Rock magnetic property of gravity core CSH1 from the northern Okinawa Trough and the effect of early diagenesis

Detailed rock magnetic investigations were undertaken at 2 -4 cm interval for the gravity core CSHI （with a length of 17.36 m） from the northern Okinawa Trough. Time-scale of the core was constructed by two characteristic tephras and foraminferal assemblages, indicating an age of 50 ka for the bottom of the core. Except for three tephras and abrupt decrease in surface, there are little changes in all kinds of rock magnetic parameters that can be correlated to the climate change for the last 50 ka. Different from the common sediments, most S-ratios （S equals the negative ratio of IRM-0.3T to SIRM, which is an indicator of low coercivity content） of the sediments are smaller than 0. 9, which implies a substantial amount of magnetic minerals with high coercivity. The existence of iron sulphide （ greigite or pyrrhotite） is revealed by representative susceptibility - temperature curves showing 200 350 ℃ Curie temperature in addition to 580 ℃ of magnetite, and also by awful smell during heating and dark heating products. Both the occurrence of authigenic iron sulphide and quick decrease of magnetic parameters near the surface clearly show that sediments from Core CSHI have undergone early diagenesis. The featureless magnetic changes of the whole core except for three tephras mean that the post-depositonal alteration is so strong that most original signals have been destroyed. For the same reason, the organic matter in sediment and sulphate in pore water must have been consumed along with dissolution, precipitation of iron and manganese happening sequencially during the redox reaction series. Great caution must be taken when using these altered chemical parameters for the interpretation of climatic changes.

Early Diagenetic Dolomite as a Potential Archive of Paleoredox Fluctuations in an Early Tonian Marine Basin?

The Tonian Period witnessed important environmental changes and critical evolutionary innovations. Published iron speciation data suggest a global redox transition of mid-depth seawaters from euxinic to ferruginous in early Tonian, but details of this transition remain unknown. This study explores Tonian stromatolitic carbonates as a possible archive of paleoenvironmental changes, through the investigation of dolomitic limestones and dolostones associated with stromatolites of the Weiji Formation in the Huaibei region of North China. Three types of dolomitization are recognized on the basis of petrographic and geochemical data. Type Ⅰ and Ⅱ dolomitization resulted in dolomitic limestones characterized by LREE depletions, MREE enrichments, positive yttrium anomalies, and a lack of europium anomalies, indicating early diagenetic dolomitization, possibly in the iron reduction zone and under the influence of bottom seawater. The lack of cerium anomalies in these carbonates suggests anoxia in shallow marine environments. The coexistence of ferroan/non-ferroan dolomite crystals and overgrowth bands is interpreted as possible evidence for rapid fluctuations between iron-rich and iron-depleted conditions in pore-waters or seawaters. In contrast, type Ⅲdolomitization resulted in pervasively dolomitized stromatolitic carbonates and likely represents late diagenetic processes. This study highlights the potential of early diagenetic dolomite as an archive for paleoenvironmental investigations.

Distribution and accumulation of biogenic silica in the intertidal sediments of the Yangtze Estuary

Sedimentary biogenic silica is known to be an important parameter to understand biogeochemical processes and paleoenviromental records in estuarine and coastal ecosystems. Consequently, it is of great significance to investigate accumulation and distribution of biogenic silica in sediments. The two-step mild acid-mild alkaline extraction procedure was used to leach biogenic silica and its early diagenetic products in intertidal sediments of the Yangtze Estuary. The results showed that total biogenic silica （t-BSi） in the intertidal sediments varied from 237.7-419.4 μmol Si/g, while the mild acid leachable silica （Si-HCl） and the mild alkaline leachable silica （Si- Alk） were in the range of 25.1-72.9 μmol Si/g and 208.1-350.4 μmol Si/g, respectively. Significant correlations were observed for the grain size distributions of sediments and different biogenic silica pools in intertidal sediments. This confirms that grain size distribution can significantly affect biogenic silica contents in sediments. Close relationships of biogenic silica with organic carbon and nitrogen were also found, reflecting that there is a strong coupling between biogenic silica and organic matter biogeochemical cycles in the intertidal system of the Yangtze Estuary. Additionally, the early diagenetic changes of biogenic silica in sediments are discussed in the present study.

Characteristics and distribution of low molecular weight organic acids in the sediment porewaters in Bosten Lake, China

The composition and vertical profiles of low molecular-weight organic acids （LMWOAs） and the contribution of them to dissolved organic matter （DOM） in sediment porewaters in Bosten Lake, Xinjiang, China were investigated. The results showed that total concentration of LMWOAs was up to 94.5 μmol/L and their proportion in DOM was 5.6%, suggesting that LMWOAs were important chemical components in DOM in lake sediment porewaters. Among the seven LMWOAs, pyruvic and acetic acid had the highest concentrations with 26.30 and 8.31 μmol/L, accounting for 51.4% and 14.92% of LMWOAs, respectively. Trifluoroacetic and sorbic acid had the lowest concentrations, indicating that the compositions of LMWOAs in relative reducing environments were largely different from those reported in glacier, atmosphere and soils. The concentrations of lactic, acetic, formic, sorbic and oxalic acid decreased with increasing depth, probably relating to stronger microbial activities in the initial stage of early diagenesis. Trifluoroacetic acid was mainly anthropogenic with its concentration, showing a diusive trend from the surface to bottom sediments. The concentrations of lactic acid and nitrate generally showed a consistent profile. The increasing concentration of pyruvic acid in the vertical profile was just opposite to that of sulfate, revealing a significant negative relationship between them. Oxalic acid remained constant except for an obvious peak at 6 cm depth. The results indicated the diversities in sources and behaviors for various LMWOAs during early diagenesis in sediments.

