Geochemistry and isotopes at DSDP Site 68-503

Nodules occur in the siliceous calcareous ooze and siliceous marl at Site 503 in the eastern equatorial Pacific. They are present below a depth of about 11 meters throughout the green-colored reduced part of the section down to 228 meters, although they are most abundant between 30 and 85 meters. They are cylindrical or barrel-shaped, up to 70 mm long, and usually have an axial channel through them or are hollow. They appear to have formed around and/or within burrows. XRD studies and microprobe analyses show that they are homogeneous and consist of calcian rhododrosite and minor calcite; Mn is present to the extent of about 30%. Isotopic analyses of the carbonate give carbon values which range from -1.2 per mil to -3.8 per mil, and oxygen isotope compositions vary from +4.0 per mil to +6.0 per mil. These values are different from those for marine-derived carbonates as exemplified by the soft sediment filling of a burrow: d13C, -0.26 per mil; d18O, +1.05 per mil. The carbon isotope data indicate that carbonate derived (possibly indirectly) from seawater was mixed with some produced by organic diagenesis to form the nodules. The d18O values suggest that although they formed near the sediment surface, some modification or the introduction of additional diagenetic carbonate occurred during burial.

(Table 1) Magnetozone boundaries at DSDP Site 68-503

The paleomagnetic measurement procedure at Site 503 was similar to that described for Site 502 (See preceding chapter). Each core section was measured with the longcore spinner magnetometer at 10-cm intervals. In addition, one or more discrete samples were taken from each core section for measurement of the total magnetic vector and its stability against progressive AF demagnetization. There were noteworthy differences in conditions at Site 503, however, that affected the quality and interpretation of the magnetic data and require comment. The most serious problem we encountered was the presence of rust scale from the drill string. Although the dark flecks typically were concentrated near the top of every recovered sediment core, they also smeared down a meter or more between the core liner and sediment, even when the sediment showed no indication of drilling disturbance. Individual rust scales proved to be highly magnetic - presumably because they incorporate small pieces of unoxidized metal. The anomalously high remanent intensities, several orders of magnitude above the uncontaminated sediment values, and scattered remanent directions observed in long-core magnetic measurements on many cores from Site 503 could be attributed to the presence of rust scale.