For a century, the discovery of ferromanganese (Fe–Mn) nodules in the World Ocean was universally and indisputably credited to the Challenger circum-global oceanographic expedition of 1872–1876, during which the first manganese nodules and crusts were dredged up from the sea floor in February–March 1873. A century later, a counterclaim appeared in the literature, crediting Nordenskiöld's expedition on Sofia in 1868, five years before the Challenger findings, for the discovery of Fe–Mn nodules in the ocean. This counterclaim, widely accepted without scrutiny, was based on the Gustaf Lindström (1884) chemical analysis of a single bottom sediment sample among 14 samples from two Arctic expeditions led by Nordenskiöld: Sofia 1868 and Vega 1878–1880. The Lindström (1884) report published as an eight-page brochure in Swedish remained almost unknown to the research community until now. A close examination of this report and other historical evidence revealed that the counterclaim of discovery by the Sofia 1868 expedition to the Kara Sea is invalid based on three notable facts: (1) Sofia never sailed in the Kara Sea; (2) the single bottom sediment sample with an extremely high content of Mn (24%), was collected in the Kara Sea during the Vega Expedition across the Northeast Passage; (3) the Vega sampling was in 1878, not in 1868. Meanwhile, five and a half years prior to the Vega sampling, the first Fe–Mn nodules and crusts were dredged up from the sea floor on 18 February and March 7, 1873 during the Challenger expedition. These findings have been promptly reported and published in May 1873. Thus, the credit for the discovery of ferromanganese nodules in the World Ocean firmly belongs to the Challenger expedition.

一个世纪以来，世界海洋中锰铁 (Fe-Mn) 结核的发现被普遍且无可争议地归功于挑战者号1872 年至 1876 年的环球海洋探险，在此期间，从海中挖出了第一批锰结核和结壳1873 年 2 月至 3 月。一个世纪后，文献中出现了一项反诉，将诺登斯基厄德于 1868 年在索非亚的探险归功于挑战者号的发现五年，因为他在海洋中发现了铁锰结核。这一反诉在未经审查的情况下被广泛接受，其依据是 Gustaf Lindström (1884) 对来自 Nordenskiöld 领导的两次北极探险的 14 个样品中的单个底部沉积物样品的化学分析：Sofia 1868 和织女星1878–1880 年。Lindström (1884) 的报告以八页的瑞典语小册子出版，直到现在，研究界几乎都不为人所知。对这份报告和其他历史证据的仔细审查表明，基于三个值得注意的事实，索非亚1868 年喀拉海探险队发现的反诉是无效的：（1）索非亚从未在喀拉海航行；(2) 在织女星远征东北航道期间在喀拉海采集了Mn含量极高(24%)的单底沉积物样品；(3) Vega采样是在 1878 年，而不是 1868 年。同时，在Vega之前的五年半1873 年 2 月 18 日和 3 月 7 日，挑战者号探险队从海底挖出了第一批铁锰结核和结壳。这些发现已于 1873 年 5 月迅速报告并发表。因此，在世界海洋中发现铁锰结核的功劳完全属于挑战者号探险队。