Reconstructing past seawater Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca from mid-ocean ridge flank calcium carbonate veins
Reconstructing past seawater Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca from mid-ocean ridge flank calcium carbonate veins
Proxies for past seawater chemistry such as Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios provide a record of the dynamic exchanges of elements between the solid Earth, atmosphere and hydrosphere, and the evolving influence of life. Here, we estimate past oceanic Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios from suites of 1.6 to 170-million-year-old calcium carbonate veins precipitated from seawater-derived fluids in ocean ridge flank basalts. Our data indicate that prior to the Neogene, oceanic Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca were lower than in the modern ocean. Decreased ocean spreading since the Cretaceous and the resulting slow reduction in ocean crustal hydrothermal exchange throughout the early Tertiary may explain the recent rise in these ratios.
1114-1117
Coggon, Rosalind M.
09488aad-f9e1-47b6-9c62-1da33541b4a4
Teagle, Damon A.H.
396539c5-acbe-4dfa-bb9b-94af878fe286
Smith-Duque, Christopher E.
72820fa7-dd47-4a64-8310-68d35b2973e8
Alt, Jeffrey C.
d2e22a46-a2e0-4d56-abbb-37199de80dbc
Cooper, Matthew J.
54f7bff0-1f8c-4835-8358-71eef8529e7a
26 February 2010
Coggon, Rosalind M.
09488aad-f9e1-47b6-9c62-1da33541b4a4
Teagle, Damon A.H.
396539c5-acbe-4dfa-bb9b-94af878fe286
Smith-Duque, Christopher E.
72820fa7-dd47-4a64-8310-68d35b2973e8
Alt, Jeffrey C.
d2e22a46-a2e0-4d56-abbb-37199de80dbc
Cooper, Matthew J.
54f7bff0-1f8c-4835-8358-71eef8529e7a
Coggon, Rosalind M., Teagle, Damon A.H., Smith-Duque, Christopher E., Alt, Jeffrey C. and Cooper, Matthew J.
(2010)
Reconstructing past seawater Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca from mid-ocean ridge flank calcium carbonate veins.
Science, 327 (5969), .
(doi:10.1126/science.1182252).
Abstract
Proxies for past seawater chemistry such as Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios provide a record of the dynamic exchanges of elements between the solid Earth, atmosphere and hydrosphere, and the evolving influence of life. Here, we estimate past oceanic Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios from suites of 1.6 to 170-million-year-old calcium carbonate veins precipitated from seawater-derived fluids in ocean ridge flank basalts. Our data indicate that prior to the Neogene, oceanic Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca were lower than in the modern ocean. Decreased ocean spreading since the Cretaceous and the resulting slow reduction in ocean crustal hydrothermal exchange throughout the early Tertiary may explain the recent rise in these ratios.
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Published date: 26 February 2010
Organisations:
Ocean and Earth Science
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Local EPrints ID: 72312
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/72312
ISSN: 0036-8075
PURE UUID: 7ffa2a65-f55c-4641-8997-ba359cd4570c
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Date deposited: 05 Feb 2010
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:59
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Author:
Christopher E. Smith-Duque
Author:
Jeffrey C. Alt
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