Strange balls of manganese found between South America, Africa

FIRST a net brought up several strange metal balls from the seabed. Then researchers sent down a submersible. What they saw was astounding.

FIRST a net brought up several strange metal balls from the seabed. Then researchers sent down a submersible. What they saw was astounding.

A large swathe of ocean floor between South American and Africa is covered in a rolling mass of metal orbs — ranging in size from a cricket ball to that of a bowling ball.

Was it the spilt cargo of some long-lost ship? The shotgun-like remnants of raining meteors?

It’s actually a naturally occurring phenomenon and it’s been seen before — a geological formation of manganese ore.

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“I was surprised, because this is generally not the place you think of for manganese nodules,” Colin Devey, chief scientist for the expedition at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Germany said in a release.

“These were very, very circular, which is strange,” Devey said. “They usually look like cow flops.”

The expanse of Manganese nodules found in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Source: Nils Brenke, CeNak

The site, several hundred kilometres east of Barbados in the North Atlantic, contains the perfect conditions for the formation of manganese “crystals”.

Exactly what those conditions are remains unknown. One idea involves the interaction of microbes, while others suspect the involvement of underwater hot springs.

In many ways, these metal nodules are like pearls.

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Layer upon layer of manganese settles around a core object, such as a rock, shell or bone.

The largest can be up to 10 million years old.

While these clusters also contain nickel, copper and cobalt, strip-mining them off the sea floor is not an easy option.

For the moment, they’re sitting safe some 5km beneath the ocean’s surface.