Influence of hydrothermal-metasomatic processes on the formation of present-day sulfide ores in carbonate bottom sediments of the mid-Atlantic Ridge (19°–20° N)

Based on materials obtained in Cruises 33 and 34 of the R/V Professor Logachev, the paper addresses formation conditions, morphology, structures, mineral composition of the present-day oceanic sulfide ores, and their relationships with the host (biogenic carbonate) bottom sediments in the 19°–20° N MAR (Zenith-Victoria and Petersburg hydrothermal fields) region. The grain size distribution, mineral composition of the carbonate (background) and ore-hosting sediments, as well as physicochemical parameters of their interstitial waters, are examined. The results suggest a significant role of hydrothermal-metasomatic processes in the formation of ores and ore-bearing sediments. A model is proposed for the formation of sulfide mineralization in oceanic sediments at the geochemical barrier in the zone of their interaction with the acid hydrothermal (diffuse-type) ore-bearing solutions delivered from rocks of the ocean floor.     

Diagenesis of siliceous oozes—I. Chemical controls on the rate of opal-A to opal-CT transformation—an experimental study

Evidence from deep-sea sediments supports the following diagenetic maturation sequence: opal-A (siliceous ooze) → opal-CT (porcelanite) → chalcedony or cryptocrystalline quartz (chert). A solution-redeposition mechanism is involved in the opal-A to opal-CT transformation. Exceptions to the overall maturation sequence are numerous, suggesting that temperature and time are not the only important factors controlling these mineralogical transformations. The rates of the above transformations are strongly affected by the composition of the solution and of the host sediments ; in Mesozoic clayey sediments, opal-CT predominates, while in carbonate sediments quartz is most common.Experiments at 25 and 150°C over a period of one day to six months show that the transformation rate of opal-A to opal-CT is much higher in carbonate than in clay-rich sediments, and that opal-CT lepisphere formation is aided by the precipitation of nuclei with magnesium hydroxide as an important component. The role of carbonate is explained as follows : in carbonate-rich sediments, the dissolution of carbonate provides the necessary alkalinity, and sea water provides the magnesium for the magnesium hydroxide in the nuclei. In contrast, in clay-rich sediments the clay minerals compete with opal-CT formation for the available alkalinity from sea water. As a result, the clays are enriched in Mg, and the rate of opal-CT formation is strongly reduced. This mechanism also bears on the common observation of carbonate replacement by silica.     

Molar tooth structures of the Neoarchean Monteville Formation, Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa. II: A wave-induced fluid flow model

Sedimentological, morphological, and geochemical characteristics of molar tooth (MT) structures in the ca 2·6 Ga Monteville Formation suggest a new fluid flow model for MT formation: (i) intercalated shales and carbonate sands were deposited near to above storm wave base; (ii) sediments cracked, forming an interconnected network of MT cracks that were also open to pores in sand lenses; (iii) storm waves pumped sea water into open MT crack networks, causing rapid microcrystalline carbonate nucleation, Ostwald ripening of nuclei, and growth of granular carbonate cores; some of these cores were transported by water flowing through the cracks; (iv) unfilled MT cracks collapsed, and filled MT ribbons deformed plastically as host sediments compacted and dewatered; (v) carbonate cores were overgrown by polygonal rims; and (vi) MT structures deformed brittlely with additional compaction and produced pebbly lags if reworked. MT cracks may have formed by multiple mechanisms; however, expansion of gas from organic decay and sediment heaving due to wave loading best explain MT crack morphology and are most consistent with the fluid flow model for MT CaCO₃ presented here.     

Freshwater stromatolites with the cone-in-cone structure from the Neogene lacustrine sediments of Vietnam

Morphological features of the columnar-stratiform stromatolites, which resemble the cone-in-cone structure, from Neogene lacustrine sediments of northern Vietnam are analyzed. Their structural-textural peculiarities and interrelations with the host terrigenous sediments of a stromatolitic buildup are discussed. It is shown that stages of the growth of columns are recorded in the succession of vertically oriented carbonate plates, which form stromatolites, and in the serrate surface protrusions of the plates at their contacts with host sediments. It is established that replacement of the columnar stromatolites by the stratiform varieties in the section can be related to variations in the intensity of terrigenous material influx to the sedimentation basin. Stratiform stromatolites were formed during relatively slow accumulation of sedimentary material. Appearance of the columnar varieties is attributed to intensification of sedimentation.     

