the target of exploration and research mostly focused on the equatorial pacific ocean. Manganese nodules are spherical to oblate in shape and range in size from less than 1 cm in diameter up to. It is often found in minerals in combination with iron manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy uses particularly in stainless steels. Manganese nodules also called polymetallic nodules because they are associated with large reserves of metals such as cu ni co fe and mn the latter being the most abundant with an average.

It is not found as a free element in nature not verified in body. Manganese nodule like one in the author s collection. Mining of manganese nodules has been. The growth types termed diagenetic and hydrogenetic.

Other articles where manganese nodule is discussed. From intelligence history to science mystery. If production of these nodules proves. Photo credit walter kolle.

Sedimentary nodules which have a lower mn 2 content than diagenetic are dominated by fe vernadite mn feroxyhyte and asbolane buserite while diagenetic nodules are dominated by buserite i birnessite todorokite and asbolane buserite. The core may be microscopically small and is sometimes completely transformed into manganese minerals by crystallization when visible to the naked eye it can be a small test shell of a microfossil radiolarian or foraminifer. Manganese nodules and encrustations crusts together with micronodules are ferromanganese oxide deposits which contain variable amounts of other elements table 1 they occur throughout the oceans although the economically interesting varieties have a much more restricted distribution.