Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T07:45:19.658Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The geochemistry of carbonate cements in the Avalon Sand, Grand Banks of Newfoundland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

Ian Hutcheon ,
Cynthia Nahnybida  and
H. R. Krouse
Ian Hutcheon
Affiliation:
Sedimentology Research Group, Department of Geology and Geophysics
Cynthia Nahnybida
Affiliation:
Sedimentology Research Group, Department of Geology and Geophysics
H. R. Krouse
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, The University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Calcite cements from the Lower Cretaceous Avalon zone of the Hibernia field are, in places, extensively recrystallized, which complicates interpretation of the chemical and isotopic data. The oxygen isotopic data are widely scattered with δ18O ranging between +1.6 and −9.2 for calcite and siderite. Siderite has lower δ13C values (−6.6 to −13.2) than calcite +12.4 to −9.8. Typical trace element contents determined by ICP on acid-leached samples, range from 270 to 2100 ppm Sr and 180 to 2200 ppm Zn in calcite.

The trace element data indicate that some of the calcite has been precipitated from, or recrystallized by meteoric water. The trace elements show trends related to variations in δ18O in such a way as to imply that not all the spread to low δ18O values can be attributed to meteoric water influence alone. The data are not well enough constrained to calculate meaningful temperatures, but the range of °18O values probably represents an elevated range of temperatures of precipitation or recrystallization.

Microprobe analyses show that non-recrystallized fossils have a composition distinctly different from veins, cements, and recrystallized fossils, all of which are similar. The compositions of calcite cements are highly variable, with FeO (for example) ranging from 0.15 to 4.39 wt. %, but show no consistent patterns of zonation. Fossil fragments which show no textural evidence of recrystallization have low FeO contents (0.2 wt. %). Meteoric water, believed to be responsible for at least some of the cementation and recrystallization observed, probably entered the Avalon during and after formation of the mid-Cretaceous unconformity.

Keywords

calciteoxygen isotopescarbonate cementsAvalon sandGrand BanksNewfoundlandCanada
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 49 , Issue 352 , June 1985 , pp. 457 - 467
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1985

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.)

References

Benteau, R. I., and Sheppard, M. G. (1982) J. Can. Petrol. Tech. Nov.-Dec. 5972.Google Scholar
Craig, H. (1965) In Stable Isotopes in Oceanographic Studies and Paleotemperatures (Tongiorgi, E., ed.). Cons. Nazionale delle Richerche, Labo. de Geologia Nucleare, Pisa, 161-82.Google Scholar
Davies, G. R., and Krouse, H. R. (1975) Can. Geol. Surv. Paper 75-1, part B, 215-20.Google Scholar
Desaulnier, D. E., Cherry, J. A., and Fritz, P. (1982) In Isotope Studies ofHydrologic Processes (Perry, E. C., Jr. and Montgomery, C. W., eds.), 45-55.Google Scholar
Dickson, J. A. D., and Coleman, M. L. (1980) Sedimentology, 27, 107-18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drever, J. I. (1982) The geochemistry of natural waters. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 388.Google Scholar
Fritz, P., and Frape, S. K. (1982) In Isotope Studies of Hydrologic Processes (Perry, E. C., Jr. and Montgomery, C. W., eds.), 5763.Google Scholar
Irwin, H., Curtis, C., and Coleman, M. (1977) Nature, 269, 209-13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinsman, D. J. J. (1969) J. Sed. Petrol. 39, 486–508.Google Scholar
Kitano, Y., Kanamori, N., and Oomori, T. (1971) Geo- chim. J. 4, 183-206.Google Scholar
Lorens, R. B. (1981) Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 45, 553-61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nahnybida, C., Hutcheon, I., and Kirker, J. (1982) Can. Mineral. 20, 129-40.Google Scholar
Perry, E. C., Jr., Grundle, T., and Gilkeson, R. H. (1982) In Isotope Studies ofHydrologic Processes (Perry, E. C., Jr. and Montgomery, C. W., eds.), 35-43.Google Scholar
Richter, D. K., and Fiichtbauer, H. (1978) Sedimentology, 25, 843-60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Savin, S. M., and Yeh, H. W. (1981) In The Sea, 7, The Oceanic Lithosphere (Emiliani, C., ed.), Wiley-Interscience, 1521-54.Google Scholar
Schmidt, V., and McDonald, D. A. (1979) In Aspects of Diagenesis (Scholle, P. A. and Schluger, P. R., eds.). SEPM Spec. Publ. 26, 175208.Google Scholar
Siegenthaler, U. (1979) In Lectures in Isotope Geology (E. Jäger and Hunziker, J. C., eds.), 264-73.Google Scholar
Sklash, M. G., and Farvolden, R. N. (1982) In Isotope Studies of Hydrologic Processes (Perry, E. C., Jr. and Montgomery, C. W., eds.), 6573.Google Scholar
Stalder, P. J. (1975) Geol. en Mijnbouw, 54, 148-56.Google Scholar
Viezer, J. (1983) SEPM Short Course, 10, Dallas, 1983.Google Scholar
White, A. F. (1978) Chem. Geol. 26, 65-72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wong, P., and Oldershaw, A. (1981) J. Sed. Petrol. 51, 507-20.Google Scholar
Wright, M. D. (1964) Ibid. 34, 756-60.Google Scholar