A preliminary study of elemental geochemistry and its potential application in Antarctic Seal palaeoecology

Abstract

The elemental geochemical composition of sediments influenced by seal excrements in the Antarctic Fildes Peninsula has been examined in order to establish the source of organic matter, identify potential bio-elements and explore their potential palaeoecological implications. The combination of total organic carbon concentration (TOC), total nitrogen concentration (TN), organic carbon isotope (d 13 C) and atomic C/N ratio shows that the organic matter in the sediments with many seal hairs has a marine origin, predominantly derived from seal excrements. Among the determined element/ oxide concentrations, S, Se, F, Zn, Hg, FeO and P 2 O 5 were found to be remarkably enriched in the sediments influenced by seal excrements with respect to the sediments with few or without seal hairs, and their concentrations displayed strong and positive correlations with organic matter abundance, indicating that they had the same source and transportation mechanism as the in situ organic material. A comparison of these element/oxide concentrations with the seal hair numbers showed that they had similar distribution patterns with depth, and the correlations were positive and statistically significant. Based upon these results, S, Se, F, Zn, Hg, FeO and P 2 O 5 in the seal excrement sediments were identified as potential bio-elements and their concentrations could potentially be used as inorganic geochemical indicators for tracking seal palaeoecological processes in the Antarctic region.

Rare earth elements in the ornithogenic sediments from the Maritime Antarctic: A potential new palaeoecology proxy

“…The depth-concentration-profiles of total REE and lithological elements scandium (Sc) and aluminum (Al) in the Y2 and Y4 sediment cores are consistent with the negative correlation between total REE and bio-elements. Sc and Al are well-defined conservative lithophile elements, and their concentrations in the sediments are not significantly affected by biogenic cycles and anthropogenic contamination (Liu et al, 2005b). As shown in Fig.…”

“…REEs were measured by ICP-MS (Plasma Quad3, VG Elemental). Replicate measurements of samples, laboratory reagent blanks, and internal rock and sediment standards (GBW07104, GBW07604, GBW7120 and GBW07106) were used to control the analytical quality (Liu et al, 2005b(Liu et al, , 2008. The relative standard deviation (RSD) of replicate analysis is generally less than 5%, and the analyzed values lie within the certified ones of the standard samples.…”

The rare earth element geochemistry on surface sediments, shallow cores and lithological units of Lake Acıgöl basin, Denizli, Turkey

“…21b and c). The concentrations of these elements (Sc and Al) in sediments are not affected by biogenic and anthropogenic contamination (Liu et al, 2005). In addition, along the fault zone (directed NE-SW), the southern shores of the lake that are characterized alluvial fan deposits extended into lake, have moderate Al versus Total REE correlation based on GWR analyses.…”