An illustrated key and (palaeo)ecological primer for Postglacial to Recent Ostracoda (Crustacea) of the Baltic Sea

Frenzel, P., Keyser, D. & Viehberg, F.A. 2010: An illustrated key and (pala6e6o)ecological primer for Postglacial to Recent Ostracoda (Crustacea) of the Baltic Sea. Boreas, Vol. 39, pp. 567–575. 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2009.00135.x. ISSN 0300‐9483 This synopsis of Baltic Sea brackish water Ostracoda gives an overview of all known Recent species for the first time. It also includes Holocene taxa now extinct in the area. There are 131 species, two of which are recorded only from Yoldia stage (Preboreal) sediments. The illustrated key is based exclusively on valve morphology, providing a taxonomical base for geoscience and biological studies using ostracods from the Baltic Sea area. A list of ecological tolerances and preferences as well as the latitudinal distribution of all species is intended as a reference for palaeoenvironmental analyses. Salinity, temperature and oxygen tolerance values as well as preferences for latitudinal distribution, water depth and energy, habitat and substrate are given. The data are based on quantitative sampling in the southern, central and western Baltic Sea and on information gained from literature.     

Textural and geochemical alternations in Late Cenozoic Bahamian dolomites

Dolomitized intervals of a core from San Salvador Island, Bahamas, exhibit variations of two texturally and geochemically distinct end-members. In the Pliocene section of the dolomitized interval, the two end-members alternate in a pattern that may reflect originally and/or diagenetically modified depositional facies. Formerly mud-free intervals, locally capped by exposure surfaces are massive crystalline, mimetic dolomites (CM). Muddier sediments are replaced by friable microsucrosic dolomites (MS). CM and MS dolomites also differ in porosity (< 10% vs > 30%), permeability (< 10 md vs > 100 md), mol% MgCO₃ (44–9 vs 47–7) mol%), oxygen isotopic composition (1–7 vs 2–7‰) and strontium content (241 vs 106 ppm). These data indicate that depositional and diagenetic fabric are the principal controls governing the distribution of dolomite types. Differences in texture and geochemistry are suggested as arising through differential rates of crystallization produced as a result of variations in permeability and reactivity of the precursor sediments and rocks.     

Playa‐lake sedimentation and organic matter accumulation in an Andean piggyback basin: the recent record from the Cuenca de Pozuelos,North‐west Argentina

Expansive playa‐lake systems situated in high‐altitude piggyback basins are important and conspicuous components of both modern and ancient cordilleran orogenic systems. Extant playa lakes provide vital habitat for numerous endemic species, whereas sediments from these deposystems may record signals of climate change or develop natural resources over geological time. Laguna de los Pozuelos (North‐west Argentina) provides the opportunity for an actualistic sedimentological and geochemical assessment of a piggyback basin playa lake in an area of critical interest for understanding Quaternary palaeoclimate dynamics. Silty clays and diatom ooze are the dominant playa‐lake centre microfacies, with concentrations of total organic carbon and biogenic silica commonly exceeding 1·5 wt% in this sub‐environment. Elemental and stable isotopic analyses point to a mixed organic matter composition in the playa‐lake centre, with substantial contributions from algae and transported aquatic macrophytes. Bulk sediment and organic mass accumulation rates in the southern playa‐lake centre approach 0·22 g cm^?2 year^?1 and 2·89 mg cm^?2 year^?1, respectively, indicating moderately rapid deposition with negligible deflation over historic time. Playa margin facies contain higher percentages of fragmented biogenic carbonate (ostracods and charophytes) and inorganically precipitated aragonite crusts due to seasonal pumping and evaporation of ground water. Organic matter accumulation is limited along these heavily bioturbated wet and dry mud flats. Fluvial–lacustrine transitional environments, which are key waterbird habitats, are either silty terminal splay (northern axis) or sandy deltas (southern axis) containing highly oxidized and partially allochthonous organic matter. Modern analogue data from Laguna de los Pozuelos provide key insights for: (i) environmental reconstructions of ancient lake sequences; and (ii) improving facies models for piggyback basins.     

