THE STATISTICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CONTENT AND THE ABUNDANCE OF NICKEL IN THE PACIFIC POLYMETALLIC NODULES DEPOSIT (IOM AREA).

The subject of the study was to characterize three deposit parameters of Pacific polymetallic nodules (the content and the abundance of nickel and the nodule abundance) using classical statistical methods. The input data points come from 448 sampling points of a bed area of about 48,000 km2 in the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone (approx. 1,000 km west of the coast of Mexico). The sample points formed a pseudoregular grid with an average distance between them of about 10 km. On the basis of these, the basic statistical values were calculated. Variability of the parameters was on a level from low to high content of nickel in the case of abundance of nickel and nodule abundance. Errors in estimating average parameter values did not exceed 10% in any case. The analysis of the correlation and regression showed a strong correlation between the nodule abundance and the nickel abundance and were caused by a very low relative variability of nickel. This knowledge can be used in the calculation of the nickel resources without the need for large amounts of chemical analysis of the nickel content. The Games-Howell test used for seven artificially designated sub-areas distinguished two homogenous groups in terms of nickel content and two homogenous groups in terms of nickel abundance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]