Geochemistry at DSDP Hole 76-534A

At Site 534 in the Blake-Bahama Basin, western North Atlantic, an interval of 68 m of Maestrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) and upper middle to upper Eocene sediments consists of terrigenous siltstones, mudstones, and varicolored zeolitic claystones; minor recovery of micritic limestones, porcellanites, and quartzitic chert was made at this site as well. Comparisons with other Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) sites in the western North Atlantic suggest that the following formations are present in this interval: Hatteras (Maestrichtian), Plantagenet (Maestrichtian and upper Eocene), Bermuda Rise (upper middle to upper Eocene), and the basal Blake Ridge Formation (upper middle to upper Eocene). Recognition of a Tertiary interval of the Plantagenet allows that formation to be divided into lower and upper informal units. Condensation makes this formal lithostratigraphic subdivision difficult. Together the formations record marked net condensed sedimentation (average rate ca. 2.5 m/m.y.) in strongly oxidizing bottom waters. From sedimentary structures and petrography, it is inferred that the terrigenous siltstones and micritic limestones were redeposited from the continental margin by turbidity currents. Chemical data plus petrography confirm relatively high plankton productivity during the upper Eocene. Much of the nonrecovered Eocene interval may represent chert and porcellanite. Fragments recovered were formed by replacement of relatively porous calciturbidites by opal-CT and quartz. Radiolarians in interbedded claystones rich in clinoptilolite show extensive dissolution. Relative to typical hemipelagic sediments, the claystones are enriched in many metals (Cu, Ni, Zn, Pb), particularly within manganese micronodules. The metal accumulation is related to a 30-m.y. period of slow net sediment accumulation, rather than to hydrothermal enrichment or to upward mobilization of metals from the underlying reduced Hatteras black shale facies. Elsewhere in the Blake-Bahama Basin, at Site 391, 22 km to the northwest, upper Eocene facies are missing, reportedly due to deep seafloor erosion of up to 800 m of the sedimentary succession. By contrast, the discovery that this interval is preserved at nearby Site 534 points to much less extensive seafloor erosion, possibly mostly in the Oligocene, which is missing at both DSDP Sites.