Formation and distribution of manganese nodule deposit in the northwestern margin of Clarion-Clipperton fracture zones, northeast equatorial Pacific

Abstract

In the northwestern margin of the Clarion and Clipperton fracture zones, manganese nodules are latitudinally variable in character, resulting from the progressive (re)generation of nodules since the Oligocene as the Pacific Plate migrates northwestward beneath the equatorial production zone. Complemented by the surface water productivity, bottom current activities have concentrated nodules in the Oligocene to Miocene siliceous clay. Resedimentation processes on nodules form three types of nodules with concentric structures and 10 Angstrom-manganate-rich bottoms, by periodically causing the diagenetic growth of nodules within the topmost sediment layer.