Scripps Institution of Oceanography Manganese Nodule Sediment Description File: README file NCEI Data Set G02896 obtained from: U.S. Department of Commerce National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) & collocated World Data Service for Geophysics _______________________________________________________________________ NOTE: PLEASE CITE ORIGINAL REFERENCE WHEN USING THESE DATA _______________________________________________________________________ CONTRIBUTOR: Jane Frazer, Scripps Institution of Oceanography NAME OF DATA SET: SIO OCSEAP Sediment Description File LAST UPDATE: 1977 (original receipt date by NCEI) GEOGRAPHIC REGION: North Pacific Ocean DATA VOLUME: approximately .12 mbytes MGG IDENTIFIER: MGG15995012 LIST OF FILES 15995012.txt (stations, descriptions, references), readme.txt (this file) related files available from NCEI: SIO Ferromanganese Nodule Analysis File, SIO Mn Nodule Description file, NOAA and MMS Marine Minerals CD-ROM Data Set. SUMMARY The Scripps Institution of Oceanography compiled descriptions of sediment samples, funded through the IDOE and OCSEAP, as part of the SIO world sediment data bank. Nodule description data are for approximately 100 cores, 585 grabs, and 3 box cores from the Northern Pacific offshore Alaska. Data include lithology, percent CaCO3, constituents by grain size, organic material/fossils, ages, other features, and minerals. Station and inventory information are included. Headers in the data provide format information necessary to read the files, codes are translated in the references noted below. Bibliographic references to the data are included at the end of the file. ORIGINAL REFERENCES Frazer, J.Z., and M.B. Fisk, Sediment Data Bank Users Handbook. 1978. SIO Reference No. 78-10. University of California, Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Frazer, J.Z., Freelander, N.A., and Hawkins, D.L., Sediment Data Bank Coding Instructions. 1978. SIO Reference No. 78-9. University of California, Scripps Institution of Oceanography. AVAILABILITY Data are available for free download from NCEI's web site Technical Contact: NOAA/NCEI E/GC3 325 Broadway Boulder, CO 80305 USA phone: 303-497-6338 fax: 303-497-6513 email: geology.info@noaa.gov DOCUMENTATION _________________________________________________________________________ Scripps Institution of Oceanography Sediment Description Data compiled by Ms. Jane Frazer and Ms. Mary Fisk ________________________________________________________________________ The World Sediment Data Bank, compiled at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography through 1979 represents one of the largest data files describing seafloor sediment. The compilation was partially funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation through the International Decade of Ocean Exploration Program, and partially by the Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment Program (OCSEAP) through NOAA. A copy of portions of the sediment data were transferred to NCEI for distribution, after compilation stopped at SIO, by Mary Fisk. The sediment description records are self-explanatory, with lithologies fully explained in the reference cited below. Plain-English bibliographic references are included at the end of the file. Each file is ASCII with fixed-length fields. Column headers are embedded in each file, as received by NGDC from SIO. For more complete information on methodologies and codes used in the SIO data, please consult the following reference: Frazer, J.Z., Freelander, N.A., and D.L. Hawkins, 1978, Sediment Data Bank Coding Instructions: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Reference No. 78-9, University of California, 26 p. Station Records Associated with Description Records One Station Record was coded for each core, dredge or other sample. If seafloor photographs were taken in conjunction with other sampling, they are not coded as separate stations. If seafloor photographs were taken where no other sampling occurred, they are coded as separate stations. Begin Column Format Item ______ ______ ____ 3 A7 Sequence number 11 A12 Ship/Cruise/Station number 24 F6.3 Latitude 30 A1 N or S 32 F7.3 Longitude 39 A1 E or W 41 A12 Sample Device 55 I5 Water Depth (m) corrected or uncorrected 61 F8.2 Core Length (cm) 70 A4 Institution Code: FSU = Florida State University HIG = Hawaii Institute of Geophysics LDGO = Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory OSU = Oregon State University USSR = Akademiia Nauk, USSR SIO = Scripps Institution of Oceanography WHOI = Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 75 A4 Reference - a letter followed by three digits to indicate the data source. Each reference is keyed to an entry in the SIO bibliography file. 87 I6 Sediment Description Record number 94 I6 Nodule Analysis Record number Sediment Description Records The format of sediment description records is self-explanatory from headers imbedded in the data file. The following are excerpts from the SIO reference number 78-9, "Sediment Data Bank Coding Instructions" - pages 10-25. "Notes on Sediment Classification Schemes More than a century of sediment data collecting is represented in the Sediment Datta Bank DESCRIPTIONS File. Schemes of sediment classification have evolved from the first systematic scheme which was proposed by Murray and Renard in 1884. The most recent system in wide use today was proposed in 1973 by an ad hoc group of the JOIDES Advisory Panel on Sedimentary Petrology and Physical Properties. These changes have presented some difficulties to data bank coders. The Murray and Renard system was "primarily from a geographical point of view although subdivisions were made according to grain size, the preponderance of different groups of organisms and different kinds of inorganic materials, and color and cacium carbonate content." For JOIDESC, "Sediment names are ... based solely upon parameters determined in smear slides aided by compositional and textural properties apparent to the naked eye or under the hand lends." The various schemes all use the same terms to specify major lithological divisions, although the definitions of these terms sometimes differ. Some schemes subdivide the categories, using different terms to describe somewhat different sediments that would be included in a single category by other schemes. In order to encompass sediment descriptions prepared by all observers, the data bank has adopted a very general lithological classification system. It is based on the JOIDES system, but we have had to combine some JOIDES categories. Our system divides sediments into ten major lithological categories as listed in the Table, below. TABLE 2: SEDIMENT DATA BANK LITHOLOGIES Lithology Definition 0 Undetermined 1 Rock or Gravel All indurated sediments as well as sediments with grain size > 2mm. Includes shells, coral, or pumic if they are the major constituent, and DSDP's "indurated chalk." 2 Manganese nodules Manganese nodules, crusts or pavement. 3 Sand or silt Terrigenous sediment of which at least 90% of the clasts have grain size of 39 - 2000 microns. 4 Mud Terrigenous sediments of mixed grain size. See Fig 1, page 22. 5 Calcareous ooze CaCO3 > 30%, < 25% siliceous remains. Calcareous material is biogenous debris from foraminifera, pteropods, or nannofossils. Includes: globigerina ooze, foram ooze, pteropod ooze, foram marl ooze, foram marl, foram chalk, globigerina and foram mud. 6 Siliceous ooze Pelagic sediments containing > 30% skeletal remains of siliceous organisms (radiolaria, diatoms, silico- flagellates, sponge spicules and echinoid spines). 7 Clay Pelagic clay, having < 30% CaCO3, < 30% siliceous skeletons, >= 10% slow sedimentation indicators (zeolites, Fe and Mn micronodules, fish debris); Terrigenous clay, having < 50% volcanic particles, < 30% CaCO3, >= 90% clay-sized particles, < 10% slow sedimentation indicators. 8 Volcanic ash Grain size < 4 mm, and 50% or more of the sample is of pyroclastic origin. 9 Siliceous- Biogenous sediments in which siliceous and calcareous calcareous ooze biogenous material are each > 25%. (Most sediments within this category contain enough CaCO3 to be considered calcareous ooze, but many researchers find the indication of a large siliceous component useful). 10 Zeolitite Sediment containing > 50% zeolites. Our system was designed to facilitate digital coding of sediment desriptions from a variety of sources and to serve the needs of specific research groups. It is not meant to replace schemes in current use for classifying marine sediments." Several classification systems are summarized in the report referenced, along with the Sediment Data Bank lithological name which corresponds to each major category in the other systems.