Dr. James Hein

Marine Geologist

Dr. James Hein brings 44 years of experience as a marine geologist with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) including membership in the Deep Ocean Mining and Environmental Studies (DOMES) team. He has authored/co-authored over 560 papers, abstracts and books on mineral resource research, particularly on polymetallic nodules, cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts and hydrothermal deposits.  He is an associate editor of Marine Geology and Marine Georesources and Geotechnology. Dr. Hein is a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists and the Geological Society of America and Past President (twice) of the International Marine Minerals Society (IMMS). He was also a scientific advisor to the U.S. delegation to the International Seabed Authority.

Dr. Hein’s list of publications is extensive, some of his most prominent publications include:

Muiños, S.B., Hein, J.R., Frank, M., Monteiro, J.H., Gaspar, L., Conrad, T., Garcia Pereira, H., and Abrantes, F., 2013. Deep-sea Fe-Mn crusts from the northeast Atlantic Ocean: Composition and resource considerations. Marine Georesources and Geotechnology, v. 31 (1), p. 40-70.
Hein, J.R., Mizell, K., Koschinsky, A., and Conrad, T.A., 2013. Deep-ocean mineral deposits as a source of critical metals for high- and green-technology applications: Comparison with land-based deposits. Ore Geology Reviews, v. 51, p. 1-14.
Hein, J.R. and Petersen, S., 2013. The geology of cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts. In, Baker, E. and Beaudoin, Y. (eds), Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Deep Sea Minerals: Cobalt-rich ferromanganese Crusts, a physical, biological, environmental, and technical review, v. 1A, Suva, Fiji, p. 7-14.
Hein, J.R. and Petersen, S., 2013. The geology of manganese nodules. In, Baker, E. and Beaudoin, Y. (eds), Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Deep Sea Minerals: Manganese nodules, a physical, biological, environmental, and technical review, v. 1B, Suva, Fiji, p. 7-18.
Petersen, S. and Hein, J.R., 2013. The geology of sea-floor massive sulphides. In, Baker,
E. and Beaudoin, Y. (eds), Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Deep Sea Minerals: Sea-floor massive sulphides, a physical, biological, environmental, and technical review, v. 1A, Suva, Fiji, p. 7-18.
Hein, J.R. and Koschinsky, A., 2014. Deep-ocean ferromanganese crusts and nodules. In Holland, H.D. and Turekian, K.K. (eds), Treatise on Geochemistry, Second Edition, v. 13, Chapter 11, p. 273-291, Oxford, Elsevier.
Hein, J.R., de Ronde, C.E.J., Koski, R.A., Ditchburn, R.G., Mizell, K., Tamura, Y., Stern, R.J., Conrad, T.A., Ishizuka, O., Leybourne, M.I., 2014. Layered hydrothermal barite-sulfide mound field, East Diamante caldera, Mariana volcanic arc. Economic Geology, v. 109, p. 2179-2206.
Bau, M., Schmidt, K., Koschinsky, A., Hein, J., Kuhn, T., and Usui, A., 2014.
Discriminating between different genetic types of marine ferro-manganese crusts and nodules based on rare earth elements and yttrium. Chemical Geology, v. 381, p. 1-9.
Schmidt, K., Bau, M., Hein, J.R., and Koschinsky, A., 2014. Fractionation of the geochemical twins Zr-Hf and Nb-Ta during scavenging from seawater by hydrogenetic ferromanganese crusts. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 140, p. 468-487.
Hein, J.R., Spinardi, F., Okamoto, N., Mizell, K., Thorburn, D. and Tawake, A., 2015. Critical metals in manganese nodules from the Cook Islands EEZ, abundances and distributions. Ore Geology Reviews, v. 68, p. 97-116 plus supplementary materials.
Hein, J.R. and Mizell, K., 2015. Ocean Minerals. In Smith, H.D., Suarez de Vivero, J.L., and Agardy, T. (eds), Routledge Handbook of Ocean Resources and Management, Chapter 20, Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, UK, p. 296-309.
Hein, J.R., Conrad, T.A., Mizell, K., Banakar, V., Frey, F.A., Sager, W.W., 2016.
Controls on ferromanganese crust composition and reconnaissance resource potential, Ninetyeast Ridge, Indian Ocean. Deep Sea Research I, v. 110, p. 1-19.
Hein, J.R., Koschinsky, A., Mikesell, M., Mizell, K., Glenn, C., and Wood, R., 2016.
Marine phosphorite deposits as a potential resource for heavy rare earth elements and yttrium. Minerals 2016, 6(3), 88, p. 1-22.
Koschinsky, A. and Hein, J.R., 2017. Marine ferromanganese encrustations: Archives of changing oceans. Elements v. 13 (3), p. 177-182.
Hein, J.R. and Cherkashov, G. (eds.), 2017. Marine mineral deposits: New resources for base, precious, and rare metals. Ore Geology Reviews, v. 87 (July), p. 1-192.
Conrad, T., Hein, J.R., Paytan, A., Clague, D.A., 2017. Formation of Fe-Mn crusts within a continental margin environment. Ore Geology Reviews, v. 87, p. 25-40.
Hein, J.R., Konstantinova, N., Mikesell, M., Mizell, K., Fitzsimmons, J.N., Lam, P.J., Jensen, L.T., Xiang, Y., Gartman, A., Cherkashov, G., Hutchinson, D.R., and Till, C.P., 2017. Arctic deep water ferromanganese-oxide deposits reflect the unique characteristics of the Arctic Ocean. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 18 (11), November 2017.
Konstantinova, N., Cherkashov, G., Hein, J.R., Mirão, J., Dias, L, Madureira, P., Kuznetsov, V., 2017. Composition and characteristics of the ferromanganese crusts from the western Arctic Ocean. Ore Geology Reviews, v. 87, p. 88-99.