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  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Organic carbon deposition and phosphorus accumulation during Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 in Tarfaya, Morocco
    (2008)
    Mort, Haydon P.
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    Keller, Gerta
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    Bartels, David
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    Föllmi, Karl B.
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    Steinmann, Philipp
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    Berner, Zsolt
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    Chellai, E.H.
    With a multi-proxy approach, an attempt was made to constrain productivity and bottom-water redox conditions and their effects on the phosphorus accumulation rate at the Mohammed Plage section on the Tarfaya coast, Morocco, during the Cenomanian-Turonian Anoxic Event (OAE 2). A distinct δ13Corg isotope excursion of +2.5‰ occurs close to the top of the section. The unusually abrupt shift of the isotope excursion and disappearance of several planktonic foraminiferal species (e.g. Rotalipora cushmani and Rotalipora greenhornensis) in this level suggests a hiatus of between 40–60 kyrs at the excursion onset. Nevertheless, it was possible to determine both the long-term environmental history as well as the processes that took place immediately prior to and during OAE 2. TOC% values increase gradually from the base of the section to the top (from ~ 2.5% to ~ 10%). This is interpreted as the consequence of a long-term eustatic sea-level rise and subsidence causing the encroachment of less oxic waters into the Tarfaya Basin. Similarly a reduction in the mineralogically constructed ‘detrital index’ can be explained by the decrease in the continental flux of terrigenous material due to a relative sea-level rise. A speciation of phosphorus in the upper part of the section, which spans the start and mid-stages of OAE 2, shows overall higher abundances of Preactive mass accumulation rates before the isotope excursion onset and lower values during the plateau. Due to the probable short hiatus, the onset of the decrease in phosphorus content relative to the isotope excursion is uncertain, although the excursion plateau already contains lower concentrations. The Corg/Ptotal and V/Al ratios suggest that this reduction was mostly likely caused by a decrease in the available bottom oxygen content (probably as a result of higher productivity) and a corresponding fall in the phosphorus retention ability of the sediment. Productivity appears to have remained high during the isotope plateau possibly due to a combination of ocean-surface fertilisation via increased aridity (increased K/Al and Ti/Al ratios) and/or higher dissolved inorganic phosphorus content in the water column as a result of the decrease in sediment P retention. The evidence for decreased P-burial has been observed in many other palaeoenvironments during OAE 2. Tarfaya's unique upwelling paleosituation provides strong evidence that the nutrient recycling was a global phenomenon and therefore a critical factor in starting and sustaining OAE 2.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Phosphorus and the roles of productivity and nutrient recycling during oceanic anoxic event 2
    (2007)
    Mort, Haydon P.
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    Föllmi, Karl B.
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    Keller, Gerta
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    Steinmann, Philipp
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    Matera, Virginie
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    Berner, Zsolt
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    Stüben, Doris
    Four sections documenting the impact of the late Cenomanian oceanic anoxic event (OAE 2) were studied in basins with different paleoenvironmental regimes. Accumulation rates of phosphorus (P) bound to iron, organic matter, and authigenic phosphate are shown to rise and arrive at a distinct maximum at the onset of OAE 2, with an associated increase in δ13C values. Accumulation rates of P return to pre-excursion values in the interval where the δ13C record reaches its first maximum. An offset in time between the maximum in P accumulation and peaks in organic carbon burial, hydrogen indices, and Corg/Preact molar ratios is explained by the evolution of OAE 2 in the following steps. (1) An increase in productivity increased the flux of organic matter and P into the sediments; the preservation of organic matter was low and its oxidation released P, which was predominantly mineralized. (2) Enhanced productivity and oxidation of organic matter created dysoxic bottom waters; the preservation potential for organic matter increased, whereas the sediment retention potential for P decreased. (3) The latter effect sustained high primary productivity, which led to an increase in the abundance of free oxygen in the ocean and atmosphere system. After the sequestration of CO2 in the form of black shales, this oxygen helped push the ocean back into equilibrium, terminating black shale deposition and removing bioavailable P from the water column.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Enrichment of redox-sensitive trace metals (U, V, Mo, As) associated with the late Hauterivian Faraoni oceanic anoxic event
    (2007)
    Bodin, Stéphane
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    Godet, Alexis
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    Matera, Virginie
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    Steinmann, Philipp
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    Vermeulen, Jean
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    Gardin, Silvia
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    Coccioni, Rodolfo
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    Föllmi, Karl B.
