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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

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 metals not befo
Authors
James R. Hein, Francesca Spinardi, Nobuyuki Okamoto, Kira Mizell, Darryl Thorburn, Akuila Tawake
By
Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

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