Abundant Sr-rich aragonite in eastern Mediterranean sapropel S1: Diagenetic vs. detrital/biogenic origin

CaCO3 contents in eastern Mediterranean sapropels are generally lower than in the enclosing marl sediments. In sediments of a transect from similar to 650 to 2100 m water depth at the Sirte continental slope, the opposite feature was observed. Although the increased Sr/Ca ratios observed in these sediments agree with such feature observed in other eastern Mediterranean SI sediments, their absolute magnitude is much higher. The enhanced Sr/Ca ratio in these sediments is associated with their aragonite content, which for the Sirte transect reaches levels of up to similar to 40 wt.%. The aragonite content and Sr/Ca ratios in the SI sediments of this transect decrease with increasing water depth and decrease with distance to the African coast for all eastern Mediterranean cores. In view of the lack of a coherent relationship with sedimentary reduced sulphur contents and porosity, and considering the major amount of aragonite found specifically in the sediments of the Sirte transect, authigenic precipitation can contribute only a limited fraction at most. SEM observation and electron-microprobe analyses showed that the needles and needle clusters are morphologically aragonite, contain the highest Sr/Ca ratio, and are similar to skeleton fragments of the green alga Halimeda. Consequently, a detrital/biogenic source is the likely mechanism for the major part of the aragonite enrichments found in SI sediments. Possibly, offshore-directed surface water flows related to wind stress and/or enhanced run-off (consistent with enhanced precipitation during sapropel SI) may have assisted in the transport of near-coastal aragonitic organisms to more coast-remote areas. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.