Calcium carbonate compensation depth

Biogenic Ma.teria.ls, Deep ocean calcareous or siUceous oo2es are sediments containing >30% of biogenic material. Foraminifera, the skeletal remains of calcareous plankton, are found extensively in deep equatorial waters above the calcium carbonate compensation depth of 4000 to 5000 m. 

Calcite compensation depth See Calcium carbonate compensation depth. 

Calcium carbonate compensation depth (CCD) The depth below which calcium carbonate is not found in marine sediments due to its dissolution. 

Carbonate compensation The ocean s response to perturbations through shifts in its carbonate chemistry. These shifts require changes in the carbonate ion concentration that change the depth of the calcium carbonate compensation depth and hence lead to changes in the burial rate of carbon as biogenic calcium carbonate. 

Figure 7. The depth distribution of the Ro and calcite saturation levels, the foraminiferal lysocline and the calcium carbonate compensation depth in the Western and Eastern Atlantic Ocean (after Ref. 40)...

There are several other topics that would be equally appropriate to consider in a review of this type. Some of these, such as the record of seawater and the history of the calcium carbonate compensation depth (CCD), are mentioned briefly as they relate to records that are discussed in greater detail. Other topics have been omitted. We hope readers will recognize that the topics covered here are determined not only by the scientific interests of the authors, but also by the practical limits of what can be covered in a single review. 

Atlantic Ocean Nodule abundance in the Atlantic Ocean appears to be more limited than in the Pacific or Indian Oceans, probably as a result of its relatively high sedimentation rates. Another feature which inhibits nodule abundance in the Atlantic is that much of the seafloor is above the calcium carbonate compensation depth (CCD). The areas of the Atlantic where nodules do occur in appreciable amounts are those where sedimentation is inhibited. The deep water basins on either side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge which are below the CCD and which accumulate only limited sediment contain nodules in reasonable abundance, particularly in the western Atlantic. Similarly, there is a widespread occurrence of nodules and encrustations in the Drake Passage-Scotia Sea area probably due to the strong bottom currents under the Circum-Antarctic current inhibiting sediment deposition in this region. Abundant nodule deposits on the Blake Plateau can also be related to high bottom currents. 

The solubility of calcite and aragonite increases with increasing pressure and decreasing temperature in such a way that deep waters are undersaturated with respect to calcium carbonate, while surface waters are supersaturated. The level at which the effects of dissolution are first seen on carbonate shells in the sediments is termed the lysocline and coincides fairly well with the depth of the carbonate saturation horizon. The lysocline commonly lies between 3 and 4 km depth in today s oceans. Below the lysocline is the level where no carbonate remains in the sediment this level is termed the carbonate compensation depth. 

The carbonate compensation depth (CCD) occurs where the rate of calcium carbonate dissolution is balanced by the rate of infall, and the calcium carbonate content of surface sediments is close to Owt.% (e.g., Bramlette, 1961). The CCD has been confused with the calcium carbonate critical depth (sometimes used interchangeably with the lysocline discussed next), where the carbonate content of the surface sediment drops below 10 wt.%. A similar marker level in deep-sea sediments is the ACD, below... 

Carbonate compensation depth the level of an ocean at which the rate of calcium carbonate deposition equals the rate of its resolution. 

Observations from studies of surface sediments have allowed definition of regionally varying levels in the ocean at which pronounced changes in the presence or preservation of calcium carbonate result from the depth-dependent increase of dissolution on the seafloor. The first such level to be identified was simply the depth boundary in the ocean separating carbonate-rich sediments above from carbonate-free sediments below. This level is termed the calcite (or carbonate) compensation depth (CCD) and represents the depth at which the rate of carbonate dissolution on the seafloor exactly balances the rate of carbonate supply from the overlying surface waters. Because the supply and dissolution rates of carbonate differ from place to place in the ocean, the depth of the CCD is variable. In the Pacific, the CCD is typically found at depths between about 3500 and 4500 m. In the North Atlantic and parts of the South Atlantic, it is found... 

This section primarily focuses on the description of the deposition and accumulation of carbonates in shallow waters and in the deep ocean. The main depocenters for calcium carbonates are the continental shelf areas, as well as island arcs or atolls, which are the typical shallow water environments for massive carbonate formation, and the pelagic deep-sea sediments above the calcite compensation depth catching the rain of small calcareous tests formed by marine plankton in the surface waters. 

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