Research Vessel Building Unit, KIOST Ansan, P. O. Box 29, Seoul 425-600, KoreaHigh-resolution bathymetry and physico-chemical properties of manganese nodules were explored to identify therelationship between morphological features and nodule occurrences in the KR1, one of the Korean contract nodulefields located in the NE Pacific. The high-resolution seabed mapping showed that the southwestern sector of theKR1 (KR1-1) was relatively deeper than the northeastern sector (KR1-2) which is occupied by small-scale sea-mounts. In terms of nodule occurrence, manganese nodules in the KR1-1 were comparatively larger (2-4 cm) withrough surface (t-type) and discoidal shapes (D-type), while those in the KR1-2 were generally small (<2 cm) withsmooth surface (s-type) and irregular shapes (I-type). In addition, the nodules in the KR1-1 had higher contents ofCu, Mn and Ni. Such connections of water depths to nodule appearances and metal contents are commonlyobserved in the Pacific nodule fields. On the other hand, the nodules in the KR1-2 tend to be controled by morpho-logical features. The seamounts in the KR1-2 might continuously provide rock fragments as new nuclei of manga-nese nodules. As a result, the nodules could not grow over than 2 cm and showed the shapes of a newbie (i.e.,smooth surface and irregular shapes). As a result, our observations indicate that occurrence features of manganesenodules could be subjected to water depths and seabed morphology simultaneously.