Jiang, XiaodongZhao, XiangZhao, XiangyuChou, Y MHein, James RSun, XiaomingZhong, YiRen, JiangboLiu, Quingsong2022-10-310012-821Xhttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/276790Ferromanganese nodules and crusts (Fe-Mn deposits) are being widely explored for their significant economic potential and paleoenvironmentally significant archives. Fe-Mn deposits contain abundant Fe-bearing minerals including detrital minerals, biogenic Fe-bearing components, but predominantly amorphous Fe hydroxides (AFH). Particularly, the hydrogenetic Fe that is formed in bottom water should be closely related with oceanic environmental and Fe-cycling processes. However, it remains challenging to characterize and quantify the x-ray amorphous AFH component in Fe-Mn deposits. To resolve this problem, we systematically investigated thermally treated hydrogenetic Fe-Mn deposits sampled from the northwestern Pacific Ocean to unravel the AFH component. Our results show that the nanometer-sized AFHs can be transformed into strongly magnetic nanometer-sized (approximately 10-20 nm) magnetite upon heating above 500 °C, which can be feasibly quantified by systematic rock magnetic analyses. Using this novel approach, several Fe-Mn deposits at different water depths from the western Pacific Ocean are investigated. Our results indicate that the abundance of AFH increase at a water depth of ∼5000 m, which can be ascribed to bottom-current stratification. The magnetic approach to indirectly quantify the AFH component in Fe-Mn deposits has a great potential in exploring oceanic paleoenvironment significance.application/pdfen-AU© 2021 Elsevier B.V.amorphous Fe-hydroxidesFe-Mn nodules and cruststemperature dependence of magneticsusceptibilitysuperparamagnetism202110.1016/j.epsl.2021.1169452021-11-28