Material balance in manganese nodule formation (north central Pacific)

All data necessary to calculate the metal balance for Mn nodules in a well-investigated area of the North Central Pacific are now available. The nodules lie on porous siliceous ooze, and receive more than 96% of their metal content from the underlying ooze by diagenetic mobilisation. Only a very small portion of the metal contained in the sediment has to be mobilised to form the nodules, which explains why the expected depletion of metals from the sediments has never been demonstrated.