    The Faraoni Level is a short-lived oxygen-deficient event that took place during the latest Hauterivian. In order to improve our understanding of the palaeoenvironmental conditions that occurred during this event, we have analysed the contents of several redox-sensitive trace elements (U, V, Mo, As, Co, Cd, Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb, Cr) from bulk limestone samples of late Hauterivian–early Barremian age from three reference sections. U, V, Mo and As show consistent and significant enrichments during the Faraoni event whereas the other redox-sensitive trace elements analysed here are not systematically enriched. In order to explain this discrepant behaviour, we propose that the Faraoni Level was deposited during a period of anoxic conditions near the sediment–water interface. The distinctive peaks in U, V, Mo and As contents are traceable throughout the three studied sections and represent a good correlation tool which helps to identify the Faraoni Level and its equivalents in the western Tethyan realm and outside of the Tethys. For example, a peak in U contents in upper Hauterivian sediments of the northwestern Pacific realm (ODP leg 185, site 1149) may well be an expression of the Faraoni event in this particular basin.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Phosphogenesis and organic-carbon preservation in the Miocene Monterey Formation at Naples Beach, California—The Monterey hypothesis revisited
    (2005)
    Föllmi, Karl B.
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    Badertscher, Christophe
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    de Kaenel, Eric
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    Stille, Peter
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    John, Cédric M.
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    Steinmann, Philipp
    The middle part of the Miocene Monterey Formation at Naples Beach, west of Santa Barbara, California, is predominantly composed of organic-rich mudstone interstratified with phosphatic laminae. Minor lithologies include volcanic ash, dolomite, porcelanite and chert, and condensed phosphatic beds. Sediments dated as 14.3–13.5 Ma have average total organic carbon (TOC) values around 8.5 wt%, and organic carbon (OC) accumulation rates are around 565 mg/cm2/k.y. Sediments dated as 13.5–13 Ma are characterized by average TOC values of 12.6 wt% and OC accumulation rates of around 1130 mg/cm2/ k.y. The interval between 13 and 10.6 Ma is marked by condensation; average TOC values are around 8.6 wt%, and OC accumulation rates diminished to around 55 mg/cm2/k.y. The last interval studied is dated as 10.6–9.4 Ma, and average TOC values are around 6 wt%, whereas OC accumulation rates rose again to 320 mg/cm2/k.y.
    The presence of erosional surfaces, angular unconformities, and reworked clasts and nodules suggests that bottom-current activity and gravity-flow deposition have been instrumental in sediment accumulation. The phosphatic laminae were precipitated at a very early stage of diagenesis during periods of nonsedimentation. They formed less permeable sedimentary lids and may as such have contributed to enhanced OC preservation. Between 13 and 10.6 Ma, the thus-formed phosphatic laminae were frequently subjected to subsequent sediment winnowing and reworking, resulting in the formation of condensed phosphatic beds. Calculated P:C molar ratios suggest that (1) the measured section is highly enriched in phosphorus (P) relative to OC; (2) regeneration of organic P from organic-matter decomposition was negligible; and (3) the source of P was external, likely upwelled bottom water rich in inorganic P.
    In spite of good preservation conditions and correspondingly high TOC contents, the overall OC accumulation rates are moderate in comparison to those of actual high productivity areas, which is mainly due to the episodic character of depositional processes and the intervening long periods of nondeposition and sediment reworking. They preclude this section, and by extrapolation, the Monterey Formation in general from being an important OC sink during the middle Miocene. Alternatively, large OC sinks were probably created on the continent (lignite deposits) and in sedimentary depocenters, which received increasing amounts of detrital sediments due to a combination of climate change, spreading of grasslands, and the increasing importance of mountain chains such as the Himalaya. The associated high nutrient fluxes may have been involved in the backstepping and drowning of carbonate platforms and in the generation of widespread phosphat-rich deposits during the late early and early middle Miocene.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Sedimentary phosphorus record from the Oman margin : New evidence of high productivity during glacial periods
    (2003-03-25)
    Tamburini, Federica
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    Föllmi, Karl B.
