Early diagenetic processes in coastal marine sediments disturbed by a catastrophic sedimentation event

Abstract

Following a catastrophic flash flood in July 1996, as much as 50 cm of post-glacial clays were deposited in less than 2 days in the upper reaches of the Saguenay Fjord (Quebec, Canada), disrupting the normal sedimentation and diagenetic regimes. We report detailed geochemical analyses of sediments (porosity, Eh, organic and inorganic carbon, Fe and Mn reactive solid phases, and acid volatile sulfide) and porewaters (salinity, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), Fe(II), Mn(II), nitrate, ammonium, and sulfate) for seven stations located in the Saguenay Fjord. Three of these (SAG-05, SAG-09, and SAG-30) were visited in 1996 and once per year thereafter to document the chemical evolution of the sediment toward a new steady state. The flood deposits contain less organic carbon and more inorganic carbon than the indigenous fjord sediments. The flood deposit modified the distribution patterns of reactive Mn and Fe as a result of the reduction of Mn and Fe oxides delivered with the deposit and those concentrated at the now buried former sediment-water interface. Most of the Mn(II) migrated to the new sediment-water interface, where a Mn-rich layer was formed. In contrast, much of the Fe(II) was precipitated as sulfides and remained trapped at or close to the old interface. A nitrate peak developed in the porewater at the old sediment-water interface, possibly because of the oxidation of ammonia by Mn oxides. The distributions of porewater DOC within the flood deposit correlate with the distributions of dissolved Mn(II) and Fe(II), suggesting that adsorbed DOC was released when metal oxides were reduced.