The cores and dredges described in this report were taken during the RC15 Expedition from October 1971 until July 1972 by the Lamont Geological Observatory, Columbia University from the R/V Robert D. Conrad. An approximate total of 400 cores, dredges and camera stations were recovered and are available at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory for sampling and study.

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1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions.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