The aim of the sedimentological program of Leg ANT-X/2 was to densify the existing sample network in the area of the Weddell Sea and the Lazarev Sea, or fill the gaps in previous geological investigation sections due to bad weather conditions, unfavorable ice conditions or technical failures. The planned survey of Leg ANT-X/2 from the southwestern Weddell Sea to the eastern Lazarev Sea was only slightly affected by ice conditions. In particular, two stations were successfully conducted on the Polarstern Seamount, an area which had been previously surveyed in 1991 during R/V Polarstern Leg ANT-IX/3.

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1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions.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