Authigenic barites and fluxes of barium associated with fluid seeps in the Peru subduction zone

Abstract

Large deposits of barite were discovered in association with biological communities, indicative of active fluid seepage on the middle slope of Paita and in the Chiclayo Canyon, in the Peru margin. We postulate that the barium source for the deposits is associated with the high concentration of non-detrital barite buried in sediments from this high productivity region. Barite is remobilized within the sediment column due to sulfate depletion. Subsequent flushing of the barium-rich fluids from the sediment to the bottom water, leads to the formation of barite deposits at the cold vent sites. High barium concentrations measured in pore fluids of sediments are consistent with remobilization of barium sulfate below the zone of sulfate depletion. Fluid samples—collected in a time sequence using a benthic chamber in the Paita middle slope vent sites — document a contemporaneous release of barium to the bottom water at a rate of 23 μmol cm−2 yr−1.Fluid seepage in the Peru margin is not restricted to the middle slope of Paita and the Chiclayo Canyon where barite deposits occur, but is also evident in the upper and lower slopes of Paita and in the Chimbote upper slope. Deployment of a benthic chamber on the Chimbote upper slope site show no measurable release of barium; even though the dissolved barium concentration in the pore fluids is high. These observations indicate that the barite deposits associated with fluid seepage in the Peru margin are restricted to areas where slope failure has exposed sequences deep enough such that the barium-rich fluids do not encounter sulfate-bearing pore fluids before emanating at the seafloor.