Paleoceanographic Setting and Preservation of Buried Manganese Deposits in DSDP/ODP Cores

Abstract. The occurrence, lithology, and stratigraphic setting of buried manganese deposits and associated host sediments in cores obtained on Legs 123–210 of the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) are examined in order to establish the formative environment and conditions of preservation. Fossil manganese nodule and crusts are found to have formed or deposited throughout the period from 100 Ma to the present, with an additional example of formation near 137 Ma, suggesting that the deep-sea environment has been oxic and suitable for the formation of manganese nodules and crusts since the Cretaceous. Many manganese nodules and crusts occur on horizons corresponding to hiatuses in sedimentation or periods of slow sedimentation, consistent with the environment in which modern nodules form (sedimentation rate less than 10 m/m.y.). Sediments overlying the fossil nodules and crusts are oozes or biogenic sediments with sedimentation rates of 1–18 m/m.y. Low total organic carbon (<0.1 wt%) in the overlying sediments and high sulfate content (>25 mM) in interstitial water around the manganese horizon suggest that no strong reduction occurred within the overlying sediments. Coverage by biogenic sediments containing only small amounts of organic matter is therefore considered important for the preservation of manganese nodules and crusts. Manganese carbonate occurs sporadically as nodules, concretions or thin layers in various host sediments, including clay, calcareous ooze and siliceous ooze with sedimentation rates of 6–125 m/m.y. Hiatuses are rare around the host sediments of manganese carbonate. Higher total organic carbon (0.2–1.8 wt%) in the host sediments and lower sulfate content (0–25 mM) in interstitial water around the manganese carbonate horizon suggest that reduction in association with decomposition of organic matter would have proceeded in the host sediments.     

Temperate shelf carbonate sediments in the Cenozoic of New Zealand

Shelf limestones are widely distributed in New Zealand Cenozoic sequences and are especially well developed in the Oligocene. Detailed field and laboratory work on several Oligocene occurrences, and reconnaissance field-work at most other sections have elucidated the major characteristics of the environment, texture, composition and diagenesis of these sediments. Several generalizations emerge which contrast with the commonly accepted characteristics of shallow marine carbonate sedimentation established from studies of tropical and subtropical deposits. The limestones are either calcarenites or, less commonly, calcilutites and, in general, these two lithologies are mutually exclusive, both in time and space. The allochems and interparticle carbonate mud (where developed) in calcarenitic limestones consist almost exclusively of fragmented skeletal material derived primarily from bryozoan, echinodermal, benthic foraminiferal, barnacle, brachiopod, bivalve and coralline red algal tests. The calcilutitic limestones consist mainly of whole and disintegrated tests of pelagic foraminifers and coccolithophorids. Non-skeletal carbonate components such as ooids, pellets and aggregates are conspicuously absent from both lithologies. Reefal structures are also absent or rare and are mainly oyster reefs. The limestones commonly contain a significant content of terrigenous material and/or glauconite and at the stratigraphic level the limestones are intimately associated with terrigenous formations. The distribution of the carbonate sediments has been governed mainly by rate of supply of river-derived terrigenous material, by subsequent dispersal patterns of this material over the shelf, and by current sorting. As a consequence of selective grain transport, bedding in the limestones is often defined by the cyclic alternation on a wide range of scales of carbonate units that are relatively enriched and relatively impoverished in terrigenous material. The primary (carbonate) mineralogy of the carbonate sediments was completely dominated by magnesium calcite and/or calcite with only small amounts of aragonite and no dolomite or associated evaporite minerals. The metastable magnesium calcite and aragonite grains were probably altered on, or close below, the shallow sea-floor. Among other factors, transformation was encouraged by the absorption of magnesium in pore waters by montmorillonitic clays and by the complete oxidation of all organic matter in the bottom sediments. Magnesium calcite grains were stabilized by texturally non-destructive incongruent dissolution, but aragonite was often dissolved without trace from the sediment, especially in grainstones. Thus submarine diagenesis has been characterized by selective dissolution phenomena. Cementation by granular and syntaxial rim orthosparite of calcite and/or ferroan calcite composition occurred mainly during shallow subsurface burial and was associated with the intergranular solution of calcitic skeletal fragments, especially at those levels in the sediment relatively enriched in terrigenous material. This lithification process has worked to accentuate and modify original litho-logic differences and sedimentary structures in the primary sediments and has produced a kind of rhythmic vertical alternation of less well cemented, microstylolitized, impure limestone beds (‘cement-donor’ beds) and well cemented, more open textured, purer limestone beds (‘cement-receptor’ beds). The New Zealand limestones formed between latitudes 60° S and 35° S under generally cool temperate to warm temperate climate conditions. Oxygen isotopes suggest that surface waters were mainly significantly cooler than 20°C, so that shelf waters may have experienced extended periods of undersaturation with respect to calcium carbonate. Generally open circulation patterns maintained near normal salinity values over the entire shelf platform. Calculated sedimentation rates for the New Zealand carbonate sediments are generally very low (< 5 cm/1000 years). Periods of more active deposition commonly alternated with longer periods of non-deposition and by-passing or erosion. It is concluded that many characteristics of the New Zealand shelf limestone occurrences are explained best by a temperate latitude model of shallow marine carbonate sedimentation.     

Molar tooth structures: Formation and specificity of carbonate diagenesis in the Late Precambrian,Middle Riphean Sukhaya Tunguska Formation of the Turukhansk Uplift,Siberia

A new way of formation of the problematic Molar Tooth (MT) structures, which, along with stromatolites, could be considered as a “visiting card” of the Riphean, was examined on the example of carbonate sediments of the Riphean Sukhaya Tunguska Formation from the Turukhansk Uplift, Siberia. These structures were formed due to the consequent replacement of oozy constituent of carbonate sediments with calcitic microsparite in the course of diagenesis with substantial shift of the dynamic equilibrium toward the solution in the sediment—porous solution—microsparite system. An excess of soluble magnesium significantly hampering precipitation of crystal cores of the future calcitic microsparite could be one of the possible causes of the shift. It is suggested that magnesium mole fraction of the porous solutions was related to the early dissolution of the metastable high-Mg calcite of the silty sediment brought from the areas of active stromatolite formation. The facies occurrence of the MT-structures indicates that they occurred in descending trails of the most productive zones of carbonate platforms tapering toward the basin. The synchronism of stratigraphic trends of the MT-structures and stromatolites in the Precambrian resulted from the evolution of carbonate-productive microbe-mineral systems which were the immediate suppliers of fine-grained carbonate sediment into external zones of carbonate platforms.     

Sphalerite-bearing detrital ‘sand’ bodies in Mississippi Valley-type zinc deposits Mascot-Jefferson City district,Tennessee

The Mississippi Valley-type sphalerite mineralization in the Mascot-Jefferson City zinc district of East Tennessee occurs as open-space fillings in breccia bodies within the upper part of the Knox Group (Lower Ordovician) which is truncated by a regional unconformity. A lower age limit of mineralization is constrained by the formation of solution-collapse breccia bodies, which are believed to be related to the post-Knox unconformity. The breccias contain irregularly distributed “sand” bodies that represent cavities filled with well-laminated and size-graded, sphalerite-bearing, detrital, internal sediments. The texture, composition, and fluid inclusion characteristics of the sphalerite, are consistent with its local derivation from the wallrocks as detrital grains. The conformability between the laminations in the sediments and the bedding planes of the host carbonate rocks suggests that the sand bodies formed prior to the regional deformation event (Alleghenian orogeny). The stylolitization of carbonate and sphalerite clasts in the internal sediments as well as the deformation of the sphalerite are also consistent with a pre-Alleghenian age for the emplacement of the main-stage sphalerite mineralization in the Mascot-Jefferson City district and, by analogy, in other Lower Ordovician-hosted Mississippi Valley-type districts of the southern Appalachians.     

The role of diagenetic carbonate concretions in the preservation of the original sedimentary record

The Upper Cretaceous organic rich limestones and marls of the Tarfaya basin of southwest Morocco contain numerous calcite concretions, which formed during early diagenesis. Relative textural similarities are observed both in the concretions and in the host sediments. However, the biological content of the concretions is considerably higher than in the host marls and limestones. Evidence for fossil dissolution in the host marls, and the absence of concretions in some fossil-rich zones, suggest that the difference in fossil abundance between the concretions and host rock is a function of dissolution, rather than preferential precipitation in fossil-rich areas. Consequently, the carbonate concretions appear to represent the 'memory' of the sediment and allow quantification of the original biological components and are potential tools for estimating the original biological material deposited in the soft sediments.     

Geochemical factors for endogenic mineral formation in the bottom sediments of the Tazheran lakes (Baikal area)

We studied recent sedimentation in small saline and brackish lakes located in the Ol’khon region (western Baikal area) with arid and semiarid climate. The lakes belong to the Tazheran system; it is a series of compactly located closed shallow lakes, with a limited catchment area and different mineralization, under the same landscape, climatic, geologic, and geochemical conditions. Two complementary approaches are applied in the research: (1) a detailed study of individual lake and (2) a comparison of the entire series of lakes, which can be considered a natural model for studying the relationship between endogenic mineral formation and the geochemistry of lake waters. The lake waters and bottom sediments were studied by a set of modern methods of geochemistry, mineralogy, and crystal chemistry. The mineral component of the bottom sediments was analyzed by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), IR spectroscopy, and electron microscopy. The lakes are characterized by predominant carbonate sedimentation; authigenic pyrite, smectite, chlorite, and illite are detected in assemblage with carbonate minerals in the bottom sediments. Carbonate phases have been identified, and their proportions have been determined in the samples by decomposition of the complex XRD profiles of carbonate minerals into peaks using the Pearson VII function. Mathematical modeling of the XRD profiles of carbonates has revealed that predominantly Mg-calcites with variable Mg content and excess-Ca dolomite accumulate in lake bottom sediments influenced by biogenic processes. Aragonite, monohydrocalcite, and rhodochrosite form in some lakes along with carbonates of the calcite-dolomite series. We show a dependence of the composition of the assemblages of the newly formed endogenic carbonate minerals and their crystallochemical characteristics on the chemical composition of lake waters.     

The structure and genesis of limestones at the boundary between the Abalak and Bazhenov formations in Central West Siberia

In the central West-Siberian basin, fractured and cavernous carbonate rocks that are often oilbearing, which are referred to as correlation layer 1 (CL1), are frequently present at the top of the Abalak formation and/or at the bottom of the Bazhenov formation. They are sporadically distributed over the profile and the area; their genesis is still not completely clear. The structural features and oil-bearing capacity of carbonate rocks have been studied, as well at the distributions of carbon and oxygen stable isotopes from bulk rocks and calcite filling fractures in the CL1 layer that was penetrated by six wells. The spherolitic microstructure of limestones together with the carbon and oxygen isotope distributions (δ¹³C =–14 to–26‰ VPDB; δ¹⁸O = 0 to–5‰ VPDB) indicate the precipitation of carbonate material due to microbial activity on the surface and/or in the upper part of sediments at high methane concentrations. The fractures and caverns in limestones are frequently oil-bearing; they contain coarse crystals of calcite, pyrite, quartz, and, more rarely, barite. This degree of mineralization and the isotope composition of calcite oxygen (up to–18‰ VPDB) indicate that calcite precipitates at elevated temperature (up to 120°C) from the hydrothermal fluids that could migrate from underlying strata.     

