Reactive Fe(II) layers in deep-sea sediments

Iris König; Matthias Haeckel; Matthias Drodt; Erwin Suess; Alfred X. Trautwein

doi:10.1016/S0016-7037(99)00104-0

Reactive Fe(II) layers in deep-sea sediments

Iris König^*, Matthias Haeckel, Matthias Drodt, Erwin Suess, Alfred X. Trautwein

^*Corresponding author for this work

Institute of Physics

GEOMAR Forschungszentrum für Marine Geowissenschaften

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The percentage of the structural Fe(II) in clay minerals that is readily oxidized to Fe(III) upon contact with atmospheric oxygen was determined across the downcore tan-green color changed in Peru Basin sediments. This latent fraction of reactive Fe(II) was only found in the green strata, where it proved to be large enough to constitute a deep reaction layer with respect to the pore water O₂ and NO₃^-. Large variations were detected in the proportion of the reactive Fe(II) concentration to the organic matter content along core profiles. Hence, the commonly observed tan-green color change in marine sediments marks the top of a reactive Fe(II) layer, which may represent the major barrier to the movement of oxidation fronts in pelagic subsurface sediments. This is also demonstrated by numerical model simulations. The findings imply that geochemical barriers to pore water oxidation fronts form diagenetically in the sea floor wherever the stage of iron reduction is reached, provided that the sediments contain a significant amount of structural iron in clay minerals.

Original language	English
Journal	Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Volume	63
Issue number	10
Pages (from-to)	1517-1526
Number of pages	10
ISSN	0016-7037
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7037(99)00104-0
Publication status	Published - 01.05.1999

Funding

We thank Anke Dählmann, Bettina Domeyer, Jens Greinert, and Michael Siemensen for pore water analyses and technical support on the SO106 expedition, and Robin Keir for helpful suggestions to improve the English style. The former version of this manuscript was considerably improved by the constructive criticism and suggestions of Bernard P. Boudreau and Jack J. Middelburg. This research was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Technology (grants 03G0106H and 03G0106I). The responsibility for the contents of this publication is with the authors.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
SDG 14 Life Below Water

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10.1016/S0016-7037(99)00104-0

Cite this

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title = "Reactive Fe(II) layers in deep-sea sediments",

abstract = "The percentage of the structural Fe(II) in clay minerals that is readily oxidized to Fe(III) upon contact with atmospheric oxygen was determined across the downcore tan-green color changed in Peru Basin sediments. This latent fraction of reactive Fe(II) was only found in the green strata, where it proved to be large enough to constitute a deep reaction layer with respect to the pore water O2 and NO3-. Large variations were detected in the proportion of the reactive Fe(II) concentration to the organic matter content along core profiles. Hence, the commonly observed tan-green color change in marine sediments marks the top of a reactive Fe(II) layer, which may represent the major barrier to the movement of oxidation fronts in pelagic subsurface sediments. This is also demonstrated by numerical model simulations. The findings imply that geochemical barriers to pore water oxidation fronts form diagenetically in the sea floor wherever the stage of iron reduction is reached, provided that the sediments contain a significant amount of structural iron in clay minerals.",

author = "Iris K{\"o}nig and Matthias Haeckel and Matthias Drodt and Erwin Suess and Trautwein, \{Alfred X.\}",

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T1 - Reactive Fe(II) layers in deep-sea sediments

AU - König, Iris

AU - Haeckel, Matthias

AU - Drodt, Matthias

AU - Suess, Erwin

AU - Trautwein, Alfred X.

PY - 1999/5/1

Y1 - 1999/5/1

N2 - The percentage of the structural Fe(II) in clay minerals that is readily oxidized to Fe(III) upon contact with atmospheric oxygen was determined across the downcore tan-green color changed in Peru Basin sediments. This latent fraction of reactive Fe(II) was only found in the green strata, where it proved to be large enough to constitute a deep reaction layer with respect to the pore water O2 and NO3-. Large variations were detected in the proportion of the reactive Fe(II) concentration to the organic matter content along core profiles. Hence, the commonly observed tan-green color change in marine sediments marks the top of a reactive Fe(II) layer, which may represent the major barrier to the movement of oxidation fronts in pelagic subsurface sediments. This is also demonstrated by numerical model simulations. The findings imply that geochemical barriers to pore water oxidation fronts form diagenetically in the sea floor wherever the stage of iron reduction is reached, provided that the sediments contain a significant amount of structural iron in clay minerals.

AB - The percentage of the structural Fe(II) in clay minerals that is readily oxidized to Fe(III) upon contact with atmospheric oxygen was determined across the downcore tan-green color changed in Peru Basin sediments. This latent fraction of reactive Fe(II) was only found in the green strata, where it proved to be large enough to constitute a deep reaction layer with respect to the pore water O2 and NO3-. Large variations were detected in the proportion of the reactive Fe(II) concentration to the organic matter content along core profiles. Hence, the commonly observed tan-green color change in marine sediments marks the top of a reactive Fe(II) layer, which may represent the major barrier to the movement of oxidation fronts in pelagic subsurface sediments. This is also demonstrated by numerical model simulations. The findings imply that geochemical barriers to pore water oxidation fronts form diagenetically in the sea floor wherever the stage of iron reduction is reached, provided that the sediments contain a significant amount of structural iron in clay minerals.

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Reactive Fe(II) layers in deep-sea sediments

Abstract

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UN SDGs

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