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GeneralMaganese Nodules from the Pacific Ocean

1st Dec 2014 12:05 UTCTom Sanders

I just saw this now. Has anyone ever seen these before? I've read about them but have never seen them on the marketplace.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Manganese-Nodule-From-Kennecott-Exploration-/321603069654?ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123

1st Dec 2014 13:20 UTCLuca Baralis Expert

In 2006 on ebay there were some items claimed to come from the Clarion-Clipperton zone, Pacific Ocean (Clipperton is a little island about 1200 nautical miles S of S. Diego). The seller used the nick Paragon sales.

Their surface was more rough then the picture you post, as that I can see.

Look for an example at: http://www.mindat.org/loc-123146.html

1st Dec 2014 13:52 UTCMatt King

I have what I believe is a genuine manganese nodule. This is because it was given to me by a guy who used to work on a BGS ship dredging these things up in the late 1960s. He had several and he gave me this one.

Couple of points to note. I saw all the ones he had, which was about thirty, and they were all spherical. I never saw any elongated or other shaped ones, so its difficult to confirm the eBay picture as genuine. However, this chap could only have saved the spherical ones!.

But, the dimensions and weight given in the auction don't necessarily ring true. These nodules are pretty dense. The one on Ebay looks a bit light for its size.

The dimensions of the one I have are about 25mm across. The weight is 41g. So by my calculation the density is about 5.1g/cm3.

Cheers

1st Dec 2014 14:19 UTCBill Cordua 🌟 Manager

I've seen them for sale from time to time - including some larger nodules offered by Ward's Natural Science Establishment. Here's a photo of one I bought - I forget the dealer - but label lacks a longitude and misspells "Explorer"- ha ha. Maybe I got took. But these are just dark nodules, so are easy to misrepresent or even fake them, especially if you all you have to go on is a photo. Should not be glassy, but lumpy and duller, like potatoes in variability. Spherical is possible, but a perfect sphere would strike me as doubtful. I'd only buy one from a dealer I trusted. By the way, these are termed now "polymetallic nodules" as they have iron, copper, nickel and cobalt values in addition to the manganese.

1st Dec 2014 15:00 UTCJonathan Woolley

I have two that I purchased from the late Chris Wright a few years ago. They look very similar to the one posted by Bill, showing a more irregular shape than the one in Matt's photo. I would share photos, but most of my collection is still boxed up from a recent move.

I do not doubt the authenticity of any of the pictured nodules. The story told in the description of the eBay item originally posted is credible, since Kennecott was one of the companies that experimented with deep sea mining for manganese.

I did a bit of research on the history of these nodules, and I found the backstory absolutely fascinating. The Glomar Explorer was originally built by Howard Hughes as a cover story for the CIA's Project Azorian, a partially successful attempt to recover pieces of the sunken Soviet nuclear missile submarine K-129. I wrote a short article on it for the Houston Gem & Mineral Society's monthly newsletter, which you can find on their website (p. 16-18 of the February 2014 issue).

http://hgms.org/BBG/Feb14.pdf

2nd Dec 2014 00:31 UTCPaolo Bosio

I have a nodule of 6.5x4.5 cm, quite similar to the one in Matt's photo, collected in the abyssal area (depth of about 5000 m) between the Clarion and Clipperton fractures (NE Equatorial Pacific Ocean). Furthermore, I have other smaller nodules, which are more irregular in shape and look similar to the Bill's one, from other areas of Pacific Ocean, i.e a manganese smoker (0°46’N, 85°56’W, depth of 2550 m), Galapagos Rift, and Tenpo Seamount or Nishi-Tenpo (27º16' N, 139º23' E, depth of 2200 m), Nishi Shichito Ridge, Izu Bonin Arc.

Manganese nodules can show different shapes (spheroidal, spheroidal-ellipsoidal, discoidal-ellipsoidal, irregular spheroidal, etc.) and surface structures (rough, rough-botryoidal, smooth, smooth to fine-grained, etc.). I provide an example by attaching two images of nodules from the Clarion-Clipperton zone, that I have scanned from the following book:

Baturin G.N., Dubinchik V.T. (1989): Микроструктуры железо-марганцевых конкреций океана: Атлас микрофотографий . Nauka, Moscow, 288 pp.

All the best,

Paolo

2nd Dec 2014 01:28 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

In the remake of Sagan's TV show Cosmos, Tyson says that Iron isotopes only produced in Supernovas show up in a layer in Manganese nodules. Knowing their growth rate, Tyson says that this LOCAL supernova debris hit the earth 2 million years ago. I would have thought a local Supernova would have produced a major extinction. Maybe it wasn't that local?

2nd Dec 2014 03:03 UTCHarold (Hal) Prior Expert

I believe this is probably authentic. I also acquired one in the 1960's from a trade - irregular in shape, looked much like several of the pictures. I also had experience that the nodule fractured into three pieces while stored, wrapped in a box. I always assumed it lost moisture and fractured. I probably still have it somewhere in a unmarked flat.

2nd Dec 2014 10:01 UTCTom Sanders

I did a little checking around yesterday and come to the conclusion it's authentic also. Did anyone see that paperweight with the nodule embedded in it?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Manganese-Nodule-Paperweight-From-Kennecott-Exploration-/321603078390?ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123

What an interesting item to have.

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