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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
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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

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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.

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