Ooidal ironstones in the Meso-Cenozoic sequences in western Siberia: assessment of formation processes and relationship with regional and global earth processes

This study investigates the process of formation of ooidal ironstones in the Upper Cretaceous-Paleogene succession in western Siberia. The formation of such carbonate-based ironstones is a continuing problem in sedimentary geology, and in this study, we use a variety of data and proxies assembled from core samples to develop a model to explain how the ooidal ironstones formed. Research on pyrite framboids and geochemical redox proxies reveals three intervals of oceanic hypoxia during the deposition of marine ooidal ironstones in the Late Cretaceous to the Early Paleogene Bakchar ironstone deposit in western Siberia; the absence of pyrite indicates oxic conditions for the remaining sequence. While goethite formed in oxic depositional condition, chamosite, pyrite and siderite represented hypoxic seawater. Euhedral pyrite crystals form through a series of transition originating from massive aggregate followed by normal and polygonal framboid. Sediments associated with goethite-chamosite ironstones, encompassing hypoxic intervals exhibit positive cerium, negative europium, and negative yttrium anomalies. Mercury anomalies, associated with the initial stages of hypoxia, correlate with global volcanic events. Redox sensitive proxies and ore mineral assemblages of deposits reflect hydrothermal activation. Rifting and global volcanism possibly induced hydrothermal convection in the sedimentary cover of western Siberia, and released iron-rich fluid and methane in coastal and shallow marine environments. This investigation, therefore, reveals a potential geological connection between Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), marine hypoxia, rifting and the formation of ooidal ironstones in ancient West Siberian Sea

Ooidal ironstones in the Meso-Cenozoic sequences in western Siberia: assessment of formation processes and relationship with regional and global earth processes

This study investigates the process of formation of ooidal ironstones in the Upper Cretaceous-Paleogene succession in western Siberia. The formation of such carbonate-based ironstones is a continuing problem in sedimentary geology, and in this study, we use a variety of data and proxies assembled from core samples to develop a model to explain how the ooidal ironstones formed. Research on pyrite framboids and geochemical redox proxies reveals three intervals of oceanic hypoxia during the deposition of marine ooidal ironstones in the Late Cretaceous to the Early Paleogene Bakchar ironstone deposit in western Siberia; the absence of pyrite indicates oxic conditions for the remaining sequence. While goethite formed in oxic depositional condition, chamosite, pyrite and siderite represented hypoxic seawater. Euhedral pyrite crystals form through a series of transition originating from massive aggregate followed by normal and polygonal framboid. Sediments associated with goethite-chamosite ironstones, encompassing hypoxic intervals exhibit positive cerium, negative europium, and negative yttrium anomalies. Mercury anomalies, associated with the initial stages of hypoxia, correlate with global volcanic events. Redox sensitive proxies and ore mineral assemblages of deposits reflect hydrothermal activation. Rifting and global volcanism possibly induced hydrothermal convection in the sedimentary cover of western Siberia, and released iron-rich fluid and methane in coastal and shallow marine environments. This investigation, therefore, reveals a potential geological connection between Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs), marine hypoxia, rifting and the formation of ooidal ironstones in ancient West Siberian Sea

Identifying sources of organic carbon in surface sediments of Laptev Sea shelf using a Rock-Eval approach

Актуальность исследования обусловлена необходимостью всестороннего изучения процессов, ответственных за изменения биогеохимического режима арктического региона. Увеличение темпов деградации прибрежной и подводной мерзлоты на Восточно-Сибирском шельфе приводит к вовлечению в современный биогеохимический цикл большого объема ремобилизованного органического углерода. Изучение особенностей его транспорта и преобразования в системе суша-шельф играет важную роль для оценки функционирования крайне хрупкой арктической экосистемы. Цель: изучение геохимических характеристик органического вещества, прослеживаемых по профилю от береговой зоны к континентальному склону моря Лаптевых с применением метода Rock-Eval и оценка их взаимосвязи с литологическими свойствами вмещающих осадков. Объектом исследования явились пробы донных осадков, взятые с поверхностного горизонта (0-2 см). Отбор проб проводился в морских арктических экспедициях 2018-2019 гг. на НИС «Академик Мстислав Келдыш». Результаты. На основе результатов пиролитического анализа дана геохимическая характеристика органического вещества, содержащегося в донных осадках моря Лаптевых. Органическое вещество, экспортируемое с речным стоком и продуктами береговой эрозии, характеризуется относительно низким кислородным (OI) и водородным (HI) индексами в прибрежной зоне и на глубинах до нескольких десятков метров. В районе среднего шельфа существенное влияние на состав органического вещества, по всей видимости, оказывает снос осадочного вещества с Новосибирских островов, где активно действуют термоабразионные процессы (снижение значений HI и увеличение OI). Высказано предположение, что для продуктов, выносимых речным стоком, и продуктов эрозии берегов характерны различные пиролитические параметры, определяемые методом Rock-Eval (в частности, значения HI, OI и Tpeak).An increasing rate of degradation of coastal and subsea permafrost leads to remobilization of huge amounts of organic carbon. To know how this remobilized carbon behaves while being transported through the land-shelf system is crucially important for understanding an extremely fragile Arctic ecosystem. This study is aimed at tracing the geochemical signals of organic matter along the profile from the coastal zone to the continental slope of the Laptev Sea, using the Rock-Eval approach. We investigated surface sediment samples obtained during the Arctic marine expeditions of 2018-2019 on the R/V "Akademik Mstislav Keldysh". The most active oxidation of organic matter, exported with river runoff and products of coastal erosion, occurs in the coastal zone at a depth of several tens of meters. A significant effect on the organic matter composition is exerted by the sediment export from Novosibirsk Islands eroding coastlines. We assume that various products carried by river runoff and coastal erosion are characterized by various signatures detected by the Rock-Eval method (e.g., the OI and Tpeak values). It is also shown that the mineral matrix does not seem to provide a first-order control on preventing organic matter degradation during transport from the coastal zone to deep-sea basins