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Carbonates dissolution and precipitation in hemipelagic sediments overlaid by supersaturated bottom-waters - Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

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  • Whether CaCO₃ dissolves within the top centimeters of marine sediments overlaid by deep, supersaturated bottom waters remains an area of debate in geochemistry. This uncertainty stems from the fact that different methods used to assess CaCO₃ dissolution rates often provide what appear to be profoundly different results. Here we combine microelectrode and porewater chemistry profiles, core incubation experiments, mineral characterizations and observations of the state of preservation of coccolithophorid exoskeletons for a holistic view of carbonate reactions within the top 30 centimeters of hemipelagic sediments from the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea. Calculations based on pH and O₂ microelectrode data suggest that rapid metabolic dissolution of carbonate minerals occurs in these sediments within the top two millimeters. Porewater chemistry supports these calculations. The porewater-based observations are further supported by sedimentological characteristics such as aragonite content, and dissolution pitting and fragmentation of coccoliths in sediment layers deposited over the last 200 y. Dissolution appears to be occurring today within surface sediments despite the bulk porewater solution being supersaturated with respect to aragonite and Mg-calcite. In spite of intense dissolution within the sediments, there is no evidence for significant alkalinity and/or calcium fluxes (transport) into bottom waters. It appears that the supersaturated bottom water promotes the removal of all excess alkalinity and calcium produced within the sediment, by CaCO₃ precipitation at or above the sediment/bottom water interface. The precipitation mechanism may be by either benthic organisms (biogenic precipitation) or inorganically (direct precipitation on settling CaCO₃ grains). We suggest that authigenic precipitation of (Ca,Mn)CO₃ as it becomes supersaturated below 3 cm in the sediments can reconcile the evidence for carbonate dissolution in what appears to be supersaturated conditions. This means that MnCO₃ replaces CaCO₃ within the nanofossils below similar to ~3 cm, and that part of the manganese rich CaCO₃ is bioturbated upwards into undersaturated conditions, facilitating dissolution of these fossils. Diminished calcite and aragonite concentrations in sediments deposited in recent decades are proposed to be a result of increased manganese cycling rates and greater rates of coupled dissolution within the interfacial sediments, possibly combined with diminished calcareous plankton productivity, in response to increased surface water primary productivity.
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  • 246
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  • 0016-7037
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