TY - JOUR
T1 - Record of diagenesis of rare earth elements and other metals in a transitional sedimentary environment
AU - Caetano, Miguel
AU - Prego, Ricardo
AU - Vale, Carlos
AU - de Pablo, Hilda
AU - Marmolejo-Rodríguez, Judith
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to express their gratitude to the crew of R/V Mytilus for their kind cooperation during the sampling and to Rute Cesário, Nuno Fonseca and Paula Ferro for their technical assistance. We also thank Dr. Guillermo Frances for core sampling, Dr. J.M. Joaunneau for 210 Pb measurements and core dating and Dr. Manuela Falcão for the Carbon determinations. The manuscript has benefited greatly from the reviews of the anonymous referees and the editing and comments of the Assistant Editor — Dr. David Burdige. The authors also thank to Ms. Claire Teed for the writing style review. This article is a contribution to the Spanish-LOICZ program and it was funded by CICYT coordinate project “Biogeochemical budget and modeling of metal fluxes in a Galician ria (METRIA)”, ref. REN2003-04106-C03.
PY - 2009/11/20
Y1 - 2009/11/20
N2 - The vertical distribution of trace and rare earth elements (REE) was studied in a sediment core from the Vigo Ria (NW Iberian Peninsula) where sedimentation patterns have changed during the last century. The depth profiles of Al, Ca and Corg (particulate organic carbon) point to three distinct sedimentary units: (a) the upper sediment unit that consists of fine grained material rich in organic matter (3-4% of Corg); (b) a transitional layer between 75 and 105 cm where an almost linear decrease of Al and Corg content was observed; (c) a deep sediment unit composed of coarser material. Ratios of Fe, Mn, Zn, V, Ni, As, Cd and REE to Al showed a well-defined maximum between 75 and 105-cm depth and relatively constant values in the upper and deeper sediment units. Within the transitional layer the extractable (hydroxylamine/acetic acid) fraction of Mn decreased gradually indicating that, as sedimentation progressed, authigenic Mn-oxyhydroxides were reduced and Mn(II) diffused towards the surface. Otherwise, a clear maximum of extractable Fe implies that a diagenetic signal has been preserved. The extractable fraction of trace elements and REE showed a similar depth profile with a maximum in the transitional layer, denoting that they were scavenged into diagenetic Fe. Moreover, several lines of evidence indicate that this REE scavenging is selective, with preferential retention of light-REE (LREE) with respect to heavy-REE (HREE) in the transitional region where oxyhydroxides were generated.
AB - The vertical distribution of trace and rare earth elements (REE) was studied in a sediment core from the Vigo Ria (NW Iberian Peninsula) where sedimentation patterns have changed during the last century. The depth profiles of Al, Ca and Corg (particulate organic carbon) point to three distinct sedimentary units: (a) the upper sediment unit that consists of fine grained material rich in organic matter (3-4% of Corg); (b) a transitional layer between 75 and 105 cm where an almost linear decrease of Al and Corg content was observed; (c) a deep sediment unit composed of coarser material. Ratios of Fe, Mn, Zn, V, Ni, As, Cd and REE to Al showed a well-defined maximum between 75 and 105-cm depth and relatively constant values in the upper and deeper sediment units. Within the transitional layer the extractable (hydroxylamine/acetic acid) fraction of Mn decreased gradually indicating that, as sedimentation progressed, authigenic Mn-oxyhydroxides were reduced and Mn(II) diffused towards the surface. Otherwise, a clear maximum of extractable Fe implies that a diagenetic signal has been preserved. The extractable fraction of trace elements and REE showed a similar depth profile with a maximum in the transitional layer, denoting that they were scavenged into diagenetic Fe. Moreover, several lines of evidence indicate that this REE scavenging is selective, with preferential retention of light-REE (LREE) with respect to heavy-REE (HREE) in the transitional region where oxyhydroxides were generated.
KW - Diagenesis
KW - Rare earth elements
KW - Sediments
KW - Trace metals
KW - Transitional sedimentary layer
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70350746170&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.marchem.2009.09.003
DO - 10.1016/j.marchem.2009.09.003
M3 - Artículo
SN - 0304-4203
VL - 116
SP - 36
EP - 46
JO - Marine Chemistry
JF - Marine Chemistry
IS - 1-4
ER -