Pleistocene meteoric pore water in dated marine sediment cores off Callao, Peru

Abstract

During cruise SO 147 of the German research vessel SONNE, a large decrease in salinity with depth was found in the pore water at a site about 10 sea miles off Callao, Lima, Peru. The origin of this freshening was investigated in a multidisciplinary approach using geochemical, geochronological and isotope hydrological methods. The methodology applied is a possible strategy to deal with anomalous pore water freshenings and if necessary to put them into the general framework of submarine groundwater discharge. Concentrations of the major and conservative elements (e.g., Na, K, Cl, B, Br) decrease at the same ratios. Deuterium ( δD) and oxygen-18 ( δ 18O) data reveal the meteoric origin of the fresh water end member, indicating a mixture of 30% seawater and 70% fresh water at a depth in sediment of about 10 m. 210Pb and 137Cs sedimentation rates determined by gamma spectrometry range between 2 and 4.5 mm/y for the last century whereas values derived from AMS 14C for the last millennia give mean rates smaller than 1 mm/y. This indicates strongly varying sedimentation conditions. Nevertheless, from the geochronological data it can be concluded that the origin of the fresh water end member is situated in sediments of Pleistocene age. Literature data of the isotope signature of modern water in the nearby Lima aquifer are clearly different from the calculated values for the fresh water end member in the pore waters. On the basis of the isotopic altitude effect described in the literature, the isotopic signature of the fresh pore water end member can be explained as rain water directly infiltrated into the Lima aquifer. In contrast, this infiltration is negligible there under present-day arid climatic conditions. Theoretical considerations on pore water advective and diffusive transport give further indications that the fresh pore water end member is entrapped paleowater of Pleistocene origin. The observed pore water freshening and the geochemical and geochronological data can be conclusively explained by diffusive mixing of seawater with meteoric water, which infiltrated during the last sea level low stand and stayed entrapped during transgression and sedimentation.