The Initial Stages of the Formation of Ferromanganese Crusts on the Ocean Floor

A nondestructive layer-by-layer elemental and phase analysis of the ferromanganese intact crust (aged about 60 million years), extracted from the 1200-m rise of Magellan Mountains of the Pacific Ocean, has been performed using the X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction methods. The crust morphology was studied using scanning electron microscopy. This analysis made it possible to estimate the contributions of various oceanic sources of iron and manganese to the crusting process and propose a mechanism for its formation.