During the GDP-8 cruise of R/V Bosei-Maru, scientists from the Tokai University surveyed the Kinan seamount chain and the Kyushu-Palau Ridge in the Phillippine Sea. They dredged manganese nodules and ferromanganese crusts formed around basaltic tuff rocks and acid plutonic rock pebbles. Selected manganese nodules from Station 12 were analysed for their metal content using wet chemistry methods.

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1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions.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