Paleoproductivity from Barite in Maastrichtian Samples from the Southern High of Shatsky Rise (ODP Site 1209)

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Date

2018-12

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The Ohio State University

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Abstract

The reconstruction of paleoproductivity using deep sea sediment samples is useful to investigate any changes that occur in ocean’s productivity due to changes in the ocean’s circulation or water chemistry, especially during periods when global warming events were recorded. In this study, core sediment samples from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 198 at Site 1209C were used to reconstruct changes in productivity in the mid-Maastrichtian (specifically at ~69 – 69.5 Ma), the latest stage of the Cretaceous period. To do this, barite residues were weighed from deep sea sediment samples using barite sequential leaching procedure. These weights were calculated and converted to barite accumulation rates (BARs) using linear sedimentation rate and dry bulk density. Additional carbonate content data and isotope records were utilized to make sense of the paleoconditions that might have resulted in the productivity data yielded from BAR. From the study, the amount of barite residues (in wt %) were generally low, with the highest being 0.049%, yielding a BAR value of 1.3 mg/cm2kyr that spanned ~2000 years (approximately 69.010Ma to 69.008Ma), indicating generally low productivity in the mid-Maastrictian. However, the samples only covered the first and the last 20 kyr in the 69 – 69.5Ma, and not the whole 500 kyr interval. The data are not sufficient to draw interpretations and conclusions on any cyclicity in a bigger time-scale, nor to reconstruct the paleoconditions for the whole 500 kyr (69 – 69.5 Ma). Nevertheless, the study successfully showed changes in productivity that were not identified in previously done studies over the sampled interval.

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National Science Foundation Award OCE-1536630 (Dr. Elizabeth M. Griffith)

Keywords

paleoproductivity, Maastrichtian, Shatsky Rise, Barite Accumulation Rates, marine barite

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