On DSDP Leg 70, Glomar Challenger piston cored hydrothermal MnO2-encrusted nontronite mounds and adjacent pelagic sediments through to basement. Pore waters were collected by centrifuging, squeezing, and in situ sampling: analyses are presented here for Ca, Mg, Si, NH3, Mn, and Fe. Our results confirm Maris and Bender's (1982) conclusions that hydrothermal solutions enriched in Ca by 1-2 mM and depleted in Mg by ~2 mM are upwelling through the mounds and the surrounding pelagic sediments. Si, NH3, and Mn2+ concentrations generally increase upcore, reflecting addition of products of metabolic reactions to upwelling hydrothermal solutions. Pore water iron concentrations decrease upcore, probably as a result of oxidation and precipitation of upwelling hydrothermal iron. The formation of nontronite (Fe(III)4Si8O20(OH)4) involves oxidation of dissolved Fe2+. Several models, constrained by the electron balance, are proposed to explain the process of nontronite formation. The stratigraphy of the mounds (thick nontronite covered by a thin MnO2 crust) may be explained by postulating Fe2+ oxidation by MnO2 and replacement of MnO2 by nontronite at the base of the MnO2 crust, followed by upward migration of Mn2+ and precipitation of MnO2 at the sediment water interface.