Manganese nodules in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Mauritius

Abstract

The distribution of manganese nodules in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the island nation Mauritius was delineated during cruise SK-35 of ORV Sagar Kanya in 1987. The areas surveyed included Saya de Malha and Nazareth Banks, the Cargados Carajos shoals, Rodriguez Ridge, and the Sudan Bank of the Mascarene Plateau and Mascarene Basin. Of the 57 locations sampled, manganese nodules were recovered at 11 sampling stations. The nodules were confined to a small area of approximately 11,900 km2 in the Mascarene Basin off Tromelin Island. Nodule density varied from 1.23 to 10 kg/m2, and were predominantly spheroidal to subspheroidal, a majority of them falling in the 2- to 4-cm-diameter size class. Surface textures were mostly smooth, except for one station where botryoidal nodules with rough surface texture were recovered.