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James Hein

zation

Geologist Emeritus with the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Science and Products

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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 related and deep-sea biota, and the potential geochemical footprint of any seafloor mining. We...
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization
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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 related and deep-sea biota, and the potential geochemical footprint of any seafloor mining. We...
Learn More

Global ferromanganese crust and abyssal ferromanganese nodule prospective occurrence regions

This data release is a polygon shapefile representing prospective occurrence regions of ferromanganese crusts and abyssal ferromanganese nodules on the seafloor throughout the global oceans. Polygons represent areas where oceanographic criteria, such as low sedimentation rate and moderate primary productivity, overlap with geologic criteria, including regions with appropriate seafloor...
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Geochemistry of ferromanganese crusts, nodules, and hydrothermally altered rocks from the Arctic Ocean

Ferromanganese crusts, nodules, and hydrothermally altered rocks were collected via dredge within the Amerasia Basin in the Arctic Ocean during USCGC icebreaker Healy cruises HLY0805, HLY0905, and HLY1202 in 2008, 2009, and 2012 respectively. Dredged samples were donated and sent to USGS for subsampling and major and trace element geochemical analyses. Major and trace element data as...
By
Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Measurements of zinc, oxygen, and pH, from sphalerite and ZnS oxidation in seawater

This data release presents the concentration of zinc, oxygen, pH, temperature, and the time point at which measurements were taken for experimental oxidation work regarding zinc and copper sulfide minerals. These data accompany the following publication: Gartman, A., Whisman, S.P., and Hein, J.R., 2020, Interactive oxidation of sphalerite and covellite in seawater: implications for...
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Sorbed-water (H2O-) corrected chemistry for ferromanganese crust samples from the western equatorial Pacific Ocean

Ferromanganese crust samples were collected via dredge during four oceanographic research cruises to the western equatorial Pacific Ocean. The location (latitude, longitude, depth) and concentrations of 27 major and trace elements in the most recent growth layers of ferromanganese crusts from 57 dredge sites are presented here, as well as select seawater chemistry at each location. These...
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Bathymetry of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and vicinity

The bathymetric map of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and vicinity is bounded by a window of latitude 3 to 17 degrees North, longitude 153 to 175 degrees East. The map was compiled from surveys conducted by the USGS, Korean Ocean Research and Development Institute, and published gridded data. In addition to national jurisdictions, island and atoll coastlines are indicated on the...
By
Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Very crusty rock with tan outer layer, gray core, and bright yellow center. Man's booted foot is in background.
Zinc-sulfide chimney
Zinc-sulfide chimney
Very crusty rock with tan outer layer, gray core, and bright yellow center. Man's booted foot is in background.

Zinc-sulfide chimney

Zinc-sulfide chimney

Cross section of a hydrothermal vent chimney from East Diamante Caldera in the Mariana volcanic arc, west Pacific Ocean, collected during a 2010 research cruise. Most of the sample is zinc sulfide.

By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization
Very crusty rock with tan outer layer, gray core, and bright yellow center. Man's booted foot is in background.

Zinc-sulfide chimney

Zinc-sulfide chimney

Cross section of a hydrothermal vent chimney from East Diamante Caldera in the Mariana volcanic arc, west Pacific Ocean, collected during a 2010 research cruise. Most of the sample is zinc sulfide.

By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization
Filter Total Items: 167

Neogene hydrothermal Fe- and Mn-oxide mineralization of Paleozoic continental rocks, Amerasia Basin, Arctic Ocean

Rocks dredged from water depths of 1,605, 2,500, 3,300, and 3,400 m in the Arctic Ocean included Paleozoic continental rocks pervasively mineralized during the Neogene by hydrothermal Fe and Mn oxides. Samples were recovered in three dredge hauls from the Chukchi Borderland and one from Mendeleev Ridge north of Alaska and eastern Siberia, respectively. Many of the rocks were so...
Authors
James R. Hein, Kira Mizell, Amy Gartman
By
Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Crystal chemistry of thallium in marine ferromanganese deposits

Our understanding of the up to 7 orders of magnitude partitioning of thallium (Tl) between seawater and ferromanganese (FeMn) deposits rests upon two foundations: (1) being able to quantify the Tl(I)/Tl(III) ratio that reflects the extent of the oxidative scavenging of Tl by vernadite (δ-MnO2), the principle manganate mineral in oxic and suboxic environments, and (2) being able to...
Authors
Alain Manceau, Alexandre Simionovici, Nathaniel Findling, Pieter Glatzel, Blanka Detlefs, Anna V Wegorzewski, Kira Mizell, James R. Hein, Andrea Koschinsky
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Marine Minerals Laboratory, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Deep-ocean polymetallic nodules and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts in the global ocean: New sources for critical metals

The transition from a global hydrocarbon economy to a green energy economy and the rapidly growing middle class in developing countries are driving the need for considerable new sources of critical materials. Deep-ocean minerals, namely cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts and polymetallic nodules, are two such new resources generating interest.Polymetallic nodules are essentially two...
Authors
James R. Hein, Kira Mizell
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Marine Minerals Laboratory, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Estimates of metals contained in abyssal manganese nodules and ferromanganese crusts in the global ocean based on regional variations and genetic types of nodules

Deep-ocean ferromanganese crusts and manganese nodules are important marine repositories for global metals. Interest in these minerals as potential resources has led to detailed sampling in many regions of the global ocean, allowing for updated estimates of their global extent. Here, we present global estimates of total tonnage as well as contained metal concentrations and tonnages for...
Authors
Kira Mizell, James R. Hein, Manda Viola Au, Amy Gartman
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Marine Minerals Laboratory, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Geochemical insights into formation of enigmatic ironstones from Rio Grande rise, South Atlantic Ocean

Rio Grande Rise (RGR) is an intraplate oceanic elevation in the South Atlantic Ocean that formed at a hotspot on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge during the Cretaceous. In spreading center and hotspot environments, ironstones form mainly by biomineralization of reduced Fe from hydrothermal fluids or oxidation of sulfide deposits. However, RGR has been considered aseismic and volcanically inactive...
Authors
Mariana Benites, James R. Hein, Kira Mizell, Kenneth A. Farley, Jonathon Treffkorn, Luigi Jovane
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Miocene phosphatization of rocks from the summit of Rio Grande Rise, Southwest Atlantic Ocean

Marine phosphorites are an important part of the oceanic phosphorus cycle and are related to the effects of long-term global climate changes. We use petrography, mineralogy, rare earth elements contents, and 87Sr/86Sr-determined carbonate fluorapatite (CFA) and calcite ages to investigate the paragenesis and history of phosphatization of carbonate sediments, limestones, ferromanganese...
Authors
Mariana Benites, James R. Hein, Kira Mizell, Luigi Jovane
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Changes in seabed mining

Chapter 23 of the First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I) focused on marine mining, and particularly on established extractive industries, which are predominantly confined to near-shore areas, where shallow-water, near-shore aggregate and placer deposits, and somewhat deeper water phosphate deposits are found (United Nations, 2017a). At the time of publication, there were no commercially...
Authors
James R. Hein, Pedro Madureira, Maria João Bebianno, Ana Colaço, Luis M. Pinheiro, Richard Roth, Pradeep K. Singh, Anastasia Strati, Joshua T. Tuhumwire
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Ocean floor manganese deposits

Much of the dissolved Mn delivered to the oceans is slowly oxidized and precipitated alongside varying amounts of Fe into Mn and ferromanganese (FeMn) mineral deposits that occur extensively in the deep ocean wherever sediment accumulation is low and substrate is available. FeMn crusts grow as pavements on rock outcrops throughout the global ocean whereas nodules form as individual FeMn...
Authors
Kira Mizell, James R. Hein
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Sphalerite oxidation in seawater with covellite: Implications for seafloor massive sulfide deposits and mine waste

Metal sulfide minerals exist in several marine environments and are in thermodynamic disequilibrium with oxygenated seawater from the time of their formation. Oxidation is both ubiquitous and heterogeneous, as observational and experimental evidence demonstrates that sulfide minerals may oxidize completely on decadal timescales (hydrothermal plumes) or incompletely in billions of years...
Authors
Amy Gartman, Samantha P. Whisman, James R. Hein
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

The effects of phosphatization on the mineral associations and speciation of Pb in ferromanganese crusts

The older layers of thick ferromanganese (FeMn) crusts from the central Pacific Ocean have undergone diagenetic phosphatization, during which carbonate fluorapatite (CFA) filled fractures and pore space and replaced carbonates. The effects of phosphatization on individual trace metal concentrations, speciation, and phase associations in FeMn crusts remain poorly understood yet may be...
Authors
Kira Mizell, James R. Hein, Andrea Koschinsky, Sarah M. Hayes
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Changes in sediment source areas to the Amerasia Basin, Arctic Ocean, over the past 5.5 million years based on radiogenic isotopes (Sr, Nd, Pb) of detritus from ferromanganese crusts

Ferromanganese (FeMn) crusts provide a useful paleoenvironmental archive for studying the poorly understood climatic, oceanographic, and geologic evolution of the Arctic Ocean. This study is based on the identification and temporal reconstruction of sources and inferred transport pathways of terrigenous material in FeMn crusts collected from several sites across the Amerasia Basin...
Authors
Natalia Konstantinova, James R. Hein, Kira Mizell, Georgy Cherkashov, Brian Dreyer, Deborah Hutchinson
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Genesis and evolution of ferromanganese crusts from the summit of Rio Grande Rise, southwest Atlantic Ocean

The Rio Grande Rise (RGR) is a large elevation in the Atlantic Ocean and known to host potential mineral resources of ferromanganese crusts (Fe–Mn), but no investigation into their general characteristics have been made in detail. Here, we investigate the chemical and mineralogical composition, growth rates and ages of initiation, and phosphatization of relatively shallow-water (650–825...
Authors
Mariana Benites, James R. Hein, Kira Mizell, Terrence Blackburn, Luigi Jovane
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Marine Mineral Formations in the Arctic Ocean Challenge Existing Geologic Theories

Marine Mineral Formations in the Arctic Ocean Challenge Existing Geologic Theories

A new study from USGS describes a previously unknown process of marine mineral formation in the Arctic Ocean, driven by frictional heating along...

Read Article
Dredging Up Clues to the Geologic History and Mineral Resources of the Rio Grande Rise, Southwest Atlantic Ocean

Dredging Up Clues to the Geologic History and Mineral Resources of the Rio Grande Rise, Southwest Atlantic Ocean

USGS scientists focused on finding iron-manganese crusts, whose chemistry reveals how the ocean has changed throughout millennia. The crusts also...

Read Article
Collecting clues to the geologic history and mineral resources of the Rio Grande Rise, southwest Atlantic Ocean

Collecting clues to the geologic history and mineral resources of the Rio Grande Rise, southwest Atlantic Ocean

USGS scientists James Hein and Kira Mizell participated in a University of São Paulo research cruise to the western Rio Grande Rise, an underwater...

Read Article
Unusual Mineral Deposits Record the Unique History of the Arctic Ocean

Unusual Mineral Deposits Record the Unique History of the Arctic Ocean

Little is known about marine mineral deposits in the Arctic Ocean, an ocean dominated by shallow areas of continental shelf and deep basins with...

Read Article
James Hein Wins Prestigious Moore Medal Award from the International Marine Minerals Society

James Hein Wins Prestigious Moore Medal Award from the International Marine Minerals Society

Research geologist is awarded for his 43-year scientific career dedicated to the study of marine minerals with the USGS.

