The text studies the deep-sea red clays in the East-Central Pacific ocean (Tahiti-Touamotou Archipelago), their authigenic formation, transport and diagenetic character in particular through their composition in REE.

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1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions.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: Hoffert, Michel (1980): Les "argiles rouges des grands fonds" dans le Pacifique centre-est: authigenèse, transport, diagenèse. Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France, 231 pp