Oceans have been the subject of scientific inquiry for hundreds of years, but significant study of mineral occurrences on the deep ocean floor has only begun to take place. Man's present knowledge of the ocean floor had to await the development of sophisticated research equipment capable of probing the ocean to great depths. This began in the 1940's and since then the accelerated pace of ocean research has generated a large amount of data on the ocean environment - mostly through the work of academic and governmental scientific organizations around the globe. These new scientific disclosures...