川北下寒武统仙女洞组台缘斜坡碳酸盐岩重力流沉积

基于重力流剖面的野外观察、露头解剖及镜下鉴定等分析手段,对四川盆地北部下寒武统仙女洞组台缘斜坡碳酸盐 岩重力流沉积及发育机制进行了研究。研究区位于仙女洞组,主要沉积粉砂质泥岩、生屑泥晶灰岩、藻灰岩等3种岩石类 型;根据层面上产出形态的不同,将该区碳酸盐岩重力流沉积分为似瘤状碳酸盐岩重力流沉积和角砾型碳酸盐岩重力流沉 积2类。结合露头区重力流沉积物粒度及岩性变化,将碳酸盐岩重力流沉积由下至上划分出5个发育期次,期次内部重力流 沉积物由细变粗,纵向上呈现出明显的叠置关系,与仙女洞组时期所经历的海退环境大致吻合。地震、风暴浪等触发机制 导致台缘斜坡上部松散沉积的灰泥丘块体发生破碎并沿斜坡发生滑塌,伴随水体注入,大块砾石在沉积物-水体混合的环 境中发生破碎搅动,形成大小不等的块体,深水底流等作用对未固结或弱固结的砾屑灰岩进行溶蚀、改造,最终形成了层 面形态特征不同的2类似瘤状碳酸盐岩重力流沉积。角砾型碳酸盐岩重力流沉积则主要是未破碎的巨型灰泥丘块体经搬运 和短距离滑塌,最终与似瘤状砾屑灰岩共同沉积而成。     

浙西下寒武统大陈岭组地震液化脉微量元素特征研究

地震液化脉是地震作用引起的软沉积变形的重要构造之一,前人对脉体形态学和动力学做了大量的研究工作,但对其成因的微观地球化学行为研究较少。笔者采取开化裴岭脚剖面2期地震事件沉积的3套地震液化脉层样品21块,分别对其脉体和含脉体围岩做了微量元素分析。结果显示,液化脉中Cs、Ba、Th、Zr、Hf、Cr、Rb、Nb等反映陆源性质元素明显高于含脉体围岩,而Sr、Y、Ni反映海相沉积特征元素则表现为含脉体围岩高于脉体。通过对V、Mo富集度和微量元素特征参数Sr/Ba、Th/U等的综合研究,发现液化脉体表现为氧化环境,含脉体围岩为还原环境,且脉体和围岩均具有淡水作用特点。研究认为,早寒武世大陈岭期白云质灰岩沉积过程中有蚀源区陆源碎屑物的补入;在地震突发振动力作用下,富含水的软沉积层液化泄水,因化学沉积物和碎屑沉积物性质的差异,塑性碳酸盐沉积物随水部分流失,使得单位体积内碳酸盐沉积含量低于围岩,导致脉体中更富陆源物质;地震事件沉积层属潮上带,特别是地震液化泄水后期至成岩期,含地震液化脉沉积层曾暴露地表,受后期陆源物的再补给及大气降水淋滤蚀变作用影响,表现为古气候和古盐度异常,为浙西大陈岭组浅水沉积提供了地球化学的证据。     

The Strontium Isotopic Composition in Glendonites of the Middle Jurassic in Northern Siberia

The Sr isotope composition in glendonites from two sections of the Middle Jurassic of Northern Siberia has been determined for the first time. Glendonite was formed by the replacement of icite by calcite during diagenesis. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in most of the samples of glendonites (0.70687–0.70715) is insignificantly lower than this ratio in the Late Bathonian–Early Bajocian ocean. This may indicate a contribution from the Callovian seawater in the formation of individual calcite generations or the influence of methanogenic fluid of deep origin.     

Settings of the formation of mineral composition of bottom sediments in the barrier zone of the Angara River

The paper considers conditions of the accumulation of bottom sediments and the formation of their mineral composition in a specific type of barrier zones that was formed due to the overregulation of natural runoff of the Angara River and construction of the Angara reservoir cascade. It was established that the bottom sediments accumulated in the barrier zone were supplied by the runoff of the Angara River and its tributaries. The mineral composition of solid runoff of the rivers is determined by the petrographic composition of their water drainage basins. Boundaries of the distinguished mineralogical subprovinces of the bottom sediments coincide with a sharp change in the dynamic parameters of water flow. The revealed compositional variations of the heavy fraction depending on the water flow velocity can be used to solve an inverse problem: deciphering the hydrodynamic conditions of the formation of river bed sediments.     

Occurrence of cyclic palustrine and calcrete deposits within the lower Pliocene Hagul formation, East Cairo district, Egypt

A depositional model of the lower Pliocene Hagul formation, which is exposed in the East Cairo district (Egypt), is proposed with more than 10 depositional cycles recognized. Field occurrence, detailed petrographic investigation and geochemical analysis revealed that the sediments within each cycle are the result of three sequential sedimentological processes: (1) alluvial sedimentation, (2) calcretization, and (3) precipitation of palustrine carbonate. It was concluded that Hagul formation has been deposited within the distal part of an alluvial plain during three successive climatic conditions: a humid climate during which alluvial sediments were deposited, a semi-arid climate with episodic precipitation which was favorable for pedogenic calcrete development, and a sub-humid climate during which groundwater level was gradually elevated and groundwater calcrete accumulated. Rising groundwater level continued until shallow wetlands covered the area and palustrine limestone was precipitated. Variations in the thickness and the nature of the host sediment, calcrete and palustrine limestone cycle suggest that each of the sedimentation processes varied from cycle to cycle.     

Cyclicity of shallow-water carbonate sediments in different climatic zones

Based on the study of several different-age shallow-water carbonate sediments from different regions, it is established that cyclothems formed in basins of arid and humid climatic zones differ in their composition and structure. It is shown that the influence of climate was indirect. The climate governed salinity (particularly, in extremely shallow-water settings of initial and terminal stages of the formation of cyclothems) and, thus, stimulated changes in the biota. The biota, in turn, controlled the composition of carbonate material and mechanisms of its sedimentation.     

Lithification of some modern carbonate sediments in a hypersaline lake adjacent to the Black Sea

In the hypersaline Techirghiol Lake adjacent to the Black Sea, sporadically formed lithified blocks and grapestone are found which are the result of cementation of carbonate sediments with aragonite and possibly kutnahorite (manganesian calcite). The lithified blocks are characterized by a central cavity bordered by a lithified envelope. The formation of the carbonate cement is due to subaquatic bacterial processes of calcium sulfate reduction and the synthesis of calcium carbonate at the expense of gypsum concretions derived from Pleistocene red clays cropping out along the shore of the lake. These lithified blocks have geological significance as they may be usable as criteria for the recognition of sediments deposited in the past near to the shores of hypersaline lakes.     

Microfacies of Deep-water Deposits and Forming Models of the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling-SKII

Extensive transgression of lake water occurred during the Cretaceous Qingshankou Stage and the Nengjiang Stage in the Songliao basin, forming widespread deep-water deposits. Eleven types of microfacies of deep-water deposits have been recognized in the continuous core rocks from the SKII, including mudstone of still water, marlite, dolostone, oil shale, volcanic ashes, turbidite, slump sediment, tempestite, seismite, ostracoda limestone and sparry carbonate, which are divided into two types: microfacies generated due to gradually changing environments (I) and microfacies generated due to geological events (II). Type I is composed of some special fine grain sediments such as marlite, dolomite stone and oil shale as well as mudstone and Type II is composed of some sediments related to geological events, such as volcanic ashes, turbiditie, slump sediment, tempestite, seismite, ostracoda limestone. The formation of sparry carbonate may be controlled by factors related to both environments and events. Generally, mudstone sediments of still water can be regarded as background sediments, and the rest sediments are all event sediments, which have unique forming models, which may reflect controlling effects of climatics and tectonics.     

Fossilization of organic matter,formation of oil and gas,and emigration of hydrocarbons in carbonate rocks

Based on the comparison of conditions of organic matter (OM) accumulation in modern carbonate sediments in Paleozoic shallow-water carbonate sediments, it is shown that drastic disproportion in the degree of preservation of the primary dispersed OM (DOM) in the clayey and “pure” varieties of carbonate rocks is not caused by its loss due to the diagenetic oxidation in the shallow-water setting, its disintegration due to the vital activity of microorganisms, or due to its consumption for the reductive oxide forms of Fe. It has experimentally been proven that a great significance in oil and gas formation in carbonate rocks belongs to OM, which occurs in the carbonate component of the chloroform bitumen (CB_CCR) and is not determined by the conventional analytical methods (e.g., incineration of the HCl-insoluble rock remnant). Higher concentration of hydrocarbons (HC) in CB_CCR relative to CBA is confirmed by the oil-generating properties of “pure” carbonate rocks. The release and emigration of HC from carbonate rocks are promoted by their secondary transformations.