Pyrite Formation in Organic-rich Clay, Calcitic and Coal-Forming Environments

The early diagenetic characteristics of pyrite formation processes in a Miocene freshwater sequence of mixed sediments （coal fragments in clays, sandstones or shales） alternating with continuous brown coal layers was investigated. Based on abundant minerals, the following main sedimentary environments were distinguished： the illite-montmorillonitic （I-M）, calcitic （Ct） and coal-forming environment （CL）. For these hydrogeochemically differing environments the effects of limiting factors on the pyrite formation process （availability of sulphate and Fe, amount of organic matter and participation of organic sulphur） were assessed by correlation analysis. Significant differences in the effects of these limiting factors in the particular environments were observed. These differences were explained taking in account the different oxidative activity, Fe-complex and surface complex forming properties of humic substances in dependence of pH of environment and the abundance of sorptionally active clay minerals. In environments having a relatively low pH and containing clay minerals （I-M- and CL-environments） the oxidative activity of humic substances （Hs） on pyrite precursors was greatly prevented however pyrite formation depended on reactive Fe availability as the consequence of complex formation. On the contrary, in environments with a relatively high pH, as it was the calcitic, the oxidative activity of Hs was greatly enhanced, thus oxidizing the sulfur precursors of pyrite. The oxidation degree of organic matter was probably also a consequence of the differing activity of the humic electron-acceptors.

Geochronology and Geochemical Characteristics of Intrusion in the Jinchangliang Gold Deposit,Inner Mongolia and Their Tectonic Significance

Discovered and mined in recent years, the Jinchangliang gold deposit has not yet been studied in its genetic type. In this paper, the geological features of ore deposit, S isotopic composition, metallogenic age and elements geochemical of the granite closely related to mineralization were discussed. The results of the geological features of ore deposit and S isotopic composition show that ore-bearing hydrothermal solution was closely related with the intrusion of magmatic. The granite is characteristic of high silica SiO_2=72.38%-72.98%, high aluminum and Al_2O_3=14.22%-14.35%, low calcium CaO=0.16% -0.26%, and low value of FeOT/MgO（6.86-7.73）, and rich in alkalis Na_2O＋K_2O=9.11%-9.24%, suggesting that it is high-K calc-alkaline, highly fractionated, weak aluminum A-type granite. The REE patterns are inclined to right and show intense fractionation between LREE and HREE, without obvious negative Eu anomaly（δEu=0.80-0.84）. The primitive mantle-normalized spidergrams are characterized by depletion of Ba, U, Ta, Nb, Zr, Ti and P, which implies that the granite has the characteristics of the crust-mantle mixing. S isotopes also indicate that the material source of gold deposit is closely related to the granite rocks. The LA-ICP-MS Zircon UPb age of the Damiao rock mass medium-fine grained monzogranite（belonging to the early IndoChina） is（245±1） Ma. It shows that Jinchangliang gold deposit was not formed in Yanshanian, but the early Indo-China. Specifically speaking, the deposit was formed in the collision stage of the North China plate and the Siberian plate.

Magnetic properties of Holocene core ZK9 in the subaqueous Yangtze delta and their mechanisms and implications

We measured the magnetic properties of core ZK9 from the subaqueous Yangtze delta to examine the mechanisms and possibility of using magnetic proxies for the sedimentary environmental evolution controlled by the Holocene sea level. The results showed that low values of most magnetic parameters occurred and pyrite formed in the estuarine sediments during c. 10.5-8.4 cal ka BE reflecting the predominant early diagenesis in a tidaldominated depositional environment when the sea level rose rapidly. Sharp increases in the values of χARM （susceptibility of Anhysteresis Remanent Magnetisation）, χARM/χ, χARM/SIRM （Saturation Isothermal Remnant Magnetisation） and HIRM （Hard Isothermal Remnant Magnetisation） occurred immediately above the transitional zone from estuarine to deltaic system of c. 8.4--5.9 cal ka BP, which imply accumulation of single-domain magnetite and anti-ferromagnetic minerals. These magnetic properties indicate the enhanced freshwater processes at the core site as a result of the relatively stable sea level and the associated delta progradation since c. 5.9 cal ka BP. Therefore, magnetic proxies Of χARM and HIRM are useful to identify the maximum flooding surface. In addition, the intertidal-subtidal sediment of c. 13.2-10.5 cal ka BP had high values of χ, SIRM and HIRM, reflecting the features of a coastal environment. The sharp decline of the above parameters from c. 10.5 cal ka BP indicates possibly an event of rapid sea level rise.