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    Bernasconi, Stefano M.
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    Steinmann, Philipp
    The northern region of the Arabian Sea is one of the biologically most fertile regions of the world oceans, with present productivity rates varying between 150 and 2500 mgC/m2 × day [ Madhupratap et al., 1996 ]. This is related to the influence of the southwesterly summer monsoon which causes vigorous upwelling along the Oman margin. Upwelling ceases during northeasterly winter monsoon activity; productivity rates, however, remain relatively high (about 800 mgC/m2 × day), related to deep water mixing [ Madhupratap et al., 1996 ]. The goal of this study is to verify if during the last glacial period, a period in which winter monsoon conditions prevailed, productivity rates were similarly high. With an analysis of phosphorus phases, stable nitrogen isotopes, organic matter content, and bulk mineralogy of the upper 10 m of the cores of ODP Hole 724C (corresponding to the last 140,000 years, sample resolution is ∼5 kyr), we provide new evidence of high productivity during this last glacial period (marine isotopic stages 2, 3, and 4). This was probably related to the combined effect of (1) increased eolian input of iron-containing dust due to dryness on the adjacent continent and stronger winter monsoon, and (2) regeneration and diffusion of dissolved phosphorus from the sediments to the water column due to variations in the position and intensity of the Oxygen Minimum Zone. These findings suggest that there is no one-to-one relationship between summer monsoon activity and productivity, which emerges to be a quasi-persistent phenomenon across glacial and interglacial stages.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Decoupling of P- and Corg-burial following Early Cretaceous (Valanginian–Hauterivian) platform drowning along the NW Tethyan margin
    (2003)
    Van de Schootbrugge, Bas
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    Kuhn, Olivier
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    Steinmann, Philipp
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    Föllmi, Karl B.
    During the Hauterivian three important phases of platform drowning, phosphogenesis and mesotrophic carbonate deposition along the northern margin of the Tethys are not mirrored by positive δ[13]Ccarb excursions such as during the Valanginian and Aptian, but rather by decreasing to stable trends. The aim of this study is to understand the decoupling of organic carbon and phosphorus burial during the Hauterivian. For this purpose PO4-concentrations were determined from biogenic limestones from eight sections along a platform to basin transect. Integration with a previously obtained dataset for the Valanginian leads to a biostratigraphically calibrated high resolution phosphorus accumulation rate (mg/cm2/kyr) curve based on 575 data points. From the Late Valanginian to Early Hauterivian phosphorus accumulation rates increased nearly threefold from 0.75 mg/cm2/kyr to 2.1 mg/cm2/kyr. The phosphorus accumulation rate increase obtained in this study correlates well with a compilation based on ODP and DSDP records, indicating that phosphorus accumulation rates along the northern margin of the Tethys reflect global changes in P in- and output. A global rise in continental P input is thought to have resulted from intensified greenhouse climate conditions leading to increased riverine runoff. Coeval sea-level rise led to re-arrangement of circulation and oxygenation of bottom waters, which meant that P was increasingly well retained by means of Fe- and Mn-oxyhydroxides. Furthermore, the NW margin of the Tethys may have been especially susceptible to phosphogenesis as it was influenced by cold water exchange with the Boreal Realm and prone to coastal upwelling. The Late Hauterivian witnessed sea-level fall, more sluggish circulation along the NW Tethyan margin and also globally lower weathering and erosion rates, leading to generally lower phosphorus accumulation rates. Increased regeneration of phosphorus might have occurred as circulation stagnated and bottom water oxygen levels decreased. Increased phosphorus input into Early Hauterivian oceans did not lead to the production of organic carbon-rich rocks, but rather to increased carbonate carbon burial, also seen in a decoupling between the δ[13]Ccarb record (decreasing) and phosphorus accumulation rates (increasing). Decoupling of these records reflects the ecological recovery of the carbonate system after a prolonged phase of reef destruction during the late Early and Late Valanginian. Carbonate production in the green water mode dominated by filter feeding calcitic organisms may have been forced, despite high nutrient levels, in order to bring down increased alkalinity.
