The western margin of Sardinia (had been explored in the Spring of 1970 by the R/V Jean Charcot of CNEXO. It showed that the basement ridge west of Sardinia lies at the very distal edge of the continental slope and has effectively dammed an upslope sedimentary basin which is presently isolated from the Balearic Abyssal Plain. Consequently a series of holes was contemplated along an east to west transverse of the Charcot profile.

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1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions.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.

Supplement to: Ryan, William B F; Hsü, Kenneth J; Cita, Maria Bianca; Dumitrica, Paulian; Llort, Jennifer; Maync, Wolf; Nesteroff, Wladimir D; Pautot, Guy; Stradner, Herbert; Wezel, Forese C (1973): Sites 133 and 134. In: Ryan, W.B.F.; Hsu, K.J.; et al., Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 13, Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, 13, U.S. Government Printing Office, XIII, 465-514