Great Bahama Bank aragonitic muds: Mostly inorganically precipitated, mostly exported

Journal Article · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1993 · Journal of Sedimentary Petrology; (United States)

OSTI ID:6113138

Milliman, J D ^[1]; Freile, D ^[2]; Steinen, R P ^[3]; Wilber, R J ^[4]

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1. Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst., MA (United States)
2. Boston Univ., MA (United States). Dept. of Geology
3. Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs, CT (United States). Dept. of Geology and Geophysics
4. Sea Education Association, Woods Hole, MA (United States)

Sr concentrations in aragonitic muds on the banktop and leeward slope of Great Bahama Bank (GBB) are greater than in the needles produced by codiacean green algae but the same as in precipitated sand-size ooids and other nonskeletal grains. Results of two-part and three-part mixing models suggest that chemically precipitated aragonite contributes an average of 55-78% of the clay-size aragonite; individual samples contain as much as 95% chemically precipitated aragonite. Nonskeletal aragonitic needles apparently are precipitated ubiquitously over GBB but accumulate on the banktop only leeward of Andros Island. Much of the mud produced on the bank is exported to deeper waters: the thickness of mud-dominated Holocene sediments on the leeward slope can reach 90 m, and the aragonitic lysocline around the Bahamas is depressed by nearly 1,500 m.

• OSTI ID: 6113138
• Journal Information: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology; (United States) Vol. 63:4; ISSN JSEPAK; ISSN 0022-4472
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580000* -- Geosciences
ALGAE
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
ARAGONITE
BAHAMA ISLANDS
CARBONATE MINERALS
CARBONATE ROCKS
CENOZOIC ERA
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHEMISTRY
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CONTINENTAL SHELF
DEPOSITION
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
ELEMENTS
GEOCHEMISTRY
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGY
ISLANDS
METALS
MINERALOGY
MINERALS
ORIGIN
PLANTS
PRECIPITATION
QUATERNARY PERIOD
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEDIMENTS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
STRATIGRAPHY
STRONTIUM
WEST INDIES