Redox conditions in sediments and during sedimentation in the Ontong Java Plateau, west equatorial Pacific

Abstract

Redox-sensitive elements in sediments, such as manganese (Mn), vanadium (V), molybdenum (Mo), and uranium (U), are promising indicators of past redox conditions during sedimentation and early diagenesis. However, in the Ontong Java Plateau, west equatorial Pacific, there are sparse datasets of redox-sensitive elements in sediment cores. Here, we present a 250 ka record of redox sensitive elements from a 460 cm gravity core at site WP7 (3 degrees 56'S, 156 degrees E, water depth 1 800 m), which was recovered from the southwest Ontong Java Plateau during the 1993 cruise of R/V Science I of the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS). Relative to the Post-Archean Australian Shale (PAAS), authigenic Mn, cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), Mo, V, U, and cadmium (Cd) were found at constantly low levels except when peaks occurred at several depth intervals. Manganese, Co, Ni, and Mo concentrations were elevated at 25-35 cm due to Mn redox cycling. The core was divided into three distinct sections, the top 0-25 cm being oxic, a suboxic section at 25-35 cm and from 35-460 cm which was anoxic. Differential authigenic enrichments of Co, Ni, Mo, V, U, and Cd at the same depth intervals were observed indicating that the enrichments happened during sedimentation or diagenesis and suffered no post settlement redox changes. Therefore, no significant changes in redox conditions during sedimentation must have happened. The water at depth on the Ontong Java Plateau during past 250 ka must have been well oxygenated, possibly resulted from the more or less continuous presence of oxygen-rich deep water like the modern Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) and Antarctic Circumpolar Water (ACW); while it's slightly less oxygenated in glacial intervals, possibly due to ventilation weakening and/or the surface productivity increase.