Three seamounts of the Emperor Seamount chain were sampled during Leg 55: Ojin seamount, Hole 430A, 37° 59.29 N 170° 35.86 E Nintoku seamount, Hole 432A, 41° 20.03 N 170° 22.74 E Suiko seamount, Hole 433A, 44° 46.60 N 170° 01.26 E Hole 433C, 44° 46.63 N 170° 01.23 E Oceanites, ankaramites, transitional tholeiites, alkali basalts, and hawaiites were recovered from these seamounts.The purpose of this study is the fractionation of trace elements according to their physicochemical properties and partition coefficient classification; fractionation of the elements observed in these samples is compared with their fractionation in mid-oceanic ridge tholeiites.Some preliminary conclusions are presented with regard to mantle heterogeneity or homogeneity and magmatic processes. [NOT CONTROLLED OCR]