Petrology and Geochemistry of the Rhobell Volcanic Complex: Amphibole-Dominated Fractionation at an Early Ordovician Arc Volcano in North Wales

The Rhobell Volcanic Complex is a remnant of a late Tremadoc,dominantly calc-alkaline, arc volcano. It is the only substantiallypreserved representative in the southern British Caledonidesof an early phase of Ordovician ensialic arc volcanism whichfollowed the onset of southeasterly subduction of Iapetus oceaniclithosphere beneath the northern margin of Gondwanaland. Thecomplex includes extrusive basalts and associated breccias,known as the Rhobell Volcanic Group, which rest unconformablyon folded, uplifted and eroded rift-basin sediments of the earlierpassive margin of the Iapetus Ocean. Amongst the basalts arerelatively primitive pargasite-bearing varieties which containcognate cumulate blocks, dominantly of pargasite but also withcalcic clinopyroxene, Ti-magnetite, and (rarely) plagioclase.Basaltic rocks also occur in an associated feeder-sheet intrusioncomplex, and as numerous minor sills and dykes. In the intrusioncomplex, basaltic sheets are cut by microdiorites and scarcemicrotonalites. The compositional range in the volcanic complex,from low-SiO₂ basalts to microtonalites (SiO₂ 45–66 wt.per cent), is attributable to fractional crystallization, earlystages of which were dominated by removal of pargasite at (water-undersaturated)pressures close to 10 kb, within the mantle. The parental magmawas derived by hydrous partial melting of a supra-subductionzone mantle wedge. Trace-element patterns indicate that themantle was slightly depleted relative to the putative primordialcomposition (Ta/Yb = 0?1), prior to metasomatism by componentsfrom the subduction zone. Textural variations in cumulate blocks,and various phenocryst forms in basalts, are interpreted asindicating that the erupted magmas came from a thermally andcompositionally stratified magma chamber with associated layeredcrystal accumulations, and that materials from initially separatelayers were mixed prior to eruption.     

Identifying Accessory Mineral Saturation during Differentiation in Granitoid Magmas: an Integrated Approach

Numerical reconstructions of processes that may have operatedduring igneous petrogenesis often model the behaviour of importanttrace elements. The geochemistry of these trace elements maybe controlled by accessory mineral saturation and fractionation.Determination of the saturation point of accessory mineralsin granitoid rocks is ambiguous because assumptions about crystalmorphology and melt compositions do not always hold. An integratedapproach to identifying accessory mineral saturation involvingpetrography, whole-rock geochemical trends, saturation calculationsand mineral chemistry changes is demonstrated here for a compositionallyzoned pluton. Within and between whole-rock samples of the BoggyPlain zoned pluton, eastern Australia, the rare earth element(REE)-enriched accessory minerals zircon, apatite and titaniteexhibit compositional variations that are related to saturationin the bulk magma, localized saturation in intercumulus meltpools and fractionation of other mineral phases. Apatite isidentified as having been an early crystallizing phase overnearly the whole duration of magma cooling, with zircon (andallanite) only saturating in more felsic zones. Titanite andmonazite did not saturate in the bulk magma at any stage ofdifferentiation. Although some trace elements (P, Ca, Sc, Nb,Hf, Ta) in zircon exhibit compositional variation progressingfrom mafic to more felsic whole-rock samples, normalized REEpatterns and abundances (except Ce) do not vary with progressivedifferentiation. This is interpreted to be a result of limitationsto both simple ‘xenotime’ and complex xenotime-typecoupled substitutions. Our data indicate that zircon REE characteristicsare not as useful as those of other REE-rich accessory mineralsas a petrogenetic indicator. KEY WORDS: saturation; zircon; apatite; titanite; magma differentiation; trace elements; REE patterns     

Diagenetic processes in Holocene carbonate sediments: Florida Bay mudbanks and islands

