Marine/ocean floor sediment

By far the most important ores of iron come from Precambrian banded iron formations (BIF), which are essentially chemical sediments of alternating siliceous and iron-rich bands. The most notable occurrences are those at Hamersley in Australia, Lake Superior in USA and Canada, Transvaal in South Africa, and Bihar and Karnataka in India. The important manganese deposits of the world are associated with sedimentary deposits the manganese nodules on the ocean floor are also chemically precipitated from solutions. Phosphorites, the main source of phosphates, are special types of sedimentary deposits formed under marine conditions. Bedded iron sulfide deposits are formed by sulfate reducing bacteria in sedimentary environments. Similarly uranium-vanadium in sandstone-type uranium deposits and stratiform lead and zinc concentrations associated with carbonate rocks owe their origin to syngenetic chemical precipitation. 

For a simple model of Ca cycling, where the Ca sources for the ocean are weathering of continental rocks, pore fluids in the marine environment, and ocean floor basalt (Gieskes and Lawrence 1981 Berner etal. 1983 Elderheld etal. 1999), and the primary sink is the biological fixation of Ca into sediments, the rate of change of 5 Ca (= 5sw ) of the oceans is given by ... 

Chert is another organic marine sediment, less common than carbonate rocks, but found in huge deposits in some parts of the world. It initially consists of the skeletons of billions of tiny, single-celled animals called radiolaria. These skeletons are composed of microcrystalline quartz or chalcedony (Si02). Dense layers of this material accumulate on the ocean floor, where they are buried and compressed over time. The term chert is sometimes also applied to any compact, very fine-grained siliceous sediment that has resulted from precipitation or consolidation of silica gel. There may be chert lenses or very thin layers within other types of sediments, such as limestone. 

Marine sediments cover the ocean floor to a thickness averaging 500 m. The deposition rates vary with topography. The rate may be several millimetres per year in nearshore shelf regions, but is only from 0.2 to 7.5 mm per 1000 years on the abyssal plains. Oceanic crustal material is formed along spreading ridges and moves outwards eventually to be lost in subduction zones, the major trenches in the ocean. Because of this continual movement, the sediments on the seafloor are no older than Jurassic in age, about 166 million years. 

The formation of marine sediments depends upon chemical, biological, geological and physical influences. There are four distinct processes that can be readily identified. Firstly, the source of the material obviously is important. This is usually the basis for classifying sediment components and will be considered below in more detail. Secondly, the material and its distribution on the ocean floor are influenced by its transportation history, both to and within the ocean. Thirdly, there is the deposition process that must include particle formation and alteration in the water column. Finally, the sediments may be altered after deposition, a process known as diagenesis. Of particular importance are reactions leading to changes in the redox state of the sediments. 

Along with the silicate debris carried to the sea by rivers and wind, the calcitic hard parts manufactured by marine organisms constimte the most prominent constituent of deep-sea sediments. On high-standing open-ocean ridges and plateaus, these calcitic remains dominate. Only in the deepest portions of the ocean floor, where dissolution takes its toll, are sediments calcite-free. The foraminifera shells preserved in marine sediments are the primary carriers of paleoceano-graphic information. Mg/Ca ratios in these shells record past surface water temperatures temperature corrected 0/ 0 ratios record the volume of continental ice ratios yield information... 

In certain regions, the transport and the distribution carried out by sea ice are important processes. This is especially true for the Arctic Ocean where specific processes in the shallow coastal areas of the Eurasian shelf induce the ice, in the course of its formation, to incorporate sediment material from the ocean floor and the water column. The Transpolar Drift distributes the sediment material across the Arctic Ocean all the way to the North Atlantic. Glacio-marine sedimentation covers one-fifth of present day s ocean floor (Lisitzin 1996). 

Canfield (1993) and Canfield et al. (2005) have compiled published data on oxygen uptake and sulfate reduction in marine sediments and grouped these into different coastal types and into different depth regions of the ocean. Based on their data, Fig. 8.3 presents the relationship between aerobic mineralization and sulfate-based anaerobic mineralization in sediment types comprising the entire ocean floor. The sulfate reduction rates... 

Arsenic(As) in ocean is mainly removed by formation of pyrite in marine sediments. The production rate of sulfur in pyrite is 3.3 X 10 mol my (2.5 X 10 ° g my ) (Holland 1978). As/S ratio of pyrite in sediments previously reported is (8.7 3) x 10" (Huerta-Diaz and Morse 1992). Thus, As sink by pyrite is (1.7-3.9) x 10 mol my . This flux seems to be not different from As input to ocean ((1.6-8.1) x lO mol my (Table 5.3). As concentration of ocean is considered to be controlled by hydrothermal input, riverine input and pyrite output. Fluxes by volcanic gas from atmosphere and by weathering of ocean-floor basalt are small, compared with hydrothermal, riverine and pyrite As fluxes. Residence time of As in seawater is estimated as the amount of As in seawater (4.2 x 10 g) divided by As input to seawater (1.6-8.1) X 10 mol my which is equal to (1.7-3.8) x 10" year. This is shorter than previously estimated one (10 year by Holland 1978). Subducting sulfur flux is estimated to be 6.1 x 10 g my from S contents of altered basalt and sediments ( 0.1 wt%) (Kawahata and Shikazono 1988) and subducting rates of... 

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