March 20, 2012
Monday Geology Picture: Botryoidal Ferromanganese Crust from the Ninetyeast Ridge, Indian Ocean
Posted by Evelyn Mervine
For this week’s geology picture, I thought I would share a picture of a neat botryoidal (grape-like texture) ferromanganese crust that was recovered during dredging along the Ninetyeast Ridge in the Indian Ocean in 2007. Ferromanganese crusts and nodules are commonly deposited in the ocean. They often form botryoidal shapes, such as the example above.
What is the Mn mineral?
I don’t think we ever did mineralogical analysis on that sample, but FeMn deposits often have Mn minerals such as buserite, birnessite, todorokite, and vernadite.
In case anyone wants more info on FeMn deposits in the ocean: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/geology/usgscrust.html
Want! (That is, I want to do the fieldwork to collect my own sample.)
[…] weeks ago I posted a picture of a fragment of boytroidal ferromanganese crust that was dredged from the Ninetyeast Ridge in the Indian Ocean. Today I thought I would share a few […]
Hello Evelyn..
Am interested to know the location of this sample and if possible Mn, Fe, Co concentration. Is it hydrogenous or hydrothermal type? Thanks.