Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:05:52.442Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Oxygen Isotopes and the Extent of Diagenesis of Clay Minerals During Sedimentation and Burial in the Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Hsueh-Wen Yeh  and
Eric V. Eslinger
Hsueh-Wen Yeh*
Affiliation:
Division of Earth and Planetary Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125
Eric V. Eslinger*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, West Georgia College, Carrollton, Georgia 30117
*
1Present address: Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822.
2Present address: Cities Service Oil & Gas Corporation, Box 3908, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74102.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Oxygen isotope ratios of <0.1-μm smectite in bottom sediments of the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the river have been determined to investigate diagenesis of land-derived clay minerals during sedimentation in the sea. No difference was detected in δ18O (SMOW) between the river and the Gulf samples indicating that no smectite alteration or addition of neoformed smectite to the river samples took place during sedimentation. Thus, authigenic minerals in the river sediments cannot make up more than a few tenths of a percent of the bulk sediments.

Similar results were obtained from 3 × 106-yr b.p. sediments buried to 80 to 600 m at Deep Sea Drilling Project site 323, Bellingshausen Abyssal Plain. No significant change with depth was noted in the δ18O of the <0.3-μm size fraction, mostly smectite, of these land-derived sediments. On the basis of the δ18O of the deepest sample, the maximum amount of authigenic minerals in the land-derived sediments during burial in the sea cannot be more than one or two percent of the bulk sediments. Hence, the alteration at seafloor temperatures of 25-45% of the <0.1-μm size clays in 3 × 106 yr b.p. sediments reported in a previous study is not substantiated. The data demonstrate that land-derived smectite is stable in the sea, and that oxygen isotopes can be used to investigate the modes and the temperatures of formation of authigenic smectites in marine sediments that are younger than 25 × 106 yr and that formed below 25°C.

Keywords

DiagenesisGulf of MexicoIsotopeMississippi RiverOxygenSedimentationSmectite
Type
Research Article
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , August 1986 , pp. 403 - 406
Copyright
Copyright © 1986, The Clay Minerals Society

References

Craig, H., 1961 Standard for reporting concentrations of deuterium and oxygen 18 in natural waters Science 133 1833.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eslinger, E. V., Savin, S. M. et al. , Hollister, C. D., Craddock, C. 1976 et al. , Mineralogy and 18O 16O ratios of fine-grained quartz and clay from site 323 Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 35 Washington, D.C. U.S. Gov. Printing Office 489–496.Google Scholar
Hoffman, J. C., 1979 An evaluation of potassium uptake by Mississippi River-borne clays following deposition in the Gulf of Mexico .Google Scholar
Hollister, C. D., Craddock, C. 1976 et al. , Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 35 Washington, D.C. U.S. Government Printing Office.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, J. R. 1979 et al. , Importance of alteration of volcanic material in the sediments of Deep Sea Drilling Project site 323: chemistry, 18O/16O and 87Sr/86Sr Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 43 573–588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, J. R., Taylor, H. P. Jr., 1971 Deuterium and oxygen-18 correlation: clay minerals and hydroxides in Quaternary soils compared to meteoric waters Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 35 993–1003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, J. R., Taylor, H. P. Jr., 1972 Hydrogen and oxygen isotope systematics in weathering profiles Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 36 1377–1393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, M. K. (1973) Atlas of monthly sea surface and subsurface temperature and depth of the top of the thermocline, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea: Scripps Institute of Oceanography Reference 73–8, 12 pp.Google Scholar
Savin, S. M. and Epstein, S., 1970 The oxygen and hydrogen isotope geochemistry of ocean sediments and shales Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 34 25–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, H. P. and Epstein, S., 1962 Relationship between 18O/16O ratios in coexisting minerals of igneous and metamorphic rocks, part 1, principles and experimental results Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 73 461–480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yen, H.-W., 1974 Oxygen isotope studies of ocean sediments during sedimentation and diagenesis Cleveland, Ohio Case Western Reserve University.Google Scholar
Yeh, H.-W. and Epstein, S., 1978 Hydrogen isotope exchange between clay minerals and sea water Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 42 140–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeh, H.-W. and Savin, S. M., 1976 The extent of oxygen isotope exchange between clay minerals and sea water Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 40 743–748.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeh, H.-W. and Savin, S. M., 1977 Mechanism of burial metamorphism of argillaceous sediments: 3.O-isotope evidence Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 88 1321–1330.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar