James Hein
Science and Products
Global Ocean Mineral Resources
Addressing issues concerning mineral resources that occur within the Exclusive Economic Zone of Pacific coastal States, Pacific islands of U.S. affiliation, and areas beyond national jurisdictions.
Geographic and oceanographic influences on ferromanganese crust composition along a Pacific Ocean meridional transect, 14N to 14S
The major controls on the variability of ferromanganese (FeMn) crust composition have been generally described over the past 40 years; however, most compilation studies lack quantitative statistics and are limited to a small region of several seamounts or compare FeMn crusts from disparate areas of the global oceans. This study provides the first...
Mizell, Kira; Hein, James R.; Lam, Phoebe J. ; Koppers, Anthony A.P. ; Staudigel, Hubert Formation and occurrence of ferromanganese crusts: Earth’s storehouse for critical metals
Marine ferromanganese oxide crusts (Fe–Mn crusts) are potentially important metal resources formed on the seafloor by precipitation of dissolved and colloidal components from ambient seawater onto rocky surfaces. The unique properties and slow growth rates of the crusts promote adsorption of numerous elements from seawater: some, such as Te and Co...
Whisman, Samantha; Lusty, Paul A.; Hein, James R.; Josso, Pierre Mineralization at oceanic transform faults and fracture zones
Mineral formation in the modern oceans can take place over millions of years as a result precipitation from ambient ocean water, or orders of magnitude more rapidly from hydrothermal activity related to magmatic and tectonic processes. Here, we review associations between transform faults and related fracture zones ...
Duarte, Joao C.; Gartman, Amy; Hein, James R. Mineral phase-element associations based on sequential leaching of ferromanganese crusts, Amerasia Basin Arctic Ocean
Ferromanganese (FeMn) crusts from Mendeleev Ridge, Chukchi Borderland, and Alpha Ridge, in the Amerasia Basin, Arctic Ocean, are similar based on morphology and chemical composition. The crusts are characterized by a two- to four-layered stratigraphy. The chemical composition of the Arctic crusts differs significantly from hydrogenetic crusts from...
Konstantinova, Natalia; Hein, James R.; Gartman, Amy; Mizell, Kira; Barrulas, Pedro; Cherkashov, Georgy; Mikhailik, Pavel; Khanchuk, Alexander Arctic deep-water ferromanganese-oxide deposits reflect the unique characteristics of the Arctic Ocean
Little is known about marine mineral deposits in the Arctic Ocean, an ocean dominated by continental shelf and basins semi-closed to deep-water circulation. Here, we present data for ferromanganese crusts and nodules collected from the Amerasia Arctic Ocean in 2008, 2009, and 2012 (HLY0805, HLY0905, HLY1202). We determined mineral and chemical...
Hein, James R.; Konstantinova, Natalia; Mikesell, Mariah; Mizell, Kira; Fitzsimmons, Jessica N.; Lam, Phoebe; Jensen, Laramie T.; Xiang, Yang; Gartman, Amy; Cherkashov, Georgy; Hutchinson, Deborah; Till, Claire P. Reconstructing the evolution of the submarine Monterey Canyon System from Os, Nd, and Pb isotopes in hydrogenetic Fe-Mn crusts
The sources of terrestrial material delivered to the California margin over the past 7 Myr were assessed using 187Os/188Os, Nd, and Pb isotopes in hydrogenetic ferromanganese crusts from three seamounts along the central and southern California margin. From 6.8 to 4.5 (± 0.5) Ma, all three isotope systems show more radiogenic values at...
Conrad, T.A.; Nielsen, S.G.; Peucker-Ehrenbrink, Bernhard; Blusztajn, J.; Winslow, D.; Hein, James R.; Paytan, A. Marine ferromanganese encrustations: Archives of changing oceans
Marine iron–manganese oxide coatings occur in many shallow and deep-water areas of the global ocean and can form in three ways: 1) Fe–Mn crusts can precipitate from seawater onto rocks on seamounts; 2) Fe–Mn nodules can form on the sediment surface around a nucleus by diagenetic processes in sediment pore water; 3) encrustations can precipitate...
Koschinsky, Andrea; Hein, James R. Ferromanganese crusts and nodules, rocks that grow
Ferromanganese (Fe-Mn) crusts and nodules are marine sed- imentary mineral deposits, composed mostly of iron and manganese oxides. They precipitate very slowly from seawa- ter, or for nodules also from deep-sea sediment pore waters, recording the chemical signature of these source waters as they grow. Additional elements incorporate via sorption...
Mizell, Kira; Hein, James R. News from the seabed: Geological characteristics and resource potential of deep-sea mineral resources
Marine minerals such as manganese nodules, Co-rich ferromanganese crusts, and seafloor massive sulfides are commonly seen as possible future resources that could potentially add to the global raw materials supply. At present, a proper assessment of these resources is not possible due to a severe lack of information regarding their size,...
Petersen, Swen; Kratschell, Anna; Augustin, Nico; Jamieson, John; Hein, James R.; Hannington, Mark D. Marine phosphorites as potential resources for heavy rare earth elements and yttrium
Marine phosphorites are known to concentrate rare earth elements and yttrium (REY) during early diagenetic formation. Much of the REY data available are decades old and incomplete, and there has not been a systematic study of REY distributions in marine phosphorite deposits that formed over a range of oceanic environments. Consequently, we...
Hein, James R.; Koschinsky, Andrea; Mikesell, Mariah; Mizell, Kira; Glenn, Craig R.; Wood, Ray Controls on ferromanganese crust composition and reconnaissance resource potential, Ninetyeast Ridge, Indian Ocean
A reconnaissance survey of Fe-Mn crusts from the 5000 km long (~31°S to 10°N) Ninetyeast Ridge (NER) in the Indian Ocean shows their widespread occurrence along the ridge as well as with water depth on the ridge flanks. The crusts are hydrogenetic based in growth rates and discrimination plots. Twenty samples from 12 crusts from 9...
Hein, James R.; Conrad, Tracey A.; Mizell, Kira; Banakar, Virupaxa K.; Frey, Frederick A.; Sager, William W. Cobalt-rich manganese crusts
No abstract available.
Harff, Jan; Meschede, Martin; Petersen, Sven; Thiede, Jorn; Hein, James R.
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 contain valuable elements like cobalt, molybdenum, and the very rare metals tellurium and platinum, which make them of economic interest.
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 limited circulation. USGS scientists and their colleagues have published the first comprehensive paper on this subject.