Located on the Arabian Abyssal Plain near its southernmost termination, this site recorded continuous Middle Eocene through Pleistocene deep-water sedimentation above oceanic basalt. A chert layer is developed at the base of the Eocene strata. The Eocene through Miocene sequence shows the transition from biogenic ooze to brown clay sedimentation which typifies depositional sites as they move from a ridge crest to a deep-ridge flank position. Above this sequence is an undifferentiated Pliocene-Miocene through Pleistocene interval of terrigenous and calcareous turbidites. The former were derived from the Indus Canyon, and the latter from elsewhere.

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1989 NOAA-NCEI compiled the NOAA-MMS Marine Minerals Geochemical Database from journal articles, technical reports and unpublished sources from other institutions.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.

Supplement to: Whitmarsh, Robert B; Weser, Oscar E; Ross, David A; Syed, A; Boudreaux, J E; Coleman, R G; Fleisher, R L; Girdler, R W; Jipa, D; Kidd, Robert B; Mallik, Tapas Kumar; Manheim, Frank T; Matter, A; Nigrini, Catherine A; Siddiquie, H N; Stoffers, Peter; Supko, Peter R (1974): Site 221. In: Whitmarsh, R.B.; Weser, O.E.; Ross, D.A.; et al., Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, U.S. Government Printing Office, XXIII, 167-210