Sediment Provenance using Clay Mineral in the Continental Shelf and Rise of the Eastern Bellingshausen Sea, Antarctica

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-184
Author(s):  
Young Kyu Park ◽  
◽  
Jaewoo Jung ◽  
Kee-Hwan Lee ◽  
Minkyung Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Clay Mineral ◽  
Sediment Provenance ◽  
Bellingshausen Sea

scholarly journals Elemental Compositions of Smectites Reveal Detailed Sediment Provenance Changes during Glacial and Interglacial Periods: The Southern Drake Passage and Bellingshausen Sea, Antarctica

Minerals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young Park ◽  
Jae Lee ◽  
Jaewoo Jung ◽  
Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand ◽  
Kyu-Cheul Yoo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clay Mineral ◽  
Marine Sediments ◽  
Drake Passage ◽  
Weddell Sea ◽  
South Shetland Islands ◽  
Sediment Provenance ◽  
Elemental Compositions ◽  
Bellingshausen Sea ◽  
Mineral Assemblages ◽  
Different Sources

Variations in clay mineral assemblages have been widely used to understand changes in sediment provenance during glacial and interglacial periods. Smectite clay minerals, however, have a range of various elemental compositions that possibly originated from multiple different sources. Therefore, it might be crucial to distinguish the various types of smectites by analyzing their elemental composition in order to verify the sediment provenances with certainty. This hypothesis was tested for the clay mineral characteristics in a marine sediment core from the southern Drake Passage (GC05-DP02). Rare earth elements and ε N d data had previously indicated that fine grained detritus was supplied from the Weddell Sea to the core site during interglacial periods, when the sediments contained more Al-rich smectite (montmorillonite). Indeed, marine sediments collected close to the Larsen Ice Shelf on the eastern Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf, western Weddell Sea embayment, show more Al-rich smectite components as compared with other possible West Antarctic sources, such as the Ross Sea embayment or King George Island, South Shetland Islands. Furthermore, two types of smectite (Al-rich and Al-poor) were identified in core GC360 from the Bellingshausen Sea shelf, suggesting that during glacial periods some sediment is derived from subglacial erosion of underlying pre-Oligocene sedimentary strata containing predominantly Al-rich montmorillonite. This finding reveals different sources for smectites in sediments deposited at site GC360 during the last glacial period and during the present interglacial that show only minor differences in smectite contents. For the interglacial period, two groups of smectite with a wide range of Al-rich and Mg–Fe-rich were identified, which indicate delivery from two different sources: (1) the detritus with high contents of Mg–Fe-rich smectite supplied from Beethoven Peninsula, southwestern Alexander island and (2) the detritus with higher contents of Al-rich smectite (montmorillonite) possibly derived from the subglacial reworking of pre-Oligocene sedimentary strata. These results demonstrate that the elemental compositions of smectites can be used to differentiate the sources of smectites in marine sediments, which is an important tool to define sediment provenance in detail, when down-core changes observed in clay mineral assemblages are interpreted.

scholarly journals Tracking the Detrital Zircon Provenance of Early Miocene Sediments in the Continental Shelf of the Northwestern South China Sea

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 752
Author(s):  
Ce Wang ◽  
Letian Zeng ◽  
Yaping Lei ◽  
Ming Su ◽  
Xinquan Liang
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
Continental Shelf ◽  
South China ◽  
Detrital Zircon ◽  
Early Miocene ◽  
Sediment Provenance ◽  
Additional Contribution ◽  
Lower Miocene ◽  
Paleogeographic Reconstruction ◽  
China Sea

Sediment provenance studies have become a major theme for source-to-sink systems and provide an important tool for assessing paleogeographic reconstruction, characterizing the depositional system, and predicting reservoir quality. The lower Miocene is an important stratigraphic unit for deciphering sediment evolution in the continental shelf of the northwestern South China Sea, but the provenance characteristics of this strata remain unclear. In this study, detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology and Lu-Hf isotopes from the lower Miocene Sanya Formation in the Yinggehai-Song Hong Basin were examined to study the provenance and its variation in the early Miocene. U-Pb dating of detrital zircons yielded ages ranging from Archean to Cenozoic (3313 to 39 Ma) and displayed age distributions with multiple peaks and a wide range of εHf(t) values (from −27.2 to +8.5). Multi-proxy sediment provenance analysis indicates that the Red River system was the major source for the sediments in the northern basin, with additional contribution from central Vietnam, and the Hainan played the most important role in contributing detritus to the eastern margin of the basin in the middle Miocene. This paper highlights the provenance of early Miocene sediments and contributes to paleogeographic reconstruction and reservoir evaluation.

scholarly journals Rare Earth Element Distributions in Continental Shelf Sediment, Northern South China Sea

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 3540
Author(s):  
Qian Ge ◽  
Z. George Xue ◽  
Fengyou Chu
Keyword(s):  
Rare Earth ◽  
South China Sea ◽  
Continental Shelf ◽  
South China ◽  
Northern South China Sea ◽  
Hainan Island ◽  
Sediment Provenance ◽  
Adjacent Area ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Qiongzhou Strait

A total of 388 surface sediment samples taken from the northern South China Sea (SCS) continental shelf were analyzed to characterize the signature of their rare earth elements (REEs). The average REEs concentration was 192.94 μg/g, with a maximum of 349.07 μg/g, and a minimum of 32.97 μg/g. The chondrite-normalized REEs pattern exhibits a remarkably light REEs accumulation, a relatively flat heavy REEs pattern, and a negative Eu anomaly. We subdivided the study area into three zones using the characteristics of REEs and statistical characteristics. Zone I: continental shelf off western Guangdong Province. Here, the sediment provenance is mainly river-derived from the Pearl River, Taiwanese rivers, and those in the adjacent area. Zone II: Qiongzhou Strait and Leizhou Peninsula. Here, the sediment provenance consists of the Qiongzhou Strait and the Hainan Island. Zone III: Hainan Island and SCS slope sediments are dominated. The REEs compositions are mainly controlled by source rock properties, hydrodynamic conditions, and an intensity of chemical weathering. We reconstructed the sediment dispersal and transport route using the REEs compositions, grain size, and other geochemical characteristics throughout the study area.

scholarly journals Provenance changes between recent and glacial-time sediments in the Amundsen Sea embayment, West Antarctica: clay mineral assemblage evidence

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 471-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Ehrmann ◽  
Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand ◽  
James A. Smith ◽  
Alastair G.C. Graham ◽  
Gerhard Kuhn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clay Mineral ◽  
Sediment Provenance ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Amundsen Sea ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Transport Pathways ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Catchment Areas ◽  
The Last Glacial

AbstractThe Amundsen Sea embayment is a probable site for the initiation of a future collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the transport pathways of subglacial sediments into this embayment at present and during the last glacial period. It discusses the clay mineral composition of sediment samples taken from the seafloor surface and marine cores in order to decipher spatial and temporal changes in the sediment provenance. The most striking feature in the present-day clay mineral distribution is the high concentration of kaolinite, which is mainly supplied by the Thwaites Glacier system and indicates the presence of hitherto unknown kaolinite-bearing sedimentary strata in the hinterland, probably in the Byrd Subglacial Basin. The main illite input is via the Pine Island Glacier. Smectite originates from the erosion of volcanic rocks in Ellsworth Land and western Marie Byrd Land. The clay mineral assemblages in diamictons deposited during the last glacial period are distinctly different from those in corresponding surface sediments. This relationship indicates that glacial sediment sources were different from modern ones, which could reflect changes in the catchment areas of the glaciers and ice streams.

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