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Oceanography
GEO 9

Lecture 5
Sediments:
Records of Earth's past

Kirk Domke
Winter 2013

Sediments are particles of rocks or organisms that are weathered, transported, and deposited by a fluid (air or water). Sediment composition, particle size, and particle pattern reflect their source and depositional conditions. The age of sediments is determined by relative and absolute dating. Ocean sediments record Earth history (uniformitarianism!)
e.g. environmental events, climate change

Earth is dynamic: constantly in a state of change!

The sedimentary record in the ocean and of marine rocks preserved on land contain evidence of these changes.

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So, what are sediments?

Not quite ...

Ocean sediments are the particles of rocks & organisms that cover much of the sea floor. - e.g. sand, mud, sea shells, etc.

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Sediments in the ocean can be thin,

or thick,

Sources of ocean sediment are: A. Materials derived from land (terrigenous) B. Materials produced by organisms (biogenous) C. Minerals precipitated directly from seawater (hydrogenous or authigenic) D. Particles from space (cosmogenous) (E. Anthropogenic)

smooth & covered by tracks,

or rippled by currents

A. Terrigenous sediments are the most aboundant marine sediments by volume (>87% volume, 45% of area).

Rivers are the primary source of terrigenous sediments

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Terrigenous sediments also come from windblown dust, volcanic ash or lava, and local erosion.

B. Biogenous sediments are the most abundant marine sediments by area (55% of area). Come from: - sea shells - skeletons - microscopic algae

5 cm

0.0002 cm

0.02 cm

Most biogenous sediment is produced by microscopic algae that drift near the surface until death, when their shells sink.

Oozes are a type of biogenous sediment (>30% biological material) that form from accumulations of plankton tests (microscopic shells). Silica (SiO2) Siliceous Ooze

Diatoms & Radiolarians

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3)

Calcareous ooze

Coccolithophores & Foraminifera

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Calcareous ooze is not found everywhere...

Carbonate Compensation Depth (CCD) As we'll see: colder water and water at higher pressures can dissolve more CO2, making the water slightly acidic.

Below the CCD, (avg. 4500 m) calcium carbonate dissolves! Does that mean we can use the presence of carbonate/calcareous ooze to estimate water depth? What is the average depth of the ocean? What type of sediment is likely dominant over much of the ocean?

At high latitudes (polar regions) not only is CaCO 3 more likely to dissolve, but diatom productivity is higher.

C. Hydrogenous sediments are formed in place precipitated directly from seawater *

Precipitation: chemical process in which ions in solution combine and produce a solid.
For example: Ca2+ + CO32- CaCO3 or: Na+ + Cl- NaCl

(*Technically, this does include biogenous sediments, but manganese nodules, phosphorites, and evaporite deposits are the main examples.)

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Evaporite deposits form when seawater dries up First calcium carbonate (limestone)

D. Cosmogenous particles constantly rain down from space but are a very small proportion of marine sediment (<<1%). These are mostly interplanetary dust and micrometeorites. Some are microtectites, rare, glassy particles formed during a meteor impact. Generally raindropshaped, <1.5 mm long.

Then calcium sulfate (gypsum/wallboard)

Finally potassium chloride, sodium chloride (table salt). Layers of evaporites in the rock record indicate hot, dry climates.

Spherical microtectites provide some of the evidence for a major meteor impact at the end of the Cretaceous period, coincident with the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The distribution of marine sediment types reflects physical transport, biological activity, and water chemistry
(sometimes all at once!)

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Continental shelf (neritic) sediments: mostly terrigenous (sand, silt, clay)

Continental shelf (neritic) sediments: mostly terrigenous (sand, silt, clay) Open ocean (pelagic) sediments: terrigenous clays, biogenous oozes

Continental shelf (neritic) sediments: mostly terrigenous (sand, silt, clay) Open ocean (pelagic) sediments: terrigenous clays, biogenous oozes

The nature of the sediments we find on the seafloor are determined by:
1. Distance from sediment source 2. Energy of deposition location

Some shelf sediments make it even to the continental slope

3. Source material

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Distance from sediment source Which is easier to move: a boulder or a grain of sand?

Distance from sediment source

It takes high energy to move large rocks. Big chunks tend to break up during the trip.

Usually, only the smaller particles travel the furthest.

Distance from sediment source

Since particle size tells us so much about depositional environment, it is one of the ways we classify sediments:

Which of these make it to the ocean?

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3. Source material

Once in the ocean, sediments are transported by currents. Near-shore sediment transport is mostly accomplished by longshore drift.

Longshore drift occurs when waves strike the coast at an angle.

Sediments may be transported to deeper water by turbidity currents, gravity-driven flows of suspended sediment & water.

Turbidity currents can travel many miles downslope and provide much of the fine terrigenous clay that reaches the deep basins

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Transport in the deep ocean is much less, but some deep currents may still move sediments.

We're beginning to see how to read the rock record

Unlike near-shore environments, the energy regime of deep sea currents stays fairly constant over relatively long time scales
- The strength & direction of deep ocean currents are primarily a function of global processes such as climate

We're beginning to see how to read the rock record

Relative dating is qualitative: younger vs older

father oldest son mother

...but in order to begin understanding the information preserved in rocks we also need to know how old they are. There are two general ways to date a rock: 1. Its age relative to other rocks 2. Its absolute age in years
youngest son

daughter

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Relative dating relies on: Principle of Original Horizontality

- gravity requires that material is deposited in generally horizontal layers. D

... the Principle of Superposition

- in a normal setting, the material on the bottom was deposited first and the layers of material on top get successively younger

and the Principle of Cross-Cutting Relationships

- material that cuts across other material must be younger than the other material

Absolute dating is quantitative: my dog is 2 yrs old

Sometimes sediments have annual layers that can be counted like tree rings but usually only in particular environments (e.g. glacial lakes)

Absolute ages for marine rocks are usually derived from radiometric dating performed on volcanic ashes.

Radiometric dating cannot be performed on sediment particles themselves. To explain why, let's look at how radiometric dating is done...

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Radioactive elements are unstable and decay:

The half-life is the amount of time for of the radioactive parent element to decay into its daughter product

Because of the different half-lives, different Parent/Daughter pairs are better for some measurements than others.

14Carbon dating (radiocarbon) is good for recent sediments since its half-life is 5,700 yrs

Very ancient ages, like the age of the Earth, are determined using the longer lived pairs, like U-Pb, or K-Ar.
Parent Isotope Uranium 238 Potassium 40 Carbon 14 Daughter isotope Lead 206 Argon 40 Nitrogen 14 Half-life 4.5 Gyr 8.4 Gyr 5,700 yr

So, why can't we do radiometric dating on the sediments directly? What are sediments made of? Particles of other rocks!

So, we've seen how different sediments reflect their source and depositional environment.

If you date a (terrigenous) sediment you'll get the age of the rock that was eroded to produce the sediment! Fortunately, volcanic ash beds which can be dated radiometrically are sometimes preserved in marine sediments.

Now we can use the principle that processes today operate in the same manner as in the distant past:

UNIFORMITARIANSM

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For example: Turbidite deposits - similar particle size - similar layering - similar composition

Marine records: Heinrich Events, Glacier Retreat and Ocean Temp.

This does not prove* that the rocks record turbidity currents; it only allows us to conclude that it is the most reasonable explanation.
*Things are only disproved in science

Reef deposits in Eastern Canada

Evaporite deposits and the Messinian Salinity Crisis (when the Mediterranean almost dried up)

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