Influence of abyssal circulation on sedimentary accumulations in space and time

225 Pages·1977·6.13 MB·English

by  Bruce C. Heezen, International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean. Commission on Marine Geophysics

DEVELOPMENTS IN SEDIMENTOLOGY 23
INFLUENCE OF ABYSSAL CIRCULATION ON SEDIMENTARY ACCUMULATIONS IN
SPACE AND TIME
FURTHER TITLES IN THIS SERIES
1. L.M.J. U, V A NS T R A A T E N ,E ditor
DELTAIC AND SHALLOW MARINE DEPOSITS
2. G.C. AMSTUTZ,E ditor
SEDIMENTOLOGY AND ORE GENESIS
3. A.H. B O t W Aa nd A . BROUWER, Editors
TURBIDITES
4. F.G. TICKELL
THE TECHNIQUES OF SEDIMENTARY MINERALOGY
5. J.C. INGLE Jr.
THE MOVEMENT OF BEACH SAND
6 . L. V A ND E R PLAS
THE IDENTIFICATION OF DETRITAL FELDSPARS
I . S. DZVLYNSKIa nd E. K. WALTON
SEDIMENTARY FEATURES O F FLYSCH AND GREYWACKES
8. G. L A R S E Na nd G. V . CHILINGAR,E ditors
DIAGENESIS IN SEDIMENTS
9. G V. CHILINGAR,H . J . BISSELL and R .W . FAIRBRIDGE, Editors
CARBONATE ROCKS
10. P. McL. D. DUFF, A . H A L L A M a n dE .K. WALTON
CYCLIC SEDIMENTATION
11. C.C. REEVESJ r.
INTRODUCTION TO PALEOLIMNOLOGY
12. R.G.C. BATHURST
CARBONATE SEDIMENTS AND THEIR DIAGENESIS
13 A.A. MANTEN
SILURIAN REEFS OF GOTLAND
14. K. W. GLENNIE
DESERT SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS
15. C.E. W E A V E Ra nd L.D. POLLARD
THE CHEMISTRY OF CLAY MINERALS
16. H.H. RIEKE I I I and G. V. CHILINGARIAN
COMPACTION OF ARGILLACEOUS SEDIMENTS
17. M.D. PICARD and L.R. HIGH Jr.
SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES O F EPHEMERAL STREAMS
18. G. V. CHILINGARIANa nd K.H. WOLF
COMPACTION OF COARSE-GRAINED SEDIMENTS
19. W. SCHWARZACHER
SEDIMENTATION MODELS AND QUANTITATIVE STRATIGRAPHY
20. M.R. W A L T E R ,E di tor
STROMATOLITES
21. B. V E L D E
CLAYS AND CLAY MINERALS IN NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC SYSTEMS
22. C.E. W E A V E Ra nd K.C. BECK
MIOCENE O F THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES
DEVELOPMENTS IN SEDIMENTOLOGY2 3
INFLUENCE OF ABYSSAL
CIRCULATION ON SEDIMENTARY
ACCUMULATIONS I N SPACE AND TIME
EDITED BY
BRUCE C. HEEZEN
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, N. Y. (U.S.A.)
Reprinted from Marine Geology Vol. 23 No. 1/2
ELSEVIER SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM - OXFORD - NEW YORK 1977
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PREFACE
The papers included in this special issue were given at a symposium entitled:
“Influence of Abyssal Circulation on Sedimentary Accumulations in Space
and Time” held August 27,1975 in Grenoble, France during the General As-
sembly of the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean
and the XVIth General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and
Geophysics. The symposium, sponsored by the IAPSO Commission on Marine
Geophysics was well attended and the discussions were spirited and
informative.
The nature and total thickness of sediment lying on oceanic basement in a
given area is largely determined by:
(1)t he date of commencement of sedimentation;
(2) the initial depth (below sea level) of the juvenile crust;
(3) the history of productivity of the overlying waters;
(4)t he presence of additional nonpelagic sources;
(5) the presence of processes of sediment redistribution.
The date of commencement can be estimated from magnetic anomaly
stripes. These ages have been calibrated by Deep Sea Drilling Project holes to
oceanic basement. The initial depth of the juvenile crust together with the
original and subsequent levels of the calcium carbonate compensation depth in
respect to the depositional surface determine the proportion of ooze and clay.
The history of productivity in a given area may include not only initial ooze
deposition followed by abyssal clay deposition on a subsiding crust but also a
crossing or recrossing of the equatorial or polar front productivity belts with
associated alternations of ooze and clay and episodes of higher and lower than
normal rates of deposition. Up-wind injection of sediments carried into the
atmosphere from volcanoes or desert areas can introduce significant variations
in sedimentation. Turbidity currents can have an overwhelming influence in
the areas they enter.
The first four factors all result in more or less sediment accumulation. The
last one can also result in the removal and redistribution on the sea floor of
previously deposited sediment. It is this later aspect which is the central theme
of the papers presented in the present volume.
In the following papers the effects of abyssal circulation on sedimentation
which are treated vary in magnitude from slight increases in suspended con-
centrations in sea water (Biscaye and Eittreim) to dissolution of planktonic
tests (Johnson et al., Mallet and Heezen) to scour of sediments from beds of
manganese nodules (Watkins and Kennett) t o gentle scour observed from sub-
mersibles (Heezen and Rawson) to sharp-crested ripples and scour marks
photographed (Stanley and Taylor) on a seamount to huge sand waves and
scour channels revealed on deep-towed vehicle sideman records and photo-
graphs (Lonsdale and Spiess) to the creation of isthmian barriers (Holcombe
and Moore) and the stagnation of entire ocean basins (Ryan and Cita).
This convener wishes to thank both the speakers and the audience for their
contribution to this successful symposium. We also thank Dr. Eugene LaFond,
Secretary to IAPSO, and Professor Henry Lacombe, President of IAPSO, for
their invaluable assistance.
BRUCE C. HEEZEN
(President, IAPSO Commission
