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Diatom mats in Gulf of California sediments: Implications for the paleoenvironmental interpretation of laminated sediments and silica burial

Pike, Jennifer ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9415-6003 and Kemp, Alan E. S. 1999. Diatom mats in Gulf of California sediments: Implications for the paleoenvironmental interpretation of laminated sediments and silica burial. Geology 27 (4) , pp. 311-314. 10.1130/0091-7613(1999)027<0311:DMIGOC>2.3.CO;2

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Abstract

Preservation of laminations in hemipelagic and pelagic sediments is routinely attributed to reduced oxygen conditions that inhibited benthic activity. As such, the degree of preservation of laminae is used commonly as a paleo-oxygenation indicator. Recent evidence from deep-sea pelagic sediments in the eastern equatorial Pacific and North Atlantic, however, demonstrates that preservation of laminae may occur by rapid deposition of ungrazed Thalassiothrix longissima diatom mats that overwhelm the benthos in otherwise oxic bottom waters. Here, we report that similar diatom mat laminae are common in hemipelagic sediments of the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California, have aided preservation of the laminated sediment sequence and have also enhanced opal burial. Examples of diatom mats influencing sediment preservation are also described from the northern California Margin and from the Miocene Monterey Formation, southern California. Thus, even in classical settings of laminated sediment occurrence, caution needs to be taken in correlating degree of lamina preservation with paleo-oxygen levels. Such studies must be underpinned by detailed microfabric and micropaleontological analyses.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Subjects: Q Science > QE Geology
Publisher: Geological Society of America
ISSN: 0091-7613
Last Modified: 18 Oct 2022 12:21
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/9482

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