  • Publication
    Métadonnées seulement
    Carbonaceous and phosphate-rich sediments of the Miocene Monterey Formation at El Capitan State Beach, California, USA
    (2002)
    John, Cédric M
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    De Kaenel, Eric
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    Steinmann, Philipp
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    Badertscher, Christophe
    The organic- and phosphate-rich interval of the Monterey Formation at El Capitan State Beach (west of Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A.; late early to early late Miocene in age) is composed of a carbonaceous marl (TOC contents between 1.2 and 23.2 wt %) with intercalated phosphate-rich laminae, lenses, and layers. Subordinate lithologies include ash layers, dolomitized horizons, and siliceous beds. We distinguished five lithological units: (1) a gray marl unit lacking major phosphate accumulations (> 16.3 Ma; average TOC content 2% by weight; average sedimentation rate 75 m/My; average TOC accumulation rate 0.19 mg/cm(2)/yr); (2) a black marl unit including light-colored phosphatic laminae, lenses, and discrete particles (16.3-14.5 Ma; average TOC content 7.5% by weight; average sedimentation rate 20 m/My; average TOC accumulation rate 0.19 mg/cm(2)/yr); (3) a red marl unit including light-colored phosphatic laminae, lenses, and commonly reworked particles (14.5-12.7 Ma; average TOC content 15% by weight; average sedimentation rate 20 m/My (14.5-13.3 Ma) and 2 m/My (13.3-12.7 Ma), respectively; average TOC accumulation rate 0.39 mg/cm(2)/yr (14.5-13.3 Ma) and 0.04 mg/cm(2)/yr (13.3-12.7 Ma), respectively); (4) a unit of complex and condensed phosphatic beds, interbedded with red marl (12.7-10.8 Ma; average sedimentation rate 3 m/My); and (5) a black marl unit with intercalated phosphatic laminae and lenses (< 10.8 Ma; average sedimentation rate 9 m/My; average TOC accumulation rate 0.09 mg/cm(2)/yr). Phosphogenesis and accumulation of phosphate were dynamic processes, which started with local phosphogenesis leading to the formation of phosphatized particles, as well as stratigraphically bound phosphogenesis leading to the formation of phosphate laminae and lenses. Phases of subsequent sediment reworking resulted in the concentration of phosphate particles in phosphate-rich layers, and repeated phases of sediment reworking and phosphogenesis ultimately resulted in the formation of the complex phosphate condensed horizons. Preservation of organic matter was favored by high productivity rates and by the development of dysaerobic bottom-water conditions. The dynamic sedimentary environment likely led to the formation of early diagenetic phosphatic lids (which may have sealed off subjacent organic-rich layers) as well as to the rapid deposition of entire layers in the form of mud flows, thereby eventually enhancing the potential of organic-matter preservation. Our new age data suggest that at the El Capitan State Beach section the intervals characterized by high TOC values and maximum TOC accumulation rates (red marl), as well as significant quantities of in situ phosphates appeared in the late middle Miocene, i.e., during and after the major cooling phase at around 14.5 Ma. This implies that deposition of phosphate and organic carbon continued well after this cooling phase, thereby underlining the observation that preservation of organic carbon in the Monterey Formation is not only dependent on climate change during the mid Miocene but also on regional conditions.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Carbonaceous and Phosphate-Rich Sediments of the Miocene Monterey Formation at El Capitan State Beach, California, U.S.A.
    (2002)
    John, Cédric M.
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    Föllmi, Karl B.
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    De Kaenel, Eric
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    Steinmann, Philipp
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    Badertscher, Christophe
    The organic- and phosphate-rich interval of the Monterey Formation at El Capitan State Beach (west of Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A.; late early to early late Miocene in age) is composed of a carbonaceous marl (TOC contents between 1.2 and 23.2 wt %) with intercalated phosphate-rich laminae, lenses, and layers. Subordinate lithologies include ash layers, dolomitized horizons, and siliceous beds. We distinguished five lithological units: (1) a gray marl unit lacking major phosphate accumulations (> 16.3 Ma; average TOC content 2% by weight; average sedimentation rate 75 m/My; average TOC accumulation rate 0.19 mg/cm2/yr); (2) a black marl unit including light-colored phosphatic laminae, lenses, and discrete particles (16.3-14.5 Ma; average TOC content 7.5% by weight; average sedimentation rate 20 m/My; average TOC accumulation rate 0.19 mg/cm2/yr); (3) a red marl unit including light-colored phosphatic laminae, lenses, and commonly reworked particles (14.5-12.7 Ma; average TOC content 15% by weight; average sedimentation rate 20 m/My (14.5-13.3 Ma) and 2 m/My (13.3-12.7 Ma), respectively; average TOC accumulation rate 0.39 mg/cm2/yr (14.5-13.3 Ma) and 0.04 mg/cm2/yr (13.3-12.7 Ma), respectively); (4) a unit of complex and condensed phosphatic beds, interbedded with red marl (12.7-10.8 Ma; average sedimentation rate 3 m/My); and (5) a black marl unit with intercalated phosphatic laminae and lenses (< 10.8 Ma; average sedimentation rate 9 m/My; average TOC accumulation rate 0.09 mg/cm2/yr).
