Major and minor element geochemistry of deep-sea sediments in the Azores Platform and southern seamount region

Abstract

The Azores Platform and the Irving and Great Meteor seamounts south of the archipelago (38°N–29°N) have rarely been studied geochemically, a fact which is surprising given that they represent the south-eastern limit of region V outlined in the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention). The main aim of the present work was therefore to characterise the spatial variability of major and minor elements in deep-sea sediment cores from these two regions. XRD and geochemical analyses revealed that whereas the Azores Platform sediments are composed of a mixture of biogenic and detrital volcanic material, those at the seamounts are characterised by carbonated biogenic remains. The latter sediments were found to contain very low amounts of volcanic or hydrothermal detrital material, being almost entirely comprised of CaCO3 (more than 80%).