In 1975 Washington State University was contracted by the U. S. Geological Survey to conduct a study of manganese nodules collected during cruises of the DOMES project of NOAA. The nodule research was to be restricted to problems related to DOMES objectives and was not to include a study of problems of nodule distribution and origin. The project was to be coordinated with mineralogical and chemical investigations carried out simultaneously in Geological Survey laboratories. This report concerns only the RP6-OC-75 samples. The body of the report describes the nature of the major types of surface features of nodules and includes numerous illustrations of of typical nodules. To provide a wider coverage of nodule types in the collection, and to record some of the gross physical data on the nodules, an illustrated Appendix is also included.

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1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions.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: Sorem, Ronald K; Banning, Davey Lee (1976): Microfeatures of typical manganese nodules from six box cores from NOAA Cruise RP6-OC-75. in: Bischoff, J.L. (Ed.), Deep Ocean Mining Environmental Study, N.E. Pacific Nodule Province, Site C, Geology and Geochemistry, U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report. U.S. Geological Survey, 167-216