Influence of Chemical, Physical, Biological, and Geochemical Processes of Early Diagenesis and Material Exchange across the Sediment/seawater Interface in Margin Sediments
Abstract
LONG-TERM GOALS. The overall goal of this project was to determine links between sediment chemistry, physical properties, and microfabric during the early diagenesis of surface and near-surface organic-rich sediments. OBJECTIVES. Objectives for FY 1997 were to synthesize and publish results of the previous two years investigation. APPROACH. Sediments were analyzed on vertical and lateral scales of millimeters to centimeters from box and gravity cores along three geologically and oceanographically distinct California continental margin transects. These analyses provided a unique, high-resolution data set for studies of biogeochemistry and physical properties in continental slope sediments. Sediment samples were augmented by marine snow collected from moored and floating sediment trap arrays. WORK COMPLETED. Microfabric data were analyzed to determine the distribution and character of organic matter as it occurs in natural sediments. Organic carbon contents and mineralogic data from the sediment cores were correlated. Statistical analysis was performed on physical property data collected in order to indicate the range in variability of geotechincal properties on millimeter, centimeter, and kilometer scales for undissected portions of the western North American continental slope. Theoretical work on smectite interlayer hydration was used to derive mathematical relations to partition the H2O in smectite-rich sediments between intergranular pore spaces and smectite interlayers. correct porosity determinations in smectite-rich sediments.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA634177
Entities
People
- Miriam Kastner
Organizations
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography