Investigation of manganese nodules from the Southern Tasman Sea

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).