Lithology and Mineral Resources, Vol. 35, No. 5, 2000, pp. 399-424. Translatedfrom Litologiya i Poleznye Iskopaemye, No.

5, 2000, pp. 451-477.

Original Russian Text Copyright © 2000 by Baturin.

Mineral Resources of the Ocean

G. N. Baturin
Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovskii pr. 36, Moscow, 117851 Russia
ReceivedMay 26, 1999

Abstract--Major data concerning the history of investigation,distribution,mineral and chemical composition,

and formation processes of mineral resources of the ocean, namely ferromanganesenodules, ore crusts, phos-
phorites, and hydrothermal mineral formations, including ore-bearing and metalliferous sediments, massive
sulfides, and hydrothermal ferromanganesecrusts are reviewed.The problem of the scale of mineral accumu-
lations in the ocean and their quality, along with prospects of their future recovery, is discussed.

INTRODUCTION
The development of productive capacities of human
society is related to its success in the exploitation of
mineral resources, such as building materials, energy
raw materials, and metallic and nonmetallic ores.
During past several milleniums, the continental
block remained the only source of such mineral materi-
als. However, the exploitation of oceanic bottom started
from the last quarter of the 20th century, now provides
the supply of about 20% of the world oil production.
According to economic forecasts made in the 1970s,
the exploitation of hard mineral resources should also
be undertaken well before the end of our century; how-
ever, such projects turned out to be unfeasible.
Therefore, seems reasonable when entering into the
third millenium to examine major results of works done
for this task, along with perspectives of the future
recovery of mineral resources of the ocean, namely fer-
romanganese nodules, ore crusts, phosphorites, and
hydrothermal mineral formations, including metallifer-
ous and ore-bearing sediments, massive sulfides, and
hydrothermal ferromanganese crusts.
Various aspects of this problem are discussed in
thousands of publications, compelling us to cite only
some major works when describing the distribution,
composition, and formation conditions of oceanic min-
eral deposits.
HISTORY OF INVESTIGATION
First information concerning mineral formations on
the deep sea bottom was obtained during the famous
oceanographic multidisciplinar expedition on HMS
Challenger (1872-1876).
In February 18, 1873, when dragging sea bottom
160 miles to the Southwest of Canary Islands, Chal-
lenger recovered ferromanganese nodules enriched in
Ni, Cu, and Co (Murray and Renard, 1891). Somewhat
earlier, in 1868, during the Nordenskjold expedition on
the Swedish vessel Sophia, some nodules were recov-
ered from the Kara Sea bottom; however, this finding
was considered insignificant and remained practically
unknown (Manheim, 1965).
During next decades, ferromanganese nodules were
regularly recovered by nearly all expeditions, which
sampled oceanic bottom. Beginning from the 1960s,
basic ideas concerning the global character of ferro-
manganese mineralization on oceanic bottom started to
appear. In particular, according to Mero (1969), the
total amount of ferromanganese nodules on the Pacific
Ocean bottom may reach 1.66 x 1012t.
Later on, the leading world powers, especially the
United States and Soviet Union, followed by England,
France, Germany, Japan, India, and China, organized
large-scale investigations of ferromanganese nodules
considered as a reserve of strategic raw material. It
resulted in the finding and delimitation of large nodular
fields, along with the comprehensive investigation of
nodules and associated sediments, evaluation of metal
resources enclosed in nodules, and fulfillment of prepa-
ratory works necessary for future nodule recovery
(Andreev, 1994; Baturin, 1986, 1988; Ferromanganese
deposits .... 1972; Horn et al., 1973; Manganese Miner-
alization .... 1997; Manganese Nodules .... 1979;
Marine manganese .... 1977; McKelvey et al., 1983;
The Manganese Nodule .... 1988; Zhelezomargantsevye
konkretsii .... 1976, 1984, 1986, 1989).
In contrast to nodules, ferromanganese crusts mor-
phologically consist of relatively thin layers covering
hard rocks of various composition, predominantly on
submarine highs. The first description of these forma-
tions was published shortly after their finding in the late
19th century (Murray, 1876; Murray and Renard,
1891); however, they were classified as an independent
morphological type much later (Menard, 1964).
The first information about high Co concentration
(0.7%) in ferromanganese crusts of the Pacific Ocean
appeared in 1954 (Goldberg, 1954), followed by publi-
cations describing results of combined and systematic
investigations of crusts recovered from Mid-Pacific
seamounts and submarine slopes of the Hawaiian

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400 BATURIN
Ridge (Zhelezomargantsevye konkretsii .... 1976; Frank
et al., 1976).
The large-scale investigation of Pacific crusts was
started by the Midpac expedition on the German vessel
Sonne (Halbach et al., 1982) and continued by numer-
ous later expeditions, predominantly on American and
Soviet vessels in the Pacific and to lesser extent in the
Atlantic and Indian Oceans (Andreev, 1994; Aplin and
Cronan, 1985; De Carlo et al., 1987; Gaioty .... 1995;
Hein et al., 1987, 1990; Manheim and Lane-Botswick,
1989; Skornyakova et al., 1964; Zhelezomargantsevye
korki .... 1990). Cobalt-rich hydrogenetic crusts, which
are similar in composition to deep-sea nodules, are
often called ore-bearing crusts, in contrast to Co-
depleted hydrothermal crusts.
Hydrothermal mineral formations include metallif-
erous and ore-bearing muds, massive sulfides, and
hydrothermal ferromanganese crusts.
Metalliferous sediments anomalously enriched in
Fe were first found by the Challenger expedition (Mur-
ray and Renard, 1891) and by the Carnegie expedition
70 years later (Revelle, 1944) in the southeastern
Pacific; however, owing to the unique nature of these
findings, they did not attract attention and were not
interpreted.
This situation changed after the publication of maps
of Fe and Mn distribution in Pacific Ocean sediments,
which demonstrated regular enrichment of these metals
in the vast southeastern zone. This observation was
interpreted as a result of hydrothermal material supply
(Skomyakova, 1964). The presence of hydrothermal
process was also evidenced by Zelenov (1964) who
personally witnessed the deposition of hydrothermally
derived hydroxides on submarine slope of the Banu
Wuhu Volcano in Indonesia.
Data on the geochemistry of sediments from the
East Pacific Rise and southern Pacific revealed that
their composition is actually influenced by hydrother-
mal material (Bonatti and Joensuu, 1966; Bostrom and
Petterson, 1966). During further investigations, the glo-
bal character of submarine hydrothermal mineraliza-
tion was established, new sites of metalliferous sedi-
ments were discovered in Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic
oceans, and ancient metalliferous sediments were
found in cores during deep-sea drilling (Bogdanov,
1997; Cronan, 1982; Geologo geofizicheskie .... 1976;
Gurvich, 1998; Lisitsyn et al., 1990; Metallonosnye
osadki .... 1979, 1987; Petterson et al., 1970; Rona,
1986).
Metalliferous sediments of the Red Sea provoked no
less interest.
In 1964, hot brines with temperature 44°C and
salinity 261%~ were found at a depth of 2190 m in the
central deep of the sea called later Atlantis II after the
name of the research vessel (Miller, 1964). It is worth
nothing that the temperature anomaly in this spot was
first registered at a depth of 600 m by the Russian rear-
admiral S.O. Makarov in 1886 during the cruise on cor-
LITHOLOGYAND MINERALRESOURCES
vet Vityaz. His finding was repeatedly proved by later
expeditions; however, this phenomenon was assigned
to the submergence of heated and saline surface water.
Later, it was established that the near-bottom brine
is enriched in dissolved metals, while bottom sedi-
ments consist of an intercalation of metal oxides and
sulfides, which are transformed into ore material inter-
mixed with salt in the dry state (Baturin et al., 1969;
Hot brines..., 1969; Miller et al., 1966). Therefore, sed-
iments of the Atlantis II Deep are often called ore muds.
After this sensational discovery, the Red Sea was revis-
ited by several expeditions and the number of deeps
more or less enriched in hydrothermally derived metals
increased to fourteen (B~cker and Richter, 1973; Big-
nell et al., 1976; Butuzova, 1998; Gurvich, 1998; Met-
allonosnye osadki .... 1986).
The presence of sulfide layers in metalliferous sedi-
ments of the Red Sea showed that sufide-bearing
hydrothermal solutions may discharge in rift zones of
the open ocean as well. In 1967, the stockwork-type
sulfide mineralization, represented by pyrite, chalcopy-
rite, covellite, ilmenite, and hematite, was actually
found in hydrothermally altered basic rocks in the triple
junction zone of the Arabian Indian and Central Indian
submarine ridges. As evidenced by the character of
chalcopyrite twins, the temperature of ore-bearing fluid
was estimated at about 550°C (Baturin and Rozanova,
1972; Rozanova and Baturin, 1971).
During that period, most investigators excluded the
possibility of sulfide accumulation on bottom surface
of rift zones in the open ocean, because the oxygen sat-
uration of marine water should result in a rapid sulfide
oxidation.
However, this conclusion turned out to be errone-
ous. In February-March 1978, in the course of the com-
bined international marine geological expedition
according to the Rift Zone Investigation Program, the
French submersible CIANA performed a series of dives.
In the site located at 20054 ' N, 109003' W to the north
of the Rivera Fracture, the submersible recovered sam-
ples of black dense rocks, which were at first taken for
basalts, from the depth of 2620 m.
Somewhat later, J. Bishoff from the USGS studied
these samples during his visit to France and was puz-
zled by their surprisingly high specific weight. He sug-
gested to check their chemical composition. When the
samples were analyzed, the opinion of the discoverers
changed immediately. Shortly thereafter, first descrip-
tion of the first finding of massive sulfides on the sea
bottom appeared (Francheteau et al., 1979).
The subsequent series of expeditions mainly in
Pacific and Atlantic oceans discovered several new sul-
fide-beating sites (Bogdanov, 1997; Geologicheskoe
stroenie .... 1990; Gidrotermal' nye obrazovaniya ....
1992; Hydrothermal Processes .... 1983; Hydrothermal
Systems .... 1993; Hydrothermal Vents .... 1995;
Lisitsyn et al., 1992; Seafloor Hydrothermal .... 1995;
Von Damm, 1990).
Vol. 35 No. 5 2000