Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T21:09:34.384Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Calcium Carbonate dissolution History in Late Quaternary Deep-sea Sediments, Western Gulf of Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert C. Thunell
Robert C. Thunell*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island 02881, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Calcium carbonate dissolution has been studied in eight piston cores from the western Gulf of Mexico ranging in depth from 965 to 3630 m. The degree of dissolution throughout the cores was determined by studies of foraminiferal test fragmentation, benthonic foraminiferal abudance, calcium carbonate concentration, and various relationships between solution-resistant and solution-susceptible species. The paleoclimatic history recorded in these cores is similar to those defined previously in the Gulf of Mexico and equatorial Atlantic. Two mesgascopically distinct ash layers and well-defined planktonic foraminiferal subzones permit precise intercore correlation of dissolution horizons. All cores demonstrate intense dissolution during several subzones, especially during the early-middle Y, X1, and W1. Other less consistent dissolution horizons occur in various cores. Sedimentation rates increase while calcite concentrations decrease during glacial episodes suggesting increased dilution by terrigenous materials. Despite this, glacial episodes show greater dissolution and worse preservation of foraminiferal tests. Therefore, increased dissolution of calcium carbonate during glacial episodes must be a function of some mechanism that more than compensates for the increased rate of burial by terrigenous sediments. Dissolution is dissolution processes are not responsible for the observed effects. The oxidation of organic material may be the primary mechanism controlling the dissolution of calcium carbonate in the western Gulf of Mexico.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 1976 , pp. 281 - 297
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.)

References

Arrhenius, G., (1952). Sediment cores from the East Pacific. Repts. Swedish Deep-Sea Exped. 5 1–227.Google Scholar
Bergantino, R.N., (1971). Submarine regional geomorphology of the Gulf of Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin 82 741–752.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, W.H., (1968). Planktonic foraminifera: selective solution and paleoclimatic interpretation. Deep-Sea Research 15 31–43.Google Scholar
Berger, W.H., (1970). Planktonic foraminifera: selective solution and the lysocline. Marine Geology 8 111–138.Google Scholar
Berger, W.H., (1971). Sedimentation of planktonic foraminifera. Marine Geology 11 325–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, W.H., (1973). Deep-sea carbonates: Pleistocene dissolution cycles. Journal of Foraminiferal Research 3 187–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, W.H., Piper, D.J.W., (1972). Planktonic foraminifera: differential settling, dissolution, and redeposition. Limnology and Oceanography 17 275–287.Google Scholar
Bouma, A.H., (1971). Cyclic sedimentation patterns in deep Gulf of Mexico sediments. Bouma, A.H., Bryant, W.R., Davies, D.K. TAMU Results from USNS Kane 1969 Expedition 82–97.Google 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., van Donk, J., (1970). Insolation changes, ice volumes, and the O18 record in deep-sea cores. Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics 8 169–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, D.K., (1971). Deep-sea sands and silts in the Gulf of Mexico. Bouma, A.H., Bryant, W.R., Davies, D.K. TAMU Results from USNS Kane 1969 Expedition, Gulf of Mexico 6–36.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
Emiliani, C., (1971). The last interglacial. Paleotemperatures and chronology. Science 171 571–573.Google Scholar
Ericson, D.B., Wollin, G., (1968). Pleistocene climates and chronology in deep-sea sediments. Science 162 1227–1234.Google Scholar
Ewing, M., Ericson, D.B., Heezen, B.C., (1958). Sediments and topography of the Gulf of Mexico. Weeks, L.G. Habitat of Oil American Association of Petroleum Geologists 995–1053.Google Scholar
Gardner, J.V., (1975). Late Pleistocene carbonate dissolution cycles in the eastern equatorial Atlantic. Sliter, W.V., Bé, A.W.H., Berger, W.H. Dissolution of Deep-Sea CarbonatesCushman Foundation of Foraminiferal Research, Special Publication Number 13 129–141.Google Scholar
Hays, J.D., Perruzza, A., (1972). The significance of calcium carbonate oscillations in eastern equatorial Atlantic deep-sea sediments for the end of the Holocene warm interval. Quaternary Research 2 355–362.Google Scholar
Hays, J.D., Sait, T., Opdyke, N.D., Burckle, L.H., (1969). Pliocene-Pleistocene sediments of the equatorial Pacific: their paleomagnetic, biostratigraphic, and climatic record. Geological Society of America Bulletin 80 1481–1514.Google Scholar
Huang, T.C., Goodell, H.G., (1970). Sediments and sedimentary processes of the eastern Mississippi core, Gulf of Mexico. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 54 2070–2100.Google Scholar
Kennett, J.P., Huddlestun, P., (1972). Late Pleistocene paleoclimatology, foraminiferal biostratigraphy and tephrochronology, western Gulf Mexico. Quaternary Research 2 38–69.Google Scholar
Kennett, J.P., Shackleton, N.J., (1975). Laurentide ice sheet meltwater recorded in Gulf of Mexico Deep-Sea Cores. Science 188 147–150.Google Scholar
Leiper, D.F., (1970). A sequence of current patterns in the Gulf of Mexico. Journal of Geophysical Research 75 637–657.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malmgren, B., Kennett, J.P., (1972). Biometric analysis of phenotypic variation: Globigerina pachyderma (Ehrenberg) in the South Pacific Ocean. Micropaleontology 18 241–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molnia, B.F., (1974). A rapid and accurate method for the analysis of calcium carbonate in small samples. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 44 589–590.Google Scholar
Murray, J., Renard, A.F., (1891). Report on deep-sea deposits based on the specimens collected during the voyage of H.M.S. Collenger in the years 1872 to 1876. Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of the H.M.S.O. Challenger H.M.S.O .Google Scholar
Nowlin, W.D., (1971). Water massess and general circulation of the Gulf of Mexico. Oceanology International 28–33February.Google Scholar
Olausson, E., (1965). Evidence of climatic changes in north Atlantic deep-sea cores, with remarks on isotope paleotemperature analysis. Progress in Oceanography 3 221–252.Google Scholar
Olausson, E., (1971). Quaternary correlations and the geochemistry of oozes. Funnel, B.M., Reidel, W.R. Micropaleontology of the Oceans Cambridge University Press 375–398.Google Scholar
Philippi, E., (1910) Die grundproben der Deutschen Sudpolar Expedition 1901–1903: Deutsch.—Sudpolar Expedition 1901–1903 Vol. 2 411–616.Google Scholar
Phleger, F., (1951). Ecology of foraminifera, northwest Gulf of Mexico. Part I, Foraminifera distribution. Geological Society of America Memoir 46 1–88.Google Scholar
Ruddiman, W.F., (1971). Pleistocene sedimentation in the equatorial Atlantic. Stratigraphy and faunal paleoclimatology. Geological Society of America Bulletin 82 283–302.Google Scholar
Sweet, W.E., Bouma, A.H., (1971). Composite sediment 4D map of the Gulf of the Mexico. Bouma, A.H., Bryant, W.R., Davies, D.K. TAMU Results from the USNS Kane 1969 Expedition, Gulf of Mexico 98–120.Google Scholar
Thompson, P.R., Saito, T., (1974). Pacific Pleistocene sediments: planktonic foraminiferal dissolution cycles and geochronology. Geology 333–335July.Google Scholar
Uchupi, E., (1967). Bathymetry of the Gulf of Mexico: Transactions of the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies 17th Annual Meeting. 161–172.Google Scholar
Wüst, G., (1964). Stratification and Circulation in the Antillean-Caribbean Basins. Columbia University Press 201.Google Scholar