Investigation of manganese nodules from the Southern Tasman Sea

Two manganese nodules having a high clay content, a low Mn/Fe ratio, and low contents of valuable metals (Ni 0.25%, Cu 0.17%, Co 0.06%) were recovered in a grab sample during a short geological cruise in HMAS Kimbla in the southern Tasman Sea in May 1979. Five stations were occupied. Free-fall grabs recovered sediment or pumice from four stations; nothing was recovered from the fifth. The carbonate compensation depth in the region is about 4500 m. Reddish brown clay, but no manganese nodules, was recovered in the central southern Tasman Sea, from depths of 4900-5100 m. The nodules, together with grey calcareous mud, were obtained from a depth of 4300 m, farther to the northwest, near Gascoyne Seamount (250 n. miles SE of Sydney). The results suggest nodules with high metal values are likely to exist only in the broad and deep depression in the central southern Tasman Sea southeast of Gascoyne Seamount, where sedimentation rates are low and oxidising conditions prevail. Whether nodule fields are present or not will only be resolved by considerably more sampling.

Magnetic properties, grain sizes, XRF Scanner Data of sediment core GeoB9307-3

Geochemical and mineralogical proxies for paleoenvironmental conditions have the underlying assumption that climate variations have an impact on terrestrial weathering conditions. Varying properties of terrigenous sediments deposited at sea are therefore often interpreted in terms of paleoenvironmental change. Also in gravity core GeoB9307-3 (18° 33.99' S, 37° 22.89' E), located off the Zambezi River, environmental changes during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS 1) and the Younger Dryas (YD) are accompanied by changing properties of the terrigenous sediment fraction. Our study focuses on the relationship of variability in the hydrological system and changes in the magnetic properties, major element geochemistry and granulometry of the sediments. We propose that changes in bulk sedimentary properties concur with environmental change, although not as a direct response of climate driven pedogenic processes. Spatial varying rainfall intensities on a sub-basin scale modify sediment export from different parts of the Zambezi River basin. During humid phases, such as HS 1 and the YD, sediment was mainly exported from the coastal areas, while during more arid phases sediments mirror the hinterland soil and lithological properties and are likely derived from the northern Shire sub-basin. We propose that a de-coupling of sedimentological and organic signals with variable discharge and erosional activity can occur.