HR: 1340h
AN: GC33A-0950 [Abstracts]
TI: Molybdenum isotope signatures from the Yangtze block continental margin and its indication to organic burial rate
AU: * Zhou, L
EM: lianzhou@cug.edu.cn
AF: State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of
Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China
AU: Zhou, H B
EM: zm6688zhb@yahoo.com.cn
AF: College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430074, China
AU: Huang, J H
EM: jhhuang@cug.edu.cn
AB:
Abstract
The paper presents the molybdenum isotope data, along with the trace element content, to investigate the
geochemical behavior of authigenic Mo during long-term burial in sediments in continental margin settings of the
Yangtze block, as well as their indication to the burial of original organic carbon. The burial rate of original organic
carbon were estimated on the basis of the amount of sedimentary sulfur (TS content), whilst the carbon loss by
aerobic degradation was estimated according to calculated Mn contents. On these points, the original organic
carbon flux was calculated, exhibiting a large range of variation (2.54-15.82 mmol/m2/day). The strong correlation
between sedimentary Mo isotope values and organic carbon burial rates previously proposed on the basis of the
investigations on modern ocean sediments was also used here to estimate the organic carbon burial rate. The
data gained through this model showed that organic carbon burial rates have large variations, ranging from 0.43-
2.87mmol/m2/day. Although the two sets of data gained through different geochemical records in the Yangtze
block show a deviation of one order of magnitude, they do display a strong correlation. It is thus tempting to
speculate that the Mo isotope signature of sediments may serve as a tracer for the accumulation rate of original
organic carbon in the continental margin sediments.
Keywords: Molybdenum isotopes; organic carbon burial rate; ancient continental margin setting
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Professor Xie Shucheng for his constructive review comments. This research is co-supported by the
Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (grants IRT0441), the SinoPec
project (grant no. G0800-06-ZS-319) and the National Nature Science Foundation of China (grants 40673020).
DE: 1051 Sedimentary geochemistry
SC: Global Environmental Change [GC]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting