This collection of data on manganese nodules on the floor of the Pacific Ocean represents all the information that was available to the authors in May, 1964. It is compiled from both published references and original data. No attempt is made here to generalize or to speculate on the origin of the manganese or associated elements further discussion of these aspects of the subject may be had by reference to the literature.
From 1983 until 1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions. At the time it was the most extended data compilation on ferromanganese deposits world wide. Initially published in a proprietary format incompatible with present day standards it was jointly decided by AWI and NOAA to transcribe this legacy data into PANGAEA. This transfer is augmented by a careful checking of the original sources when available and the encoding of ancillary information (sample description, method of analysis...) not present in the NOAA-MMS database.