Geochemical composition of a representative collection of manganese nodules and slabs collected in the Western Pacific

Chemical analyses were performed on seveteen manganese nodules collected from the Pacific Ocean floor. The results were discussed compared with the previous data on the manganese nodules. Minerals were found to be todorokite, delta-MnO2 and other silicates, montmorillonite, illite, phillipsite and alpha-SiO2. Average composition shows that copper is concentrated on the deep sea nodules more than the shallow ones, and that the todorokite rich nodules contain more copper and nickel than the delta-MnO2 rich ones.本研究对从太平洋海底采集的17个锰结核开展了化学成分分析，并将所得分析结果与既往锰结核相关研究数据进行了对比探讨。经鉴定，该批锰结核所含矿物包括钡硬锰矿（todorokite）、δ-二氧化锰（delta-MnO2）、其他硅酸盐类、蒙脱石（montmorillonite）、伊利石（illite）、辉沸石（phillipsite）以及α-二氧化硅（alpha-SiO2）。成分平均值结果显示，深海锰结核中的铜富集程度高于浅海锰结核；且富钡硬锰矿（todorokite）的锰结核的铜与镍含量均高于富δ-二氧化锰（delta-MnO2）的锰结核。