Clay mineralogy of carbonate-rich sediments of ODP Leg 101 sites

The insoluble residues of samples from ODP Sites 626 and 627 can be subdivided into four groups: (1) illite, 7 A minerals, quartz and feldspar; (2) smectite and zeolite (clinoptilolite); (3) palygorskite and in places sepiolite; and (4) glauconite and pyrite. Whereas group 1 is clearly terrigenous and group 4 authigenic, group 2 is most probably authigenic, as indicated by its abundance in samples with small insoluble residues and its appearance in SEM photographs. Group 3 is authigenic in Albian peritidal dolomite and possibly terrigenous in middle Miocene slumps and debris flows. Smectite crystallinity increases with age. This increase, however, is less pronounced in the Bahamian carbonate-rich samples than in the carbonate-poor silts south of Guatemala (DSDP Leg 84, Sites 569 and 570, the only comparable investigation) as far as can be judged from such a small number of samples.

Sedimentation rates and geochemistry of three cores from eastern tropical Pacific

We have generated approx. 300 Kyr records of biogenic opal, calcite, and organic carbon (Corg) for three cores in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean and have compared the records to determine whether common periods of biogenic sedimentation have occurred throughout the region. We find that Corg has been deposited in common pulses throughout the area, while opal has a much more local pattern of variation. Calcite varies regionally, but the record is shaped by superimposed dissolution and productivity processes. The most intense Corg peak occurs at 18 ka and can have greater than 2 times the Holocene Corg content. Other major Corg peaks occur 150 ka and perhaps at 280 ka. We have compared the Corg record in one of the cores, V19-28, to a model deepwater oxygen record developed from d13C data in the nearby V19-30 to test whether the Corg record has been mostly shaped by degradation or by the rain of organic matter from the euphotic zone. We found no coherence between the two records, implying that the Corg record is primarily a measure of productivity. By comparing the opal, calcite, and Corg records in V19-28, a core which is at or above the lysocline, we found that both increased calcite and opal deposition matches high Corg accumulation. We also found, however, that the calcite and opal records were uncorrelated, so that episodes of high opal deposition do not necessarily accumulate calcite rapidly. We hypothesize that at least two different plankton communities have been dominant in the waters above this site, one rich in opal-secreting plankton and one more dominated by calcite producers. The opal-rich plankton community was dominant during the intervals 10-15 ka and 35-60 ka.

Chemical compositions of rocks and minerals from an underwater volcano of the Kuril deep-sea basin

Mineralogy and geochemistry of low-temperature hydrothermal manifestations occurring on the surface of basalts and in their cracks within a submarine volcano in the north-eastern part of the Kuril deep-sea basin have been studied. The following order of isolation of mineral phases has been found out: Fe-rich sulphides (pyrite) - Fe-rich layered silicates (hydromica of celadonite-nontronite type) - amorphous silica (opal) - Fe-oxyhydroxides (goethite) - Mn-oxyhydroxides (vernadite). Sulphide mineralization is of the phenocryst-stockwork type. Finding of pure barite fragments does not exclude presence of hydrothermal exhalations (smokers) on this volcanic structure.

(Table 4) Chemistry of iron-rich basalts from ODP Hole 106-648B

Analysis numbers 344-370, SAMF 12.5-12.7; 442-369, SAMF 12.7-12.9; 422-77, SAMF 12.9-13.1; 95-156, SAMF 13.1-13.3; 272-82, SAMF 13.3-13.5; 285-33, SAMF 13.5-13.7. Analyses are listed in depth order within each SAMF division.

Geochemistry of basalts at DSDP Site 89-462

At Site 462 in the Nauru Basin, western Pacific Ocean, 56 lithologic units have been recovered from an extensive flood basalt province. Fossil evidence suggests that the lavas were emplaced during the interval 100-115 Ma, some 30 m.y. after formation of the underlying Jurassic ocean crust. The lithologic units can be broadly divided into three chemical units, the lowermost two of which are chemically monotonous, suggesting rapid eruption of basalt from a compositionally homogeneous magma chamber. All the basalts are hypersthene- (hy-) rich tholeiites, with approximately chondritic La/Sm, La/Yb, Zr/Nb, La/Ta, and Th/Hf ratios. Chemically they resemble, in part, "transitional" mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB) from areas such as the Reykjanes Ridge, although Rb, Ba, and K contents are very low and similar to those of "normal" MORB. Their 87Sr/86Sr ratios are higher than in N-type MORB (Fujii et al., 1981). The chemistry of the Nauru basalts differs from that of continental flood basalts, which tend to be strongly enriched in large-ion lithophile (LIL) elements, although the extent to which the differences result from sialic contamination or source variability is not clear.