Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Benthic recruitment and manganese crust formation on seamounts

  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Hydrogenous ferromanganese crusts are a common feature of oceanic seamounts, forming slowly (predominantly at 1 to 5 mm/m.yr through precipitation from seawater, by a process that is poorly understood yet producing crusts of thicknesses up to 240 mm. It remains unexplained why crusts are not overwhelmed by more rapid biological processes occurring simultaneously. The present study of recruitment by sessile invertebrates to ferromanganese crusts and basalt on Cross Seamount (18°40′N; 158°17′W), North Pacific Ocean, from July 1988 to February 1990 supports the view that hydrogenesis alone may not adequately account for crust formation. Here, mediation of crust growth by benthic Foraminifera and inhibition of ferromanganese oxide precipitation by high abundances of sessile macrofauna are suggested as two interactive biological processes relevant to crust accretion. Larval supply is an important factor in the distribution of sessile macrofauna on oceanic seamounts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature cited

  • Boehlert, G., Genin, A. (1987). A review of the effects of seamounts on biological processes. In: Keating, B., Fryer, P., Batiza, R., Boehlert, G. (eds.) Seamounts, islands and atolls. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C., p. 319–334

    Google Scholar 

  • Crisp, D. (1981). Overview of resarch on marine invertebrate larvae. In: Costlow, J., Tripper, R. (eds.) Marine biodeterioration. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland p. 103–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Dudley, W. (1979). Biogenic influence on the composition and structure of marine manganese nodules. In: Lalou, C. (ed.) La genèse des nodules de manganèse. Centre Nationale des Recherches Scientifiques, Paris, p. 227–232

    Google Scholar 

  • Dugolinsky, B., Margolis, S., Dudley, W. (1977). Biogenic influence on growth of manganese nodules. J. Sedim. Petrol. 47: 428–445

    Google Scholar 

  • Genin, A., Dayton, P., Lonsdale, P., Spiess, F. (1986). Corals on seamount peaks provide evidence of current acceleration over deep-sea topography. Nature, Lond. 322: 59–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Grigg, R., Malahoff, A., Chave, E., Landahl, J. (1987). Seamount benthic ecology and potential environmental impact from manganese crust mining in Hawaii. In: Keating, B., Fryer, P., Batiza, R., Boehlert, G. (eds.) Seamounts, islands and atolls. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C., p. 379–390

    Google Scholar 

  • Halbach, P. (1986). Processes controlling heavy metal distribution in Pacific ferromanganese nodules and crusts. Geol. Rdsch. 75: 235–247

    Google Scholar 

  • Hein, J., Morgenson, L., Clague, D., Koski, R. (1987). Cobalt-rich ferro-manganese crusts from the exclusive economic zone of the United States and nodules from the oceanic Pacific. In: Scholl, D., Grantz, A., Vedder, J. (eds.) Geology and resource potential of the Continental Margin of Western North America and adjacent ocean basins — Beaufort Sea to Baja California. Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources, Houston, Texas, p. 753–771

    Google Scholar 

  • Hein, J., Schulz, M., Gein, L. (1991). Central Pacific cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts: historical perspective and regional variability. In: Keating, B., Bolton, B. (eds.) Geology and offshore mineral resources of the Central Pacific Basin. Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources, Houston, Texas, p. 261–283

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingram, B., Hein, J., Farmer, G. (1990). Age determinations and growth rates of Pacific ferromanganese deposits using strontium isotopes. Geochim. cosmochim. Acta 50: 1709–1721

    Google Scholar 

  • Jumars, P., Gallagher, E. (1982). Deep-sea community structure: three plays on the benthic proscenium. In: Ernst, W., Morin, G. (eds.) The environment of the deep sea. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, p. 218–255

    Google Scholar 

  • Levin, L., Thomas, C., Wishner, K. (1990). Response of benthic fauna to steep oxygen and organic matter gradients on an eastern tropical Pacific seamount. Eos Trans., Am. geophys. Un. 71: p. 155

    Google Scholar 

  • Lutz, R., Jablonski, D., Turner, R. (1984). Larval development and dispersal at deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Science, N.Y. 226: 1451–1454

    Google Scholar 

  • Malahoff, A., Grigg, R., Vonderhaar, D., Kelly K., Arquit, A. (1985). Mass wasting and manganese crust growth on Cross Seamount, Hawaii. Eos Trans., Am. geophys. Un. 66: 1083–1084

    Google Scholar 

  • Margolis, S. V., Burns, R. G. (1976). Pacific deep-sea manganese nodules: their distribution, composition and origin. A. Rev. Earth planet. Sciences 4: 229–263

    Google Scholar 

  • Margolis, S., Dugolinsky, B., Dudley, W. (1979). Microchemistry and morphology of biogenic, detrital and authigenic phases in Pacific manganese nodules. In: Lalou, C. (ed.) La genèse des nodules de manganèse. Centre Nationale des Recherches Scientifiques, Paris, p. 179–209

    Google Scholar 

  • Mullineaux, L. (1987). Organisms living on manganese nodules and crusts: distribution and abundance at three north Pacific sites. Deep-Sea Res. 34: 165–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Mullineaux, L. (1988). The role of settlement in structuring a hard-substratum community in the deep sea. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 120: 247–261

    Google Scholar 

  • Pringle, M., Staudigel, H., Gee, J. (1991). Jasper Seamount: seven million years of volcanism. Geology (Boulder, Colorado) 19: 364–368

    Google Scholar 

  • Riemann, F. (1983). Biological aspects of deep-sea manganese nodule formation. Oceanol. Acta 6: 303–311

    Google Scholar 

  • Segl, M., Mangini, A., Bonani, G., Hofmann, H., Morenzoni, E., Nessi, M, Suter, M. and Wolfli, W. (1984). 10Be dating of the inner structure of Mn-encrustations applying the Zurich tandem accelerator. Nucl. Instrum. Meth. Phys. Res. B5: 359–364

    Google Scholar 

  • Stackelberg, U. von (1984). Significance of benthic organisms for the growth and movement of manganese nodules, equatorial north Pacific. Geo-mar. Lett. 4: 37–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Thiel, H. (1978). The faunal environment of manganese nodules and aspects of deep sea time scales. In: Krumbein, W. (ed.) Environmental biogeochemistry and geomicrobiology. Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Ann Arbor, Michigan, p. 887–896

    Google Scholar 

  • Wendt, J. (1974). Encrusting organisms in deep-sea manganese nodules. Spec. Publs int. Ass. Sediment. 1: 437–447

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, R., Kauffmann, R. (1987). Seamount biota and biogeography. In: Keating, B., Fryer, P., Batiza, R., Boehlert, G. (eds.) Seamounts, islands and atolls. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C., p. 355–377

    Google Scholar 

  • Zar, J. (1984). Biostatistical analysis. 2nd ed. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, p. 126–138

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Rockefeller Foundation, 1133 Avenue of the Americas, 10036, New York, New York, USA

    P. A. Verlaan

Authors
  1. P. A. Verlaan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Communicated by M. G. Hadfield, Honolulu

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Verlaan, P.A. Benthic recruitment and manganese crust formation on seamounts. Marine Biology 113, 171–174 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00367651

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00367651

Keywords

Search

Navigation