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Cook Islands manganese nodules

By Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center 2000 (approx.)
Flat underwater surface with many rocks tucked in close to each other; bright stripes of tape on rod that is touching bottom.
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Detailed Description

A bed of manganese nodules from deep offshore of the Cook Islands; photo sourced from Hein et al., 2015, taken during a Japanese research cruise in the year 2000. Nodules range from about 2 to 10 centimeters across.

See a photo of more manganese nodules.

Sources/Usage

Public Domain.

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Critical metals in manganese nodules from the Cook Islands EEZ, abundances and distributions

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Collage of black nodules or rocks of varying sizes and shapes, each 1-7 inches wide, broken in half to show their cores.

Global Marine Mineral Resources

The Global Marine Mineral Resources project studies deep ocean minerals that occur within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and areas beyond national jurisdictions. Our research concerns the setting, genesis, and metal enrichment processes of mineral occurrences, the relationship between marine minerals and deep-sea biota, and the potential geochemical footprint of any seafloor mining. We aim to...
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Related

Critical metals in manganese nodules from the Cook Islands EEZ, abundances and distributions

The Cook Islands (CIs) Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) encompasses 1,977,000 km2 and includes the Penrhyn and Samoa basins abyssal plains where manganese nodules flourish due to the availability of prolific nucleus material, slow sedimentation rates, and strong bottom currents. A group of CIs nodules was analyzed for mineralogical and chemical composition, which include many critical...
Authors
James R. Hein, Francesca Spinardi, Nobuyuki Okamoto, Kira Mizell, Darryl Thorburn, Akuila Tawake
By
Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Critical Minerals in the EEZ

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For centuries, people have crossed oceans in search of valuable minerals. In recent times, though, increasing attention has been paid to the oceans...

Read Article
link
Collage of black nodules or rocks of varying sizes and shapes, each 1-7 inches wide, broken in half to show their cores.

Global Marine Mineral Resources

The Global Marine Mineral Resources project studies deep ocean minerals that occur within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and areas beyond national jurisdictions. Our research concerns the setting, genesis, and metal enrichment processes of mineral occurrences, the relationship between marine minerals and deep-sea biota, and the potential geochemical footprint of any seafloor mining. We aim to...
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization
link

Global Marine Mineral Resources

The Global Marine Mineral Resources project studies deep ocean minerals that occur within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and areas beyond national jurisdictions. Our research concerns the setting, genesis, and metal enrichment processes of mineral occurrences, the relationship between marine minerals and deep-sea biota, and the potential geochemical footprint of any seafloor mining. We aim to...
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