Read Article

Science and Products

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 related and deep-sea biota, and the potential geochemical footprint of any seafloor mining. We...
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 related and deep-sea biota, and the potential geochemical footprint of any seafloor mining. We...
Learn More

Global ferromanganese crust and abyssal ferromanganese nodule prospective occurrence regions

This data release is a polygon shapefile representing prospective occurrence regions of ferromanganese crusts and abyssal ferromanganese nodules on the seafloor throughout the global oceans. Polygons represent areas where oceanographic criteria, such as low sedimentation rate and moderate primary productivity, overlap with geologic criteria, including regions with appropriate seafloor...
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Geochemistry of ferromanganese crusts, nodules, and hydrothermally altered rocks from the Arctic Ocean

Ferromanganese crusts, nodules, and hydrothermally altered rocks were collected via dredge within the Amerasia Basin in the Arctic Ocean during USCGC icebreaker Healy cruises HLY0805, HLY0905, and HLY1202 in 2008, 2009, and 2012 respectively. Dredged samples were donated and sent to USGS for subsampling and major and trace element geochemical analyses. Major and trace element data as...
By
Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Measurements of zinc, oxygen, and pH, from sphalerite and ZnS oxidation in seawater

This data release presents the concentration of zinc, oxygen, pH, temperature, and the time point at which measurements were taken for experimental oxidation work regarding zinc and copper sulfide minerals. These data accompany the following publication: Gartman, A., Whisman, S.P., and Hein, J.R., 2020, Interactive oxidation of sphalerite and covellite in seawater: implications for...
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Sorbed-water (H2O-) corrected chemistry for ferromanganese crust samples from the western equatorial Pacific Ocean

Ferromanganese crust samples were collected via dredge during four oceanographic research cruises to the western equatorial Pacific Ocean. The location (latitude, longitude, depth) and concentrations of 27 major and trace elements in the most recent growth layers of ferromanganese crusts from 57 dredge sites are presented here, as well as select seawater chemistry at each location. These...
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Bathymetry of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and vicinity

The bathymetric map of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and vicinity is bounded by a window of latitude 3 to 17 degrees North, longitude 153 to 175 degrees East. The map was compiled from surveys conducted by the USGS, Korean Ocean Research and Development Institute, and published gridded data. In addition to national jurisdictions, island and atoll coastlines are indicated on the...
By
Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Very crusty rock with tan outer layer, gray core, and bright yellow center. Man's booted foot is in background.
Zinc-sulfide chimney
Zinc-sulfide chimney
Very crusty rock with tan outer layer, gray core, and bright yellow center. Man's booted foot is in background.

Zinc-sulfide chimney

Zinc-sulfide chimney

Cross section of a hydrothermal vent chimney from East Diamante Caldera in the Mariana volcanic arc, west Pacific Ocean, collected during a 2010 research cruise. Most of the sample is zinc sulfide.

By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization
Very crusty rock with tan outer layer, gray core, and bright yellow center. Man's booted foot is in background.

Zinc-sulfide chimney

Zinc-sulfide chimney

Cross section of a hydrothermal vent chimney from East Diamante Caldera in the Mariana volcanic arc, west Pacific Ocean, collected during a 2010 research cruise. Most of the sample is zinc sulfide.

By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization
Filter Total Items: 167

Neogene hydrothermal Fe- and Mn-oxide mineralization of Paleozoic continental rocks, Amerasia Basin, Arctic Ocean

Rocks dredged from water depths of 1,605, 2,500, 3,300, and 3,400 m in the Arctic Ocean included Paleozoic continental rocks pervasively mineralized during the Neogene by hydrothermal Fe and Mn oxides. Samples were recovered in three dredge hauls from the Chukchi Borderland and one from Mendeleev Ridge north of Alaska and eastern Siberia, respectively. Many of the rocks were so...
Authors
James R. Hein, Kira Mizell, Amy Gartman
By
Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Crystal chemistry of thallium in marine ferromanganese deposits

Our understanding of the up to 7 orders of magnitude partitioning of thallium (Tl) between seawater and ferromanganese (FeMn) deposits rests upon two foundations: (1) being able to quantify the Tl(I)/Tl(III) ratio that reflects the extent of the oxidative scavenging of Tl by vernadite (δ-MnO2), the principle manganate mineral in oxic and suboxic environments, and (2) being able to...
Authors
Alain Manceau, Alexandre Simionovici, Nathaniel Findling, Pieter Glatzel, Blanka Detlefs, Anna V Wegorzewski, Kira Mizell, James R. Hein, Andrea Koschinsky
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Marine Minerals Laboratory, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Deep-ocean polymetallic nodules and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts in the global ocean: New sources for critical metals

The transition from a global hydrocarbon economy to a green energy economy and the rapidly growing middle class in developing countries are driving the need for considerable new sources of critical materials. Deep-ocean minerals, namely cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts and polymetallic nodules, are two such new resources generating interest.Polymetallic nodules are essentially two...
Authors
James R. Hein, Kira Mizell
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Marine Minerals Laboratory, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Estimates of metals contained in abyssal manganese nodules and ferromanganese crusts in the global ocean based on regional variations and genetic types of nodules

Deep-ocean ferromanganese crusts and manganese nodules are important marine repositories for global metals. Interest in these minerals as potential resources has led to detailed sampling in many regions of the global ocean, allowing for updated estimates of their global extent. Here, we present global estimates of total tonnage as well as contained metal concentrations and tonnages for...
Authors
Kira Mizell, James R. Hein, Manda Viola Au, Amy Gartman
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Marine Minerals Laboratory, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Geochemical insights into formation of enigmatic ironstones from Rio Grande rise, South Atlantic Ocean

Rio Grande Rise (RGR) is an intraplate oceanic elevation in the South Atlantic Ocean that formed at a hotspot on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge during the Cretaceous. In spreading center and hotspot environments, ironstones form mainly by biomineralization of reduced Fe from hydrothermal fluids or oxidation of sulfide deposits. However, RGR has been considered aseismic and volcanically inactive...
Authors
Mariana Benites, James R. Hein, Kira Mizell, Kenneth A. Farley, Jonathon Treffkorn, Luigi Jovane
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Miocene phosphatization of rocks from the summit of Rio Grande Rise, Southwest Atlantic Ocean

Marine phosphorites are an important part of the oceanic phosphorus cycle and are related to the effects of long-term global climate changes. We use petrography, mineralogy, rare earth elements contents, and 87Sr/86Sr-determined carbonate fluorapatite (CFA) and calcite ages to investigate the paragenesis and history of phosphatization of carbonate sediments, limestones, ferromanganese...
Authors
Mariana Benites, James R. Hein, Kira Mizell, Luigi Jovane
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Changes in seabed mining

Chapter 23 of the First World Ocean Assessment (WOA I) focused on marine mining, and particularly on established extractive industries, which are predominantly confined to near-shore areas, where shallow-water, near-shore aggregate and placer deposits, and somewhat deeper water phosphate deposits are found (United Nations, 2017a). At the time of publication, there were no commercially...
Authors
James R. Hein, Pedro Madureira, Maria João Bebianno, Ana Colaço, Luis M. Pinheiro, Richard Roth, Pradeep K. Singh, Anastasia Strati, Joshua T. Tuhumwire
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Ocean floor manganese deposits

Much of the dissolved Mn delivered to the oceans is slowly oxidized and precipitated alongside varying amounts of Fe into Mn and ferromanganese (FeMn) mineral deposits that occur extensively in the deep ocean wherever sediment accumulation is low and substrate is available. FeMn crusts grow as pavements on rock outcrops throughout the global ocean whereas nodules form as individual FeMn...
Authors
Kira Mizell, James R. Hein
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Sphalerite oxidation in seawater with covellite: Implications for seafloor massive sulfide deposits and mine waste

