The average chemical metal composition of ferromanganese crusts was determined through various samples dredged during the L9-84-CP (R/V S.P. Lee) expedition by the United States Geological Survey. The composition in major elements was made using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) after drying at 110°C.

From 1983 until 1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions. At the time it was the most extended data compilation on ferromanganese deposits world wide. Initially published in a proprietary format incompatible with present day standards it was jointly decided by AWI and NOAA to transcribe this legacy data into PANGAEA. This transfer is augmented by a careful checking of the original sources when available and the encoding of ancillary information (sample description, method of analysis...) not present in the NOAA-MMS database.This dataset represents the digitized Table 2 - pp. 4 of Schwab, WC et al. (1984).