(Plate 3) Manganese nodules and deep-sea sediment core from Pacific Ocean

A synoptic review of the studies of well-known occurrences of palagonite tuffs is presented. Included are palagonite tuffs from Iceland, and pillow-lava palagonite complexes from Columbia River basalts and from the central Oregon coast. Additional petrologic and x-ray defraction data for selected samples are presented. Petrologic evidence shows that basaltic glass of aqueous tuffs and breccias consists of sideromelane, which is susceptible to palagonitization. It is shown that palagonitization is a selective alteration process, involving hydration, oxidation and zeolitization. Some of the manganese nodules dredged from the Pacific Ocean floor contain nucleus of palagonite-tuff breccias or of zeolite. A brief megascopic and microscopic description of nodules from the south Pacific, the Mendocino ridge and the 'Horizon' Nodule from the north Pacific is presented. Petrographic studies of palagonite-tuff breccias of manganese nodules and other palagonites suggest that migration and segregation of metallic elements occur during and subsequent to palagonitization. During the palagonitization of sideromelane, nearly 30 percent of sea water is absorbed. The hydration of sideromelane is also accompanied by oxidation of iron and other elements. These oxides may be released either in colloidal form or in true solution and tend to precipitate first from the unstable palagonite.

(Table 19, page 199) Minor constituents of one of the San Clemente iron concretions and its metallic core

The chemical and mineralogical composition of pelagic sediments from the East Pacific Ocean has been determined with the aim of defining the ultimate sources and the mechanisms of formation of the solid phases. The distribution of elements between sea-water, the pore solution and the various solid components of the sediments permits interpretations of the variations in time and space of the gross chemical composition of pelagic clays. For example, manganese, present in sea-water in a divalent form, is apparently oxidized at the sediment-water interface to tetravalent species which subsequently become a part of the group of ferromanganese oxide minerals which are found in the marine environment. It is suggested the rate of manganese accumulation in sediments is some function of the length of time the sediment surface is in contact with sea-water. The contribution of chemical species from the different geospheres is considered. The quantitative importance of pelagic clays in the major sedimentary cycle is studied on the basis of the distribution of the weathered igneous rock products between continental and pelagic deposits and sea-water. These analyses of a wide variety of pelagic clays allow a reformulation of the geochemical balance and it is concluded that pelagic clays account for approximately 13 per cent of the total mass of sediments produced over geologic time.