on Marine Geophysics)
CONTENTS
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V
Vema Channel paleo-oceanography : Pleistocene dissolution cycles and
episodic bottom water flow
D.A. Johnson (Woods Hole, Mass., U.S.A.), M. Ledbetter (Kingston,
R.I., U.S.A.) and L.H. Burckle (Palisades, N.Y., U.S.A.). . . . . . 1
Paleocurrents in the eastern Caribbean: geologic evidence and
implications
T.L. Holcombe and W.S. Moore (Washington, D.C., U.S.A.) . . . . 35
Abyssal bedforms explored with a deeply towed instrument package
P. Lonsdale (San Diego, Calif.) and F.N. Spiess (La Jolla, Calif.,
U.S.A.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7
Sediment transport down a seamount flank by a combined current and
gravity process
D.J. Stanley and P.T. Taylor (Washington, D.C., U.S.A.) . . . . . 77
Circum-polar circulation and late Tertiary changes in the carbonate
compensation depth south of Australia
C.D. Mallet (Melbourne, Vic., Australia) and B.C. Heezen (Palisades,
N.Y., U.S.A.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Erosion of deep-sea sediments in the Southern Ocean between longitudes
70"E and 190"E and contrasts in manganese nodule development
N.D. Watkins and J.P. Kennett (Kingston, R.I., U.S.A.) . . . . . . 1 03
Contrasts between the Brunhes and Matuyama sedimentary records of
bottom water activity in the South Pacific
T.C. Huang and M.D. Watkins (Kingston, R.I., U.S.A.) . . . . .11 3
Effects of bioturbation on sediment-eawater interaction
D.R. Schink and N.L. Guinasso Jr. (College Station, Texas, U.S.A.). . 133
Suspended particulate loads and transports in the nepheloid layer of the
abyssal Atlantic Ocean
P.E. Biscaye (Palisades, N.Y., U.S.A.) and S.L. Eittreim (Menlo Park,
Calif., U.S.A.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Visual observations of contemporary current erosion and tectonic
deformation on the Cocos Ridge crest
B.C. Heezen and M. Rawson (Palisades, N.Y., U.S.A.) . . . . . . . 1 73
Ignorance concemihg episodes of ocean-wide stagnation
W.B.F. Ryan (Palisades, N.Y., U.S.A.) and M.B. Cita (Milan, Italy) . . 197
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
Marine Geology, 23 (1977) 1-33
@Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands
VEMA CHANNEL PALEO-OCEANOGRAPHY: PLEISTOCENE
DISSOLUTION CYCLES AND EPISODIC BOTTOM WATER FLOW*
DAVID A. JOHNSON’, MICHAEL LEDBETTER’ and LLOYD H. BURCKLE’
‘ Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Mass. (U.S.A.)
‘Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, R.I. (U.S.A.)
3Larnont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Palisades, N . Y. (U.S.A.)
(Received April 28, 1976)
ABSTRACT
Johnson, D.A., Ledbetter, M. and Burckle, L.H., 1977. Vema Channel paleo-oceanography:
Pleistocene dissolution cycles and episodic bottom water flow. Mar. Geol., 23: 1-33.
Investigations of piston cores from the Vema Channel and lower flanks of the Rio
Grande Rise suggest the presence of episodic flow of deep and bottom water during the
Late Pleistocene. Cores from below the present-day foraminifera1 lysocline (at - 4000 m)
contain an incomplete depositional record consisting of Mn nodules and encrustations,
hemipelagic clay, displaced high-latitude diatoms, and poorly preserved heterogeneous
microfossil assemblages. Cores from the depth range between 2900 m and 4000 m
contain an essentially complete Late Pleistocene record, and consist of well-defined
carbonate dissolution cycles with periodicities of - 100,000 years. Low carbonate
content and increased dissolution correspond to glacial episodes, as interpreted by
oxygen isotopic analysis of bulk foraminiferal assemblages. The absence of diagnostic
high-latitude indicators (Antarctic diatoms) within the dissolution cycles, however,
suggests that AABW may not have extended to significantly shallower elevations on the
lower flanks of the Rio Grande Rise during the Late Pleistocene. Therefore episodic
AABW flow may not necessarily be the mechanism responsible for producing these
cyclic events. This interpretation is also supported by the presence of an apparently
complete Brunhes depositional record in the same cores, suggesting current velocities
insufficient for significant erosion. Fluctuations in the properties and flow characteristics
of another water mass, such as NADW, may be involved.
The geologic evidence in core-top samples near the present-day AABW/NADW
transition zone is consistent with either of two possible interpretations of the upper
limit of AABW on the east flank of the channel. The foraminiferal lysocline, at - 4000 m,
is near the top of the benthic thermocline and nepheloid layer, and may therefore
correspond to the upper limit of relatively corrosive AABW. On the other hand, the carbonate
compensation depth (CDD) at -4250 m, which corresponds to the maximum gradient
in the benthic thermocline, is characterized by rapid deposition of relatively fine-grained
sediment. Such a zone of convergence and preferential sediment accumulation would be
expected near the level ofn o motion in the AABW/NADW transition zone as a con-
sequence of Ekman-layer veering of the mean velocity vector in the bottom boundary
layer. It is possible that both of these interpretations are in part correct. The “level of no
motion” may in fact correspond to the CCD, while at the same time relatively corrosive
*Contribution No. 3734 of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Contribution No. 2365 of the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory.