Manganese Pavements on the Blake Plateau

Abstract

Dredge samples and photographs from the Blake Plateau, off the southeast coast of the United States, indicate that a layer of manganese oxide forms pavement that may be continuous over an area af about 5000 square kilometers. The manganese pavement grades into round manganese nodules to the south and east and into phosphate nodules to the west. The Gulf Stream probably maintains a very unusual environment that prohibits deposition of clastic sediment and permits accretion of manganese pavements.

Mesozoic Evolution of Western North Atlantic and North Tethyan Margins: A Comparison

“…Nevertheless, the Paleocene calcareous nodules are similar to the Recent nodules collected from about a thousand meters depth on the Blake Plateau (Pratt and MacFarlin, 1966;Monty, 1973).…”

Manganese nodules from the South-Western Pacific

“…As on the Campbell Plateau, an association between phosphorite nodules and ferromanganese minerals is recorded from the Blake Plateau off the Florida Coast (Pratt and McFarlin, 1965). The formation of a manganese pavement on the Blake Plateau is not evidently related to local volcanism and is assumed by Pratt and McFarlin (1965) to be more probably controlled by the Gulf Stream, which sweeps the Plateau.…”

“…The formation of a manganese pavement on the Blake Plateau is not evidently related to local volcanism and is assumed by Pratt and McFarlin (1965) to be more probably controlled by the Gulf Stream, which sweeps the Plateau. Phosphorite nodules occur in a zone marginal to the manganese pavement.…”

Mineral resources off the northeastern coast of the United States

“…1) Millions of tons of both manganese-iron oxide nodules and phosphorite are known from the Blake Plateau, off the coast between Florida and South Carolina (Pratt and McFarlin, 1966;Manheim and Pratt, 1968;Pratt, 1971). These deposits have been repeatedly investigated by private firms, but their poor grade and the difficulty of recovery under the Gulf Stream at depths of 500 to 1,000 m relegate them to the status of potential resources for the relatively distant future.…”