    Phosphogenesis and accumulation of phosphate were dynamic processes, which started with local phosphogenesis leading to the formation of phosphatized particles, as well as stratigraphically bound phosphogenesis leading to the formation of phosphate laminae and lenses. Phases of subsequent sediment reworking resulted in the concentration of phosphate particles in phosphate-rich layers, and repeated phases of sediment reworking and phosphogenesis ultimately resulted in the formation of the complex phosphate condensed horizons. Preservation of organic matter was favored by high productivity rates and by the development of dysaerobic bottom-water conditions. The dynamic sedimentary environment likely led to the formation of early diagenetic phosphatic lids (which may have sealed off subjacent organic-rich layers) as well as to the rapid deposition of entire layers in the form of mud flows, thereby eventually enhancing the potential of organic-matter preservation.
    Our new age data suggest that at the El Capitan State Beach section the intervals characterized by high TOC values and maximum TOC accumulation rates (red marl), as well as significant quantities of in situ phosphates appeared in the late middle Miocene, i.e., during and after the major cooling phase at around 14.5 Ma. This implies that deposition of phosphate and organic carbon continued well after this cooling phase, thereby underlining the observation that preservation of organic carbon in the Monterey Formation is not only dependent on climate change during the mid Miocene but also on regional conditions.
  • Publication
    Accès libre
    Dysaerobic conditions during Heinrich events 4 and 5 : Evidence from phosphorus distribution in a North Atlantic deep-sea core
    (2002)
    Tamburini, Federica
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    Huon, Sylvain
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    Steinmann, Philipp
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    Grousset, Francis E.
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    Föllmi, Karl B.
    Reactive phosphorus undergoes diagenetic transformation once transferred into marine sediments. The degree of regeneration and redistribution of phosphorus depends on early diagenetic and environmental conditions, which may be linked to larger scale phenomena, such as bottom water circulation, water column ventilation, and organic carbon flux. Phosphorus phases of the <50-μm-sized fraction of deep-sea sediments from core SU 90-09 (North Atlantic, 43°31′N, 30°24′W, 3375 m below sea level) have been analyzed using a sequential extraction technique (SEDEX method) to reconstruct phosphorus geochemistry during Heinrich events 4 and 5. Comparison with Holocene samples from the same site indicates that postdeposition diagenetic transformation has not affected phosphorus distribution in the deep part of the sediments. Total and reactive phosphorus average 0.40 ± 0.04 mg/g and 0.30 ± 0.05 mg/g, respectively, and are comparable to values found in analog deep-sea environments in the North Atlantic. Detrital phosphorus, the phase linked to igneous- and metamorphic-derived material, sharply increases during Heinrich events and covaries with the ice-rafted debris record, whereas authigenic and Fe-bound phosphorus phases, both influenced by redox conditions, decrease or even disappear. These findings suggest that during the deposition of Heinrich layers (HLs), environmental parameters hampered the precipitation of these phases. Large freshwater discharges in relation to iceberg surges may have provoked a temporary stratification of the water column. Accordingly, dysaerobic conditions in the sediments may have fostered the loss of dissolved phosphorus from the sediments to the water column, in a direct and rapid response to the changed conditions. Decreasing trends in organic matter elemental ratios (total organic carbon/organic phosphorus) and Rock-Eval oxygen index values, along with the presence of partly authigenic dolomite and ankerite within HLs, also support this assumption.