Sedimentology and faunal compositions of surface sediments from the southern Florida Strait, supplement to: Schwarz, Johanna; Rendle-Bühring, Rebecca (2005): Controls on modern carbonate preservation in the southern Florida Straits. Sedimentary Geology, 175, 153-167

The water masses in the Florida Straits and Bahamas region are important sources for the Northern Atlantic surface ocean circulation. In this study, we analyse carbonate preservation in surface sediments located above the chemical lysocline in the Florida Straits and Bahamas region and discuss possi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Schwarz, Johanna, Rendle-Bühring, Rebecca
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: PANGAEA - Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science 2005
Subjects:
Piston corer
Gravity corer
Box corer
GS7603
OC205-02
P6401
P6408
P6804
P6807
P7008
P7102
TR-149
Gilliss
Oceanus
Pillsbury
Trident
Center for Marine Environmental Sciences MARUM
Antarctic
Antarc*
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.738225
https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.738225
Description
Summary:The water masses in the Florida Straits and Bahamas region are important sources for the Northern Atlantic surface ocean circulation. In this study, we analyse carbonate preservation in surface sediments located above the chemical lysocline in the Florida Straits and Bahamas region and discuss possible reasons for supralysoclinal dissolution. Calcite dissolution proxies such as the variation of the foraminiferal assemblage, Fragmentation Index, Benthic Foraminifera Index, and Resistance Index displayed a good preservation in both areas. The pteropod species Limacina inflata showed very good preservation in sediments of inter-platform channels from the Great Bahama Bank (Providence Channel, Exuma Sound) above the aragonite lysocline. Supralysoclinal aragonite dissolution, however, was observed at two water depth levels (800-1000 m and below 1500 m) in the Florida Straits. Our observations suggest that the supralysoclinal dissolution in the Florida Straits is due to the degradation of organic material. The presence of Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) may be a contributing factor for the significant aragonite dissolution in 800-1000 m. The comparison of modern preservation patterns of the surface sediments with hydrographical measurements shows that the L. inflata Dissolution Index (LDX) might be an adequate proxy to reconstruct paleo-water mass conditions in an area which is highly saturated with respect to calcium carbonate.

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