SEDIMENTATION RATES IN AREAS OF MANGANESE-NODULE FORMATION IN THE PACIFIC

Abstract

The authors analyzed the variability of rates of manganese-nobule growth and rates of sedimentation in abyssal areas of ocean on the basis of published information, as well as our own data. Growth rates of manganese nodules were determined by the ionium, the fission-track and the beryllium methods. Experimental data indicates that the sedimentation rates in the ocean basins are impersistent. The general variability of sedimentation rates in the Pacific reflects the effects of sublatitudinal climatic zoning and of circumcontinental zoning from the center of the ocean outward. The first factor is most explicit in the Northeast Basin. Detailed analysis of sedimentation rates in the northern part of the Central Basin and in the Clarion-Clipperton zone reveals essential differences between them.