The area is characterized by regional stratigraphic hiatus from the Early Miocene up to the Quaternary. Numerous
manganese nodules mostly of the Oligocene age are located on a bottom surface on Tertiary or Quaternary
deposits. Detailed micropaleontological research of a block of ancient dense clay covered by the manganese
crust is carried out. Radiolarian and diatom complexes have shown, that the crust was formed in the Quaternary
on an eroded surface of the late Oligocene clay. Neogene sediments were eroded and washed away in the Quaternary
by near-bottom currents. It is likely that the erosion started about 0.9-0.7 million years ago at the beginning
of the “Glacial Pleistocene” when the ocean circulation became more active. The erosion of Tertiary deposits
by near-bottom currents could be initiated by an effect of strong earthquakes in tectonically active zones
of subduction. The seismic superficial waves of these earthquakes can propagate over thousands of kilometers
and cause a seismic vibration effect on the surface sediment layer. They must disintegrate and stir up the sediments
which are then carried away by the bottom current. Large-size components of the sediment including
manganese nodules form residual deposits. The same vibration effect causes ancient nudules to float up onto
the surface of the sediments. Thus, this hypothesis suggests one and the same reason and time interval for the
peculiarities of the Clarion-Clipperton zone, that is, the regional stratigraphic hiatus, the formation of the residual
nodule fields, and floating up of ancient nodules to the surface of the Quaternary deposits.
