Terrigenous particles

Earth s crust is a source of particles produced as a consequence of weathering and volcanic activity. Weathering of continental rocks generates terrigenous particles that are carried into ocean via rivers, glaciers, and winds. As shown in Table 13.2, the most abundant mineral types are quartz, plagioclase, and clay minerals. The most abimdant... 

The abyssal clays are composed primarily of clay-sized clay minerals, quartz, and feldspar transported to the siuface ocean by aeolian transport. Since the winds that pick up these terrigenous particles travel in latitudinal bands (i.e., the Trades, Westerlies, and Polar Easterlies), the clays can be transported out over the ocean. When the winds weaken, the particles fell to the sea siufece and eventually settle to the seafloor. Since the particles are small, they can take thousands of years to reach the seafloor. A minor fraction of the abyssal clays are of riverine origin, carried seaward by geostrophic currents. Despite slow sedimentation rates (millimeters per thousand years), clay minerals, feldspar, and quartz are the dominant particles composing the surface sediments of the abyssal plains that lie below the CCD. Since a sediment must contain at least 70% by mass lithogenous particles to be classified as an abyssal clay, lithogenous particles can still be the major particle type in a biogenous ooze. 

The distribution of sediment types in the Pacific Ocean is much different from that of the Atlantic. Except for the coastline of the northwest United States, the Pacific is ringed by deep-sea trenches and, hence, has relatively narrow continental shelves. The trenches effectively trap all the terrigenous particles carried to the sea by river runoff. The Pacific Ocean is much wider than the other oceans thus the flux of wind-borne lithogenous particles is spread over a much greater area and produces a much lower mass flux, on an areal basis, to the seafloor. This makes other particles relatively important in determining the composition of the sediments in the Pacific ocean. 

Once they enter into the marine system, trace metals are removed from surface water by internal fluxes such as sedimentation on biogenic or terrigenic particles, diffusive exchange of dissolved species across interfaces, or advective vertical transport. 

After delivery to the ocean, clay minerals react with seawater. The processes that alter the chemical composition of the terrigenous clay minerals during the first few months of exposure are termed halmyrolysis. These include (1) cation exchange, (2) fixation of ions into inaccessible sites, and (3) some isomorphic substitutions. Another important transfiarmation is flocculation of very small (colloidal-size) clay particles into larger ones. 

Ice rafting is responsible for 7% of the terrigenous input of siliclastic particles to the ocean. When the ice melts, the particles settle to the seafloor to form glacial marine deposits. These are currently forming at latitudes greater than 40°N and 50° S. Most of the glacial marine sediments are poorly sorted deposits composed of relatively unweathered materials with chlorite being the dominant clay mineral. In the North Atlantic, layers... 

Comparison of the depositional fluxes shows that diatoms were the most important particle component transporting P to the sediment surface, accounting for 50-55% of the flux (Table II). Terrigenous material and calcite were also important transport vectors. Deposition varied markedly with season, as shown by the time series plot of the major particle components (Figure 13). The total P flux calculated by using the particle components model agreed with the flux measured by sediment traps (157-227 versus 185 mg/m2). The close agreement indicated that the major particle vectors were represented and associated P concentrations were accurately quantified. 

Sediments with HI values below 400 mg HC/g TOC mainly comprise marl samples. In general, all these relatively hydrogen-lean samples contain a significant proportion of terrigenous organic particles (18.3% terrigenous material on average in samples with HI < 400 and 4.4% in samples with HI > 400). 

The sediments of the Caucasian region are formed under the influence of the solid runoff of mountain rivers and due to the intensive development of the processes of abrasion and denudation. Waves and coastal currents significantly affect the distribution of the terrigenous-detrital matter over the underwater slope, concentrating largest particles of the matter of boulders, pebbles, and sands close to the coastline and on the beach. Beyond the zone of the wave action, fine-grained sands and silty oozes are accumulated. Often, bedrocks are exposed at abrasive surfaces of the underwater slope at depths down to 60 m. 

A fraction of the eroded mass made of small-size particles is transported by winds over subglobal distances, to be ultimately deposited in the open ocean and on other continents. Rates of sediment accumulation in the open oceans are much lower than for sediments in continental bodies of water, where in lakes the rates are typically of an order of 10° 1 mm yr"1 for terrigenous sediments and are higher for deposition of organic-matter-rich muds in areas of strong primary productivity. 

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