Forums
Drake Passage Opening

Hello Katie and the team! We loved the webinar, thanks for answering all our questions! We are really fascinated with the ferromanganese nodules, do you know where we could find them on the Continental U.S.? thanks! Raymond, ricky, marisol, annaly, yajaira, uriel, ivan, justin, giavanna, micah, derek, kris, manuel...and jillian

Tue, 05/27/2008 - 09:26

Katie Pena

Hi! Thanks so much for participating in the webinar! The scientistsreally enjoyed all of your questions. I asked Julian to help me with yourquestion. Here is his response-Unfortunately, they are only found in the deep oceans. They need quietconditions on the ocean floor with little sedimentation over millions ofyears. You do find them in US waters near some of their tropical islandsbut you would need a submarine to see them. When continents collide, theycan get uplifted onto land but they then get mangled by the collision. Soif you go to San Francisco, where there are deformed deep ocean sedimentsexposed on land, you will see a lot of manganese but no niceburnt-baked-potato shaped nodules with concentric rings and a nucleus.
Thanks!Mrs. Pena