Temperate carbonate sediments of Northern Spencer Gulf, South Australia: a high salinity 'foramol' province

Cool-water skeletal carbonate sediments are forming in Spencer Gulf, South Australia, an area of high salinity and moderate tidal range. Four environments can be distinguished: deeper marine areas (10–20 m); shallow subtidal platforms and banks (2–10 m); intertidal and supratidal zones; and coastal springs and lakes fed by saline continental groundwaters. The sediments are predominately bioclastic carbonate sands; muddy sediments occur in protected intertidal environments. The most common grain types are gastropods, bivalves, foraminifera, coralline algae and quartz. Indurated non-skeletal carbonate grains have not been seen. Composition of the sediment varies little between environments, but considerable textural variation results from variation in the stability of the substrate, hydrodynamic conditions, depth of water, period of tidal inundation, supply of terrigenous grains, temperature, and salinity. The Spencer Gulf data suggests that temperature, and particularly minimum temperature, controls the distribution of skeletal and non-skeletal grain associations in high-salinity environments. The textures of the sedimentary facies of Spencer Gulf closely parallel those of equivalent environments in warm-water carbonate provinces.     

Linking pattern to process in reef sediment dynamics at Lady Musgrave Island,southern Great Barrier Reef

Linking surficial sediment patterns in reef environments to the processes that underlie their depositional dynamics enables predictions to be made of how environmental changes will influence reef‐associated sedimentary landforms, such as islands and beaches. Geomorphic linkages between sediment deposition patterns and the biophysical processes that drive them are often poorly resolved, particularly at broad landscape scales where tangible statements can be made about structural changes to landforms. The present study applies geospatial techniques to link patterns in reef sediment dynamics at Lady Musgrave Island to the underlying processes driving them. In situ calcification is characterized by developing a high resolution map of the surficial calcium carbonate producing communities inhabiting the reef platform, and associated sediments across the reef flat are analysed for grain size, kurtosis, sorting and threshold bed shear stress to explore transport pathways across the reef flat and lagoon. Wave energy is modelled across the entire reef platform as a potential driver of sediment dynamics, and morphometric linkages are empirically defined between wave energy and grain size. Findings indicate that carbonate sediments are primarily sourced from calcifying communities colonizing the outer periphery of the reef platform and that sediment grain size can be reliably linked to wave energy by virtue of a linear model.     

Organic fades in Recent sediments of carbonate platforms: Southwestern Puerto Rico and Northern Belize

Our organic facies model of a platform environment is based on the analysis of (1) total organic carbon, (2) visual protokerogen types and hydrogen indices of the sediments, (3) sediment mineralogy and grain size, and (4) reef patterns, water circulation, and relief of the adjacent land.TOC values are lowest on reefs and outer platforms (0.2%); intermediate in sediments fringing carbonate islands (0.5–2.0%), on sea-grass meadows (0.5–0.7%), and in forereef lagoons (0.1–0.7%); highest in inner platform lagoons (0.5–5.0%) and mangrove swamps (2.7–3.5%). Paniculate organic matter comprises structured terrestrial, marine, and amorphous types. On average, terrestrial material accounts for 28% of OM in Puerto Rico and 12% in Belize. The mean hydrogen index of the sediment is 355 (mg hydrocarbons/g TOC) in Puerto Rico and 719 in Belize.This study indicates that TOC values are mainly related to platform subenvironment, while OM types are controlled by distance from the shoreline. Organic facies dominated by structural terrestrial OM occur closer to the shore, whereas toward the shelf margin marine and amorphous OM contents increase.     

Facies interfingering and synsedimentary tectonics on late Ladinian–early Carnian carbonate platforms (Dolomites, Italy)

A stratigraphic model for carbonate platform evolution in the Dolomites during the late Ladinian-early Carnian is presented. New light on pre-Raibl growth of individual carbonate platforms of the western Dolomites was shed by biostratigraphic data combined with a revised lithostratigraphy. At the Schlern, Langkofel and Sella, the carbonate factory (Upper Schlern Dolomite) remained productive into the lowermost Carnian (Cordevolian = Aon Zone), and caused a levelling-out of the former steep platform-to-basin relief. In the eastern Dolomites, platforms were producing till basal Julian 2 (Austriacum Zone). At the Sella and Langkofel, the sedimentation pattern after deposition of the Upper Schlern Dolomite was strongly influenced by synsedimentary tectonics. A first phase of extensional tectonics led to local fissures, block-tilting, graben structures and breccia deposits. Composition and fabric of the reworked clasts argue for local-source sediments and short transport distances. The extensional structures are sealed by sediments of Lower Carnian age. Two facies belts (Schlernplateau beds and Dürrenstein Dolomite), which interfinger at the western side of the Sella, reflect the shallow marine environment with terrigenous-volcanoclastic input in the western Dolomites. A second generation of breccias at the Sella documents local fracturing of the Dürrenstein and Upper Schlern Dolomite. Depositional environments across the western and eastern Dolomites were largely dependent on differential subsidence. The sediments of early Carnian age on top of the Schlern platform are a few metres thick only, whereas, in the eastern Dolomite, up to 400-m-thick carbonate sediments ('Richthofen reef' and Settsass platform) were deposited. The most incomplete stratigraphic record is present at the Mendel platform in the west, where Ladinian volcanics are unconformably overlain by late Carnian 'Raibl beds'. The increase in sediment thickness towards the eastern Dolomites becomes partly visible at the eastern flank of the Sella platform. Differential subsidence across western and eastern Dolomites caused local fracturing of platform sediments. Synsedimentary extensional tectonics was a significant controlling factor to the lithofacies and thickness variations of early Carnian platform sediments in the Dolomites.     

Characteristics of modern carbonate contourite drifts

Carbonate environments inhabit the realm of the surface, intermediate and deep currents of the ocean circulation where they produce and continuously deliver material which is potentially deposited into contourite drifts. In the tropical realm, fine‐grained particles produced in shallow water and transported off‐bank by tidal, wind‐driven, and cascading density currents are a major source for transport and deposition by currents. Sediment production is especially high during interglacial times when sea level is high and is greatly reduced during glacial times of sea‐level lowstands. Reduced sedimentation on carbonate contourite drifts leads to early marine cementation and hardened surfaces, which are often reworked when current strength increases. As a result, reworked lithoclasts are a common component in carbonate drifts. In areas of temperate and cool water carbonates, currents are able to flow across carbonate producing areas and incorporate sediment directly to the current. The entrained skeletal carbonate particles have variable bulk density and shapes that lower the prediction of transport rates in energy‐based transport models, as well as prediction of current velocity based on grain size. All types of contourite drifts known in clastic environments are found in carbonate environments, but three additional drift types occur in carbonates because of local sources and current flow diversion in the complicated topography inherent to carbonate systems. The periplatform drift is a carbonate‐specific plastered drift that is nearly exclusively made of periplatform ooze. Its geometry is built by the interaction of along‐slope currents and downslope currents, which deliver sediment from the adjacent shallow‐water carbonate realm to the contour current via a line source. Because the periplatform drift is plastered on the slopes of the platforms it is also subject to mass gravity flow and large slope failures. At platform edges, a special type of patch drift develops. These hemiconal platform‐edge drifts also contain exclusively periplatform ooze but their geometry is controlled by the current around the corner of the platform. At the north‐western end of Little and Great Bahama Bank are platform‐edge drifts that are over 100 km long and up to 600 m thick. A special type of channel‐related drift forms when passages between carbonate buildups or channels within a platform open into deeper water. A current flowing in these channels will entrain material shed from the sediment producing areas. At the channel mouth, the sediment‐charged current deposits its sediment load into the deeper basin. With continuous flow, a submarine delta drift is built that progrades into the deep water. The strongly focused current forming the delta drift, is able to rework coarse skeletal grains and clasts, making this type of carbonate drift the coarsest drift type.     

Bathymetry and sediments on the carbonate platform off western India: Significance of Halimeda bioherms in carbonate sedimentation

Bathymetry across the carbonate platform off western India indicated small-size pinnacles and their lateral coalescence into 2 -6-m high mounds landward, and linear elongated carbonate ridges and troughs, mounds and banks up to a height of 20-m seaward of the platform. Seismic data indicated that these mounds were transparent with no rigid internal structure and can be defined as bioherms. The sediments were abundantly aragonite faecal pellets, Halimeda grains and ooids and their radiocarbon ages ranged from 11 to 7.5 ka BP. It appears that the growth of Halimeda bioherms on the platform was facilitated by intense upwelling during the early Holocene. The terrigenous sediments brought by rivers were deposited in the inner shelf and have not affected the growth of bioherms. It is estimated that the platform comprises at least 1.85 Gt of mass CaCO\(_3\) accumulated during the early Holocene and comparable to those on the Great Barrier Reef. Halimeda bioherms produce abundant carbonate sediments and their growth period represents a geological carbonate sink and release of high CO\(_2\) to the atmosphere. Detailed shallow seismic studies and sediment cores are needed to quantify the exact mass content of CaCO\(_3\) and model climate change during the early Holocene.     

Inhibition of dissolution within shallow water carbonate sediments: impacts of terrigenous sediment input on syn-depositional carbonate diagenesis

The early diagenetic chemical dissolution of skeletal carbonates has previously been documented as taking place within bioturbated, shallow water, tropical carbonate sediments. The diagenetic reactions operating within carbonate sediments that fall under the influence of iron‐rich (terrigenous) sediment input are less clearly understood. Such inputs should modify carbonate diagenetic reactions both by minimizing bacterial sulphate reduction in favour of bacterial iron reduction, and by the reaction of any pore‐water sulphide with iron oxides, thereby minimizing sulphide oxidation and associated acidity. To test this hypothesis sediment cores were taken from sites within Discovery Bay (north Jamaica), which exhibit varying levels of Fe‐rich bauxite sediment contamination. At non‐impacted sites sediments are dominated by CaCO₃ (up to 99% by weight). Pore waters from the upper few centimetres of cores show evidence for active sulphate reduction (reduced SO₄/Cl^? ratios) and minor CaCO₃ dissolution (increased Ca²⁺/Cl^? ratios). Petrographic observations of carbonate grains (specifically Halimeda and Amphiroa) show clear morphological evidence for dissolution throughout the sediment column. In contrast, at bauxite‐impacted sites, the sediment is composed of up to 15% non‐carbonate and contains up to 6000 μg g^?1 Fe. Pore waters show no evidence for sulphate reduction, but marked levels of Fe(II), suggesting that bacterial Fe(III) reduction is active. Carbonate grains show little evidence for dissolution, often exhibiting pristine surface morphologies. Samples from the deeper sections of these cores, which pre‐date bauxite influence, commonly exhibit morphological evidence for dissolution implying that this was a significant process prior to bauxite input. Previous studies have suggested that dissolution, driven by sulphate reduction and sulphide oxidation, can account for the loss of as much as 50% of primary carbonate production in localized platform environments. The finding that chemical dissolution is minor in a terrigenous‐impacted carbonate environment, therefore, has significant implications for carbonate budgets and cycling, and the preservation of carbonate grains in such sediment systems.     

Depositional characteristics and constraints on the mid-Valanginian demise of a carbonate platform in the intra-Tethyan domain,Circum-Rhodope Belt,northern Greece

Two platform-type carbonate successions of Berriasian to early Valanginian age are exposed in the eastern Circum-Rhodope belt which extends from the Chalkidiki Peninsula to the Thrace region in northern Greece. On the basis of new sedimentological and biostratigraphic results and analysis of published palaeomagnetic data, the Porto Koufos Limestones and Aliki Limestones are interpreted as deposits of a formerly unknown earliest Cretaceous carbonate platform in the Western Tethys realm. This Circum-Rhodope carbonate platform existed in tropical latitudes of the intra-Tethyan domain on the northern shelf area of the small Vardar oceanic basin. It was characterized by limited regional extent, remoteness from land, and short lateral transitions into deeper basin areas. Predominantly skeletal sediments with various microencrusters were produced along with variable amounts of lime mud, marine cements, peloids, intraclasts, aggregate grains, ooids and microbialites. The microfacies analysis of limestones formed around the Berriasian–Valanginian boundary indicates the configuration of a rimmed shelf with restricted lagoon, open lagoon, reef margin, fore-reef and upper slope depositional environments. During the early Valanginian a change from photozoan to heterozoan mode of carbonate production occurred mainly as a result of climate cooling. Deposition continued in protected lagoon, shoal and near-shoal settings implying a ramp-like morphology of the platform. Finally, a shift from skeletal to non-skeletal carbonate deposition took place as a consequence of high seawater carbonate saturation and possibly coeval increase of the marine trophic levels. A major sea level fall and climate cooling were the prime palaeoenvironmental controls that caused decline of the shallow-water carbonate factory and subsequent demise of the Circum-Rhodope carbonate platform in mid-Valanginian time that was followed by a long-term subaerial exposure and karstification which continued at least until the middle Eocene. The new results can be used for correlation with other shallow marine carbonates deposited in the intra-Tethyan domain during the earliest Cretaceous. Also, they appear to be of critical significance to decipher the Mesozoic geodynamic evolution of the Circum-Rhodope belt and adjacent tectonic zones.     

Phosphorus speciation in the sediment and mass balance for the central region of the Great Barrier Reef continental shelf (Australia)

Solid phase P speciation has been determined in sediments from a transect across the central section of the continental shelf and slope of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) lagoon. This region is characterized by a gradient of riverine aluminosilicate clay and silt nearshore, seawards of which biogenic carbonate sediment predominates. Phosphorus speciation results show large variations along this transect. Organic P and authigenic (apatite) P are the major chemical forms of phosphorus in the central GBR continental shelf sediments. Post-depositional reorganization of P was also observed, converting organic P and iron bound P (Fe-P) to authigenic (apatite) P. Phosphorus burial rate was estimated from measurements of total P concentration and excess ²¹⁰Pb sediment mass accumulation rates. Burial efficiency varies significantly over the shelf. Inshore areas showed significant P remobilization from sediments to the water column (up to ∼50%). The mid and the outer shelf showed little evidence for remobilization (except for coral reef platform sediments), with more of the sediment P being in the less reactive authigenic apatite phases. An appreciable fraction of this non-labile authigenic apatite phase was identified as fish bone. P sources and sinks over the central part of the GBR shelf were quantified using a mass balance approach. This showed that Coral Sea shelf edge upwelling events are essential to satisfy the large P nutrient demand of the whole GBR lagoon. P inputs due to upwelling events were greater than those contributed by local rivers over an average year.     

Carbonate sediment transport pathways based on foraminifera: case study from Frank Sound, Grand Cayman, British West Indies

Foraminifera can be used to determine the source(s) of carbonate sediment and the directions of sediment transport in shallow, coastal lagoons such as Frank Sound on the south-central coast of Grand Cayman. These determinations, based on the distribution of foraminiferal assemblages and ‘tracer species’ (numerically abundant species that live in known physiographic units and/or ecological conditions), show that the lagoonal sediments are a mixture of grains that originated in the lagoon and forereef. The variable proportions of these foraminifera throughout the lagoon reflects the dynamic processes that control lagoonal sedimentation. Amphistegina gibbosa, Discorbis rosea, and Asterigerina carinata lived in the forereef environment. The fact that these ‘tracer species’ are found throughout Frank Sound and in the beach sands, shows that they were transported across the reef crest and the lagoon. Abrasion-resistant Archaias angulatus, a‘tracer species’ indicative of a lagoonal setting, forms up to 50% of foraminiferal assemblages found in the lagoonal sediments. Preferential winnowing of small tests from these populations indicates sorting under high energy conditions. The vertical distribution of the forereef and lagoonal foraminifera in the sediment blanket that covers the floor of Frank Sound indicates that these processes are temporally persistent. Transportation of forereef foraminifera into and around the lagoon and sorting of the lagoonal foraminifera cannot take place under ‘normal’ conditions when the tranquil lagoon is characterized by weak currents. Storms and/or hurricanes, however, generate short-lived high-energy events that can move and sort the sediment and foraminifera. At the height of a storm, water and sediment are moved over the reef and then piled and held onshore by the onshore winds and the constant flow of water over the reef and across the lagoon. These currents can mix some of the lagoonal and forereef sediments. As a storm wanes, however, the ‘piled water’ flows offshore via strong rip currents that pass into the ocean through the channels which transect the reef. These currents winnow and/or strip sediment from the lagoon and may transport lagoonal sediments into the forereef area. As a result, residual lagoonal sediment is commonly characterized by larger and abrasion-resistant foraminifera.     

中上扬子地台中寒武世古地理及白云岩成因

通过中上扬子地区寒武系野外露头实测、踏勘、前人研究成果整理以及盆地腹地露头缺乏地区的钻井资料的分析,研究了中上扬子地区中寒武世的古地理背景。白云岩的成因、平面上以及垂向上的分布特征都受控于古地理。中寒武统整个台地区为局限台地,在台地发育咸化澙湖、潮坪、局限潮下、浅滩等次一级的古地理单元。中寒武统的膏岩与白云岩不同程度互层。向台地内部,滩相发育愈少,咸化澙湖、潮坪以及局限潮下越发育;越往台地的边缘,滩相越发育。研究区中寒武统白云岩按照晶体大小可以分为泥粉晶白云岩和砂糖状白云岩。泥粉晶白云岩为潮坪准同生白云岩,机理为蒸发泵作用,白云化流体来自于澙湖浓缩的海水。砂糖状白云岩绝大多数为回流渗透白云化成因,白云化流体主要来自于蒸发泵机理富余的高镁钙比流体。回流渗透白云化过程缓慢,白云石结晶较好。寒武系岩性在垂向上有很好的叠置关系,反映古地貌随地质时代的变迁。     

Drowning history of a Miocene carbonate platform (Zhujiang Formation, South China Sea)

The identification and interpretation of drowning events in the geologic record can aid significantly to the reconstruction of the depositional, tectonic and eustatic history of a study area and often improve reservoir and seal prediction in carbonate rocks. The differentiation between drowned platforms showing a record of continuous deepening and those with a record of exposure followed by rapid deepening remains, however, problematic. The Zhujiang carbonate platform (Liuhua 11-1 field, South China Sea) study shown here provides an example of an integrated approach combining high-resolution geochemistry, microfacies analyses and foraminiferal biostratigraphy in order to improve the reconstruction of environmental conditions prior, during and after platform demise and drowning. The Zhujiang carbonate platform displays the following vertical succession of four facies types i) skeletal grain facies with a miogypsinid/lepidocyclinid-dominated fauna deposited in a moderately deep (< 50 m), oligotrophic back-reef setting; ii) in situ corals in patch-reef facies in an oligotrophic lagoon (< 10 m); iii) rhodoid facies with in situ red algal crusts, dominated by Heterostegina sp. and spiroclypeids, possibly capped by a subaerial exposure surface. Well-rounded rhodoids representing a mesotrophic lagoon dominate the upper portions of the rhodoid facies; iv) pelagic marine shales of the Hanjiang Formation burying the carbonate platform after drowning. This facies succession, in combination with geochemical evidence suggests a deepening-upward trend. This trend might have been interrupted by transient subaerial exposure but no evidence for meteoric diagenesis was found at the drowning unconformity topping the carbonate platform. Instead, microfacies analyses suggest that platform demise may be related to progressive changes in environmental conditions, including increasing nutrient-levels and/or decreasing temperature up-core towards the drowning unconformity. These findings are of significance for those concerned with Miocene carbonate factories and, more specifically, the demise of carbonate platforms in general.     

Holocene carbonate sedimentation on the west Eucla Shelf, Great Australian Bight: a shaved shelf

The southern continental margin of Australia is a cool-water carbonate sedimentary province located in a high-energy, swell-dominated oceanographic setting. A vibrocore transect of ¹⁴C-dated sediments across the centre of the Eucla Shelf is the first record of Holocene shelf deposition in the Great Australian Bight. Much of the seafloor shallower than 70 m water depth, the base of wave abrasion, is bare Cenozoic limestone, in some places encrusted by (?) Late Pleistocene, coral-rich, limestone that is cemented by high-magnesium calcite (12 mole% MgCO₃). The areally extensive, 100 km-wide, hard, bored substrate supports an epibiota of coralline algae, minor bryozoans and soft algae or is covered by patches of Holocene sediment up to 1.5 m thick; generally a basal bivalve lag (< 3 ka) overlain by quartzose-bioclastic palimpsest sand. This pattern of active carbonate production but little accretion on the wave-swept mid- to inner-shelf is similar to that on other parts of the southern Australian continental margin. The term shaved shelf is proposed for this style of carbonate platform, formed by alternating periods of sediment accretion, cementation and erosion.

The palimpsest sand is typically rich in bivalves, coralline algae and locally, detrital dolomite. Outer shelf Holocene sediment, below the base of wave abrasion but inboard of the shelf edge, is a metre-thick unit of fine, microbioclastic muddy sand with minor delicate bryozoans overlying a 9–13 ka rhodolith gravel. Some of this outer shelf sediment appears to have been resedimented. The shelf edge is a sandy and rocky seafloor with active bryozoan growth and sediment production.

The Holocene sediments are enriched in coralline algal particles and conspicuous large foraminifers (cf. Marginopora) and depleted in bryozoans, as compared to coeval deposits on the Lacepede and Otway shelves off southeastern Australia. These differences are interpreted to reflect warmer waters of the Leeuwin Current and prevalent downwelling in this area as opposed to the general upwelling and colder waters in the east.     

西藏羌塘盆地中侏罗世布曲期及夏里期岩相古地理与油气远景

在露头剖面地层学及沉积学研究的基础上,采用单因素分析多因素综合作图法,编制了西藏羌塘盆地中侏罗世布曲期和夏里期的单因素图和岩相古地理图。布曲期以碳酸盐岩沉积为主,自北而南依次发育局限台地（潮坪、泻湖）、开阔台地（台盆、浅滩/点礁）、台缘礁/浅滩、台缘斜坡、盆地等沉积（亚）相;夏里期以陆源碎屑沉积为主,发育泻湖、潮坪、滨岸、陆棚等沉积（亚）相。布曲组台盆和泻湖相泥灰岩和泥晶灰岩是良好的烃源岩,台缘礁和浅滩相碳酸盐岩是良好的储集岩,而上覆的夏里组泻湖和潮坪相泥岩和膏盐层是良好的区域性盖层,共同构成良好的生、储、盖组合。该生储盖组合大都被上覆的上侏罗统、白垩系、第三系覆盖。因此,布曲组是盆地内最好的油气勘探目的层,沿中央隆起带两侧以及北羌塘地区的琵琶湖－半岛湖凸起一带应是油气勘探的有利区带。     

Late Holocene to Recent aragonite-cemented transgressive lag deposits in the Abu Dhabi lagoon and intertidal sabkha

Modern cemented intervals (beachrock, firmgrounds to hardgrounds and concretionary layers) form in the lagoon and intertidal sabkha of Abu Dhabi. Seafloor lithification actively occurs in open, current-swept channels in low-lying areas between ooid shoals, in the intertidal zone of the middle lagoon, some centimetres beneath the inner lagoonal seafloor (i.e. within the sediment column) and at the sediment surface the intertidal sabkha. The concept of ‘concretionary sub-hardgrounds’, i.e. laminar cementation of sediments formed within the sediment column beneath the shallow redox boundary, is introduced and discussed. Based on calibrated radiocarbon ages, seafloor lithification commenced during the Middle to Late Holocene (ca 9000 cal yr bp ), and proceeds to the present-day. Lithification occurs in the context of the actualistic relative sea-level rise shifting the coastline landward across the extremely low-angle carbonate ramp. The cemented intervals are interpreted as parasequence boundaries in the sense of ‘marine flooding surfaces’, but in most cases the sedimentary cover overlying the transgressive surface has not yet been deposited. Aragonite, (micritic) calcite and, less commonly, gypsum cements lithify the firmground/hardground intervals. Cements are described and placed into context with their depositional and marine diagenetic environments and characterized by means of scanning electron microscope petrography, cathodoluminescence microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The morphology of aragonitic cements changes from needle-shaped forms in lithified decapod burrows of the outer lagoon ooidal shoals to complex columnar, lath and platy crystals in the inner lagoon. Precipitation experiments provide first tentative evidence for the parameters that induce changes in aragonite cement morphology. Data shown here shed light on ancient, formerly aragonite-cemented seafloors, now altered to diagenetic calcites, but also document the complexity of highly dynamic near coastal depositional environments.     

Whiting-related sediment export along the Middle Miocene carbonate ramp of Great Bahama Bank

Modern aragonite needles are present all along the modern leeward margin of Great Bahama Bank (ODP Leg 166), while Middle Miocene sediments contain needles only in more distal areas (Sites 1006 and 1007). In contrast to the rimmed, flat-topped platform topography during the Plio-Pleistocene, the Miocene Great Bahama Bank morphology is a carbonate ramp profile. This might imply a different location and precipitation type for Miocene aragonite needles. In this study, aragonite needles in Miocene sediments were isolated using a granulometric separation method. Furthermore, the isolation of the various carbonate components enables the identification of primary versus diagenetic components. The Miocene aragonite needles are concentrated in the finest granulometric sediment fractions (<12 μm). The fraction-specific geochemical analyses (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O and Sr elemental abundance) represent useful tools to assess the possible sources of the aragonite mud. The geochemical variation of the fractions, rich in pristine aragonite needles, and the characteristics of the needle morphology point to whiting phenomena as the main sediment source and algal fragmentation as a minor component. Both components indicate shallow-water environments as the main sediment source area. Ramp-top-related fine-grained particles now present at distal sites were likely exported as suspended material similar to present-day transport mechanisms. The scarcity of needles at proximal sites is probably linked to hydrodynamic processes but dissolution and recrystallization processes cannot be excluded. The granulometric separation approach applied here enables a better characterization of the finest carbonate particles representing an important step towards the discrimination between primary and diagenetic fine-grained components.     

