Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gvh9x Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T10:30:09.908Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Method for Quantitative Evaluation of Carbonate Dissolution in Deep-Sea Sediments and its Application to Paleoceanographic Reconstruction1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Teh-Lung Ku  and
Tadamichi Oba
Teh-Lung Ku
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90007 USA
Tadamichi Oba
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90007 USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A method is proposed by which the degree of attrition of the tests of certain foraminifera species, such as Globorotalia menardii and Globorotalia tumida, is used to “scale” the amount of CaCO3 that has been dissolved from sediment. The scale is calibrated experimentally in the laboratory. The method has been applied to three calcareous cores from the Pacific and the Indian Oceans. It is shown that the original CaCO3 contents in these cores were high (82–95%) and relatively uniform compared to the present down-core values. About 65 to 85% of the originally deposited CaCO3 has been dissolved, corresponding to dissolution rates on the order of 0.1-0.3 moles/cm2/yr. These results indicate that appreciable solution could have occurred on sea floor rich in calcareous sediments and that the variation in CaCO3 content in a core may have resulted largely from dissolution. The difference in the degree of solution between glacial and interglacial sediments in these cores is not so distinct, with ⋍ 10% less intense dissolution during glacial times on the average. However, the dissolution minimum occurring around the late Wisconsin glaciation (10,000–20,000 yr B.P.) previously noted in several cores elsewhere is confirmed. At that time, near the site of core M70 PC-20 in the southwest Pacific, the CO32− concentration of the bottom water is estimated to have been approximately 5% higher than the present value, and the calcite lysocline was about 300 m deeper. To evaluate possible variations in CaCO3 deposition rate across the glacial-interglacial transitions requires precise age control, which the present study lacks.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , July 1978 , pp. 112 - 129
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1 Present address: Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Nakano, Tokyo, 164 Japan.
1

Contribution No. 365, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif.

References

Adelseck, C.G., Berger, W.H., 1975. On the dissolution of planktonic foraminifera and associated microfossils during settling and on the sea floor. Sliter, W.132., Bé, A.W.H., Berger, W.H., Dissolution of Deep-Sea Carbonates. Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research Special Publication No. 13. 70-81.Google Scholar
Arrhenius, G., 1952. Sediment cores from the East Pacific. Swedish Deep-Sea Expedition (1947–1948), Reports 5. Fasc. 1, 1-227.Google Scholar
Bé, A.W.H., Ericson, D.B., é and Ericson, 1963. Aspects of calcification in planktonic foraminifera (Sarcodina). Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 109, 68-81.Google Scholar
Bé, A.W.H., Morse, J.W., Harrison, S.M., é et al., 1975. Progressive dissolution and ultrastructural breakdown in planktonic foraminifera. Sliter, W.133., Bé, A.W.H., Berger, W.H., Dissolution of Deep-Sea Carbonates. Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research Special Publication No. 13. 27-55.Google Scholar
Belyaeva, N.134., 1964. Distribution of planktonic foraminifera in the water and on the floor in Indian Ocean. Trudy Instituta Okeanologii, Akademiya Nauk SSSR. 68, 12-83.Google Scholar
Berger, W.H., 1967. Foraminiferal ooze: Solution at depths. Science. 156, 383-385.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berger, W.H., 1968. Planktonic foraminifera: Selective solution and paleoclimatic interpretation. Deep-Sea Research. 15, 31-43.Google Scholar
Berger, W.H., 1970a. Planktonic foraminifera: Selective solution and the lysocline. Marine Geology. 8, 111-138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, W.H., 1970b. Biogenous deep-sea sediments: Fractionation by deep-sea circulation. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 81, 1385-1402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, W.H., 1973. Deep-sea carbonates: Pleistocene dissolution cycles. Journal of Foraminifera Research. 3, 187-195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, W.S., 1971. Calcite accumulation rates and glacial to interglacial changes in oceanic mixing. Turekian, K.K., The Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn, 239-265.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Broecker, S., 1974. Carbonate dissolution on the western flank of the East Pacific rise. Hay, W.W., Studies in Paleo-Oceanography. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication No. 20. 44-57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Takahashi, T., 1978. The relationship between lysocline depth and in situ carbonate ion concentration. Deep-Sea Research. 25, 65-95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, C., 1968. Pleistocene pteropods in pelagic sediments. Nature (London). 219, 1145-1147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damuth, J.E., 1975. Quaternary climate change as revealed by calcium carbonate fluctuations in western Equatorial Atlantic sediments. Deep-Sea Research. 22, 725-743.Google Scholar
Edmond, J.M., 1974. On the dissolution of carbonate and silicate in the deep ocean. Deep-Sea Research. 21, 455-480.Google Scholar
Edmond, J.M., Gieskes, J.M.T.M., 1970. On the calculation of the degree of saturation of sea water with respect to calcium carbonate in situ conditions. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta. 34, 1261-1291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emery, K.O., 1960 The Sea off Southern California. Wiley, New York. Google Scholar
Emery, K.O., Niino, H., Sullivan, B., 1971. Post-Pleistocene levels of the China Sea. Turekian, K.K., The Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn, 381-390.Google Scholar
Emiliani, C., 1955. Pleistocene temperatures. Journal of Geology. 63, 538-578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emiliani, C., 1966. Paleotemperature analysis of the Caribbean cores P6304-8 and P6304-9 and a generalized temperature curve for the last 425,000 years. Journal of Geology. 74, 109-126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ericson, D.B., Wollin, G., 1968. Pleistocene climates and chronology in deep-sea sediments. Science. 162, 1227-1234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gardner, J.135., 1975. Late Pleistocene carbonate dissolution cycles in the eastern equatorial Atlantic. Sliter, W.136., Bé, A.W.H., Berger, W.H., Dissolution of Deep-Sea Carbonates. Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research Special Publication No. 13. 129-141.Google Scholar
Hamilton, W.L., Seliga, T.A., 1972. Atmospheric turbidity and surface temperature on the polar ice sheets. Nature (London). 235, 320-322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hay, W.W., 1970. Calcium carbonate compensation. Deep-Sea Drilling Project Initial Reports. 4, 672.Google Scholar
Hays, J.D., Perruzza, A., 1972. The significance of calcium carbonate oscillation in eastern equatorial Atlantic deep-sea sediments for the end of the Holocene warm interval. Quarternary Research. 2, 355-362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hays, J.D., Saito, T., Opdyke, N.D., Burckle, L.H., 1969. Pliocene-Pleistocene sediments of the equatorial climatic record. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 80, 1481-1514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hecht, A.D., Eslinger, E.137., Garmon, L.B., 1975. Experimental studies on the dissolution of planktonic foraminifera. Sliter, W.138., Bé, A.W.H., Berger, W.H., Dissolution of Deep-Sea Carbonates. Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research Special Publication No. 13. 56-69.Google Scholar
Honjo, S., 1975. Dissolution of suspended coccoliths in the deep-sea water column and sedimentation of coccolith ooze. Sliter, W.139., Bé, A.W.H., Berger, W.H., Dissolution of Deep-Sea Carbonates. Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research Special Publication No. 13. 114-128.Google Scholar
Horibe, Y., 1970. Preliminary Report of the Hakuho-Maru Cruise KH-68-4 (Southern Cross Cruise). Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Tokyo. Google Scholar
Kolla, 140., Bé, A.W.H., Biscaye, P.E., 1976. Calcium carbonate distribution in the surface sediments of the Indian Ocean. Journal of Geophysical Research. 81, 2605-2616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Y.H., Takahashi, T., Broecker, W.S., 1969. Degree of saturation of CaCO3 in the oceans. Journal of Geophysical Research. 27, 5507-5525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oba, T., 1969. Biostratigraphy and isotopic paleotemperature of some deep-sea cores from the Indian Ocean. Tohoku University Science Report, 2nd Series (Geology). 41, 129-195.Google Scholar
Oba, T., Ku, T.L., 1977. The measurement of CaCO3 dissolution rates in deep-sea sediments. Fossils. 27, 1-14 [In Japanese with English abstract and captions].Google Scholar
Olausson, E., 1965. Evidence of climatic changes in North Atlantic deep-sea cores, with remarks on isotopic paleo-temperature analysis. Progress in Oceanography. 3, 221-252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, F.L., Berger, W.H., 1971. Faunal and solution patterns of planktonic foraminifera in surface sediments of the South Pacific. Deep-Sea Research. 18, 73-107.Google Scholar
Ruddiman, W.F., Heezen, B.C., 1967. Differential solution of planktonic foraminifera. Deep-Sea Research. 14, 801-808.Google Scholar
Saidova, Kh.M., 1968. Condition of foraminifera in water, ground and intestines of mud eaters. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR. 182, 453-455.Google Scholar
Takahashi, T., 1975. Carbonate chemistry of sea water and the calcite compensation depth in the oceans. Sliter, W.141., Bé, A.W.H., Berger, W.H., Dissolution of Deep-Sea Carbonates. Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research Special Publication. 11-26 No. 13.Google Scholar
Thompson, P.R., 1976. Planktonic foraminiferal dissolution and the progress towards a Pleistocene equatorial Pacific transfer function. Journal of Foraminifera Research. 6, 208-227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, P.R., Saito, T., 1974. Pacific Pleistocene sediments: Planktonic foraminifera dissolution cycles and geochronology. Geology. 2, 333-335.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thunell, R.C., 1976. Calcium carbonate dissolution in Late Quaternary deep-sea sediments, Western Gulf of Mexico. Quaternary Research. 6, 281-297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar