WITHDRAWN: Influence of TOC and clay minerals on sedimentation process in Iraqi marine sediments

Abstract

The Studying marine sediments is an important aspect in the geological, environmental and economic. The Northwest of the Arabian Gulf region characterized especially the specific area between the port of Umm Qasir and Basrah oil port with natural hydrodynamic and depositional variety. In this paper, the effect of organic carbon on marine sediments and its relationship with clay minerals has been studied. Three marine cores (at depths between 15 and 30 cm) are collected for marine sites between Khor Shytianah (core 1), Khor Abdullah (core 2), and Basrah oil port (open sea, core 3) by using marine sediments core sampler device. Living fauna and present a good percentage of total organic carbon was presented in the low marine environment in the core 3. A linear relationship was obtained between the clay mineral accumulation and the organic carbon ratio, this may be attributed to the ability of organic sediments and clay minerals to preserve water. Total organic carbon is decreased with depth increase. The highest total organic carbon found in the open sea (core 3). Mixed layer clay minerals represented by Montmorillonite–Chlorite (M-Ch %) is prevalent in the study area followed by Illite – Palygroskite(P-I %), Chlorite, Montmorillonite, Kaolinite, Illite, and Palygroskite respectively.