Study of Deep-Ocean Ferromanganese Crusts Ore Components

Abstract

A complex layer-by-layer morphology and phase analysis of a ferromanganese crust aged about 70 million years, extracted from the rise of the Magellan Mountains of the Pacific Ocean, was carried out using several physics methods: digital optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with high resolution, X-ray fluorescence and diffraction analysis and Mossbauer spectroscopy. This analysis showed that the crust is an association of several minerals with various dispersion and crystallization degree, between which fossilized bacterial mats with Fe- and Mn- oxides are located. These phenomena indicate the biogenic nature of the crust. Changes in the crusts phase composition from the lower layer to the upper layer indicate changes in the external environmental conditions during their formation.