The sedimentology, mineralogy and pore fluid chemistry of seven cores from the Holocene sediments of Florida Bay were studied to determine the physical processes and diagenetic reactions affecting the sediments. The cores were taken in a transect from a shallow mudbank onto a small adjacent island, Jimmy Key. Steady state models of pore fluid chemistry are used to estimate the rates of various reactions. In the mudbank sediments, little carbonate mineral diagenesis is taking place. No change in sediment mineralogy is detectable and pore water profiles of Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and Sr²⁺ show only minor variation. Chloride concentrations indicate substantial biological mixing of seawater from the bay into the sediments in one of the cores. Pore water analyses of sulphate and alkalinity show only a low degree of sulphate depletion and a decreasing extent of sulphate reduction downcore. Models of sulphate reduction in the mudbank show that there is substantial chemical exchange between the sediment pore fluids and water from the bay probably as a result of bio-irrigation. The sulphate and alkalinity data also suggest that the underlying Pleistocene rocks contain water of near normal seawater composition. Stratigraphic analysis and δ¹³C analyses of the organic carbon in the sediments of the island cores show that the sediments were primarily deposited in a subtidal mudbank setting; only the upper 20–30 cm is supratidal in origin. Nevertheless, island formation had a significant effect on pore fluid chemistry and the types of diagenetic reactions throughout the sediment column. Chloride in the sediment pore fluids is more than twice the normal seawater concentrations over most of the depth of the cores. The constant, elevated chloride concentrations indicate that hypersaline fluids which formed in ponds on the island are advected downward through the sediments. Models of the chloride profiles yield an estimate of 2·5 cm yr^?1 as a minimum advective velocity. Changes in pore water chemistry with depth are interpreted as indicating the following sequence of reactions: (1) minor high-Mg calcite dissolution and low-Mg calcite precipitation, from 0 to 35 cm; (2) Ca- or Mg-sulphate dissolution and low-Mg calcite precipitation, from 5 to 35 cm; (3) dolomite or magnesite precipitation together with sulphate reduction, from 35 to 55 cm; and (4) little reaction below 55 cm. In addition, one or more as yet unidentified reactions must be taking place from 5 to 55 cm depth as an imbalance in possible sources and sinks of alkalinity is observed. The imbalance could be explained if chloride is not completely conservative. Despite the pore fluid chemical evidence for diagenetic reactions involving carbonate minerals, no changes in sediment mineralogy were detected in X-ray diffraction analyses, probably because of the comparatively young age of the island.     

Neotectonics, sea-level changes and biological evolution in the Fennoscandian Border Zone of the southern Kattegat Sea

Shallow seismic data and vibrocore information, sequence stratigraphic and faunal evidence have been used for documentation of Late Weichselian reactivation of faulting in the south central Kattegat, southern Scandinavia. The study area is situated on the Fennoscandian Border Zone, where tectonic activity has been recurrent since Early Palaeozoic time and still occurs, as shown by present earthquake activity. New data from the area south of the island of Anholt show that after deglaciation fast isostatic rebound resulted in reactivation of a NW-SE striking normal fault system. This tectonic episode is dated to a period starting shortly before 15.0 cal. ka BP and ending around 13.5 cal. ka BP, after regression had already reached a level of about 30 m b.s.l. The vertical displacement associated with the faulting was in the order of 20 m. More generally, the results support the previously reported late Weichselian sea-level highstand, which was followed by forced regression until the eustatic sea-level rise surpassed the rate of glacio-isostatic rebound in early Preboreal. Our findings further imply that drainage of the Baltic Ice Lake through the Øresund at c. 15 cal. ka BP (Bergsten & Nordberg 1992) may have been triggered by tectonic activity in this region.     

Modelling tidal current‐induced bed shear stress and palaeocirculation in an epicontinental seaway: the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin,Central Europe

Lower to Middle Turonian deposits within the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin (Central Europe) consist of coarse‐grained deltaic sandstones passing distally into fine‐grained offshore sediments. Dune‐scale cross‐beds superimposed on delta‐front clinoforms indicate a vigorous basinal palaeocirculation capable of transporting coarse‐grained sand across the entire depth range of the clinoforms (ca 35 m). Bi‐directional, alongshore‐oriented, trough cross‐set axes, silt drapes and reactivation surfaces indicate tidal activity. However, the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin at this time was over a thousand kilometres from the shelf break and separated from the open ocean by a series of small islands. The presence of tidally‐influenced deposits in a setting where co‐oscillating tides are likely to have been damped down by seabed friction and blocked by emergent land masses is problematic. The Imperial College Ocean Model, a fully hydrodynamic, unstructured mesh finite element model, is used to test the hypothesis that tidal circulation in this isolated region was capable of generating the observed grain‐size distributions, bedform types and palaeocurrent orientations. The model is first validated for the prediction of bed shear stress magnitudes and sediment transport pathways against the present‐day North European shelf seas that surround the British Isles. The model predicts a microtidal to mesotidal regime for the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin across a range of sensitivity tests with elevated tidal ranges in local embayments. Funnelling associated with straits increases tidal current velocities, generating bed shear stresses that were capable of forming the sedimentary structures observed in the field. The model also predicts instantaneous bi‐directional currents with orientations comparable with those measured in the field. Overall, the Imperial College Ocean Model predicts a vigorous tide‐driven palaeocirculation within the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin that would indisputably have influenced sediment dispersal and facies distributions. Palaeocurrent vectors and sediment transport pathways however vary markedly in the different sensitivity tests. Accurate modelling of these parameters, in this instance, requires greater palaeogeographic certainty than can be extracted from the available rock record.