The geochemistry group acquired one iron-rich sediment sample from 

 the East Pacific Rise from Woods Hole for geochemical analysis. Addi- 

 tional metal-rich samples have been obtained from the Deep Sea Drilling 

 Project of the National Science Foundation, and analyses are in progress. 



The program director of the Nasca Plate study is continuing his dis- 

 cussions with the Latin American scientists who expressed an interest 

 in participating in the Nasca Plate study at the meeting of the Geophysical 

 Commission of the Pan-American Institute of Geography and History 

 held in Mexico City in July 1970. 



The field work at sea in early 1972 will include the following com- 

 ponents aimed at the specific subprograms: 1) Four parallel traverses of 

 the Nasca Plate between 10° and 13° S., one of which would be a two- 

 ship operation, as a reconnaissance of magnetic lineation patterns across 

 a wide part of the Plate, as well as of regional crustal structure inter- 

 preted from the seismic, gravity, and other measurements obtained. The 

 three traverses between 4° and 6° S., with an extended search pattern at 

 the northwest corner of the Plate, should help relate the magnetic bight 

 there (suggested by existing data) to the overall history of spreading of 

 the northern end of the Plate; 2) Detailed multidisciplinary studies rang- 

 ing from bathymetry through two-ship seismic refraction work in the 

 region of the trench and continental margin between 4° and 6° S., where 

 the shelf is narrow and the onshore structure is well known, and between 

 10° and 17° S., where the Nasca Ridge strikes toward the continent; and 

 3) Detailed studies on the crest of the East Pacific Rise over areas of 

 CO V2°xi/2° size at about 5° S., where a fracture zone apparently offsets 



the Rise and the spreading rate is high, and at about 11° S., where metal- 

 liferous sediments have been found in existing cores. 



WORKSHOP ON SEA-BED DEPOSITS OF MANGANESE NODULES 



In December 1971, a Workshop on Seabed Deposits of Manganese 

 Nodules will be convened at Columbia University under the auspices of 

 the U.S. Office for the International Decade of Ocean Exploration. There, 

 the Director and other scientists of the Lamont-Doherty Geological Ob- 

 servatory will present new world maps of the distribution of known de- 

 posits of manganese nodules. 



The maps are being prepared now from information in the Lamont- 

 Doherty data bank and other sources. Data obtained from bottom photo- 

 graphs, and from core, dredge-haul, and grab samples are being archived 

 on punched cards at the Observatory. It is now possible to retrieve 

 quantitative information from the data bank automatically, making it 

 possible for the first time to prepare maps of the distribution of nodules 

 and to complement existing maps of the chemical composition of the sub- 

 strate sediments and information on the abyssal environment. The La- 

 mont-Doherty data bank contains 15,000 bulk-property analyses of bot- 

 tom sediments, from which these maps have been produced. 



These data have not been collected as a study of mineral deposits 

 specifically, but rather as part of a worldwide geophysical reconnaisance 

 of the oceans carried out over a period of 20 years by the research vessels 

 Vema and Robert D. Conrad. 