宁夏天景山奥陶纪碳酸盐岩地球化学相关性研究

宁夏天景山—米钵山奥陶纪马家沟组为一套台地碳酸盐岩沉积,米钵山组为一套台地前缘斜坡重力流沉积的碎屑岩夹泥质岩、碳酸盐岩。两组地层碳酸盐岩主要氧化物、微量元素和稀土元素具有明显的时空演化规律,地球化学特征既有独立性,又有相关性,与岩石宏观特征相一致,与沉积环境相关联。     

Enriched stable carbon isotopes in the pore waters of carbonate sediments dominated by seagrasses: Evidence for coupled carbonate dissolution and reprecipitation

Studies of the δ¹³C of pore water dissolved inorganic carbon (δ¹³C-DIC) were carried out in shallow water carbonate sediments of the Great Bahamas Bank (GBB) to further examine sediment-seagrass relationships and to more quantitatively describe the couplings between organic matter remineralization and sediment carbonate diagenesis. At all sites studied δ¹³C-DIC provided evidence for the dissolution of sediment carbonate mediated by metabolic CO₂ (i.e., CO₂ produced during sediment organic matter remineralization); these observations are also consistent with pore water profiles of alkalinity, total DIC and Ca²⁺ at these sites. In bare oolitic sands, isotope mass balance further indicates that the sediment organic matter undergoing remineralization is a mixture of water column detritus and seagrass material; in sediments with intermediate seagrass densities, seagrass derived material appears to be the predominant source of organic matter undergoing remineralization. However, in sediments with high seagrass densities, the pore water δ¹³C-DIC data cannot be simply explained by dissolution of sediment carbonate mediated by metabolic CO₂, regardless of the organic matter type. Rather, these results suggest that dissolution of metastable carbonate phases occurs in conjunction with reprecipitation of more stable carbonate phases. Simple closed system calculations support this suggestion, and are broadly consistent with results from more eutrophic Florida Bay sediments, where evidence of this type of carbonate dissolution/reprecipitation has also been observed. In conjunction with our previous work in the Bahamas, these observations provide further evidence for the important role that seagrasses play in mediating early diagenetic processes in tropical shallow water carbonate sediments. At the same time, when these results are compared with results from other terrigenous coastal sediments, as well as supralysoclinal carbonate-rich deep-sea sediments, they suggest that carbonate dissolution/reprecipitation may be more important than previously thought, in general, in the early diagenesis of marine sediments.     

Grain susceptibility to the effects of microboring: implications for the preservation of skeletal carbonates

The boring activity of microendolithic organisms such as cyanobacteria, chlorophytes, rhodophytes and fungi, represents a major destructive process affecting sediment preservation within reef environments. This study demonstrates the presence of two distinct assemblages of microborers within sediments collected from the fringing reefs of north Jamaica, correlating to the upper (<18 m depth) and lower (>18 m depth) photic zones. The upper photic zone assemblage is dominated by cyanobacteria and chlorophytes, whilst rhodophytes and fungi become more abundant with increasing water depth. Most significant from a grain preservation perspective is the variable nature of grain infestation observed between different reef sites and different carbonate grain types. The highest degree of grain infestation occurs within shallow, low-energy back-reef environments and the most susceptible grains (at all sites) are corals, molluscs and foraminifera. Coralline algae, Halimeda and echinoid fragments are rarely heavily infested. High rates of infestation at back-reef sites result in rapid diminution of the most susceptible grains, especially coral, which are either underrepresented, or contribute only to the finer sediment fractions, in the subsurface. Fore-reef grain assemblages undergo relatively little alteration. Microboring therefore has potential to bias the fossil record by removing the most susceptible skeletal grains. The impact of microboring upon back-reef grain assemblages must be considered when attempting to model depositional processes within both modern and ancient reef environments.