Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from DSDP Leg 96 (Holes 614A, 618, 619, 620, 623, 624)

The Mississippi Fan is a broad, arcuate accumulation of Pleistocene deep-water sediments deposited in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Major objectives for drilling the Mississippi Fan were to place the fan lobes into a time-stratigraphic framework, to determine if the midfan channel is migratory in nature, to establish the lithological characteristics of the acoustical high-amplitude zone present near the bottom of the channel fill, to analyze if sand is transported to the lower fan and in which depositional mode it is emplaced, to confirm or modify existing fan models, and to determine the physical and chemical characteristics of these deep-sea fan deposits. In addition to the nine sites situated on the Mississippi fan, two sites (618 and 619) were occupied on the continental slope off Louisiana in intraslope basins formed as the result of active salt diapirism.