Metal sulfide minerals exist in several marine environments and are in thermodynamic disequilibrium with oxygenated seawater from the time of their formation. Oxidation is both ubiquitous and heterogeneous, as observational and experimental evidence demonstrates that sulfide minerals may oxidize completely on decadal timescales (hydrothermal plumes) or incompletely in billions of years...
Authors
Amy Gartman, Samantha P. Whisman, James R. Hein
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

The effects of phosphatization on the mineral associations and speciation of Pb in ferromanganese crusts

The older layers of thick ferromanganese (FeMn) crusts from the central Pacific Ocean have undergone diagenetic phosphatization, during which carbonate fluorapatite (CFA) filled fractures and pore space and replaced carbonates. The effects of phosphatization on individual trace metal concentrations, speciation, and phase associations in FeMn crusts remain poorly understood yet may be...
Authors
Kira Mizell, James R. Hein, Andrea Koschinsky, Sarah M. Hayes
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Changes in sediment source areas to the Amerasia Basin, Arctic Ocean, over the past 5.5 million years based on radiogenic isotopes (Sr, Nd, Pb) of detritus from ferromanganese crusts

Ferromanganese (FeMn) crusts provide a useful paleoenvironmental archive for studying the poorly understood climatic, oceanographic, and geologic evolution of the Arctic Ocean. This study is based on the identification and temporal reconstruction of sources and inferred transport pathways of terrigenous material in FeMn crusts collected from several sites across the Amerasia Basin...
Authors
Natalia Konstantinova, James R. Hein, Kira Mizell, Georgy Cherkashov, Brian Dreyer, Deborah Hutchinson
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Genesis and evolution of ferromanganese crusts from the summit of Rio Grande Rise, southwest Atlantic Ocean

The Rio Grande Rise (RGR) is a large elevation in the Atlantic Ocean and known to host potential mineral resources of ferromanganese crusts (Fe–Mn), but no investigation into their general characteristics have been made in detail. Here, we investigate the chemical and mineralogical composition, growth rates and ages of initiation, and phosphatization of relatively shallow-water (650–825...
Authors
Mariana Benites, James R. Hein, Kira Mizell, Terrence Blackburn, Luigi Jovane
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Marine Mineral Formations in the Arctic Ocean Challenge Existing Geologic Theories

Marine Mineral Formations in the Arctic Ocean Challenge Existing Geologic Theories

A new study from USGS describes a previously unknown process of marine mineral formation in the Arctic Ocean, driven by frictional heating along...

Read Article
Dredging Up Clues to the Geologic History and Mineral Resources of the Rio Grande Rise, Southwest Atlantic Ocean

Dredging Up Clues to the Geologic History and Mineral Resources of the Rio Grande Rise, Southwest Atlantic Ocean

USGS scientists focused on finding iron-manganese crusts, whose chemistry reveals how the ocean has changed throughout millennia. The crusts also...

Read Article
Collecting clues to the geologic history and mineral resources of the Rio Grande Rise, southwest Atlantic Ocean

Collecting clues to the geologic history and mineral resources of the Rio Grande Rise, southwest Atlantic Ocean

USGS scientists James Hein and Kira Mizell participated in a University of São Paulo research cruise to the western Rio Grande Rise, an underwater...

Read Article
Unusual Mineral Deposits Record the Unique History of the Arctic Ocean

Unusual Mineral Deposits Record the Unique History of the Arctic Ocean

Little is known about marine mineral deposits in the Arctic Ocean, an ocean dominated by shallow areas of continental shelf and deep basins with...

Read Article
James Hein Wins Prestigious Moore Medal Award from the International Marine Minerals Society

James Hein Wins Prestigious Moore Medal Award from the International Marine Minerals Society

Research geologist is awarded for his 43-year scientific career dedicated to the study of marine minerals with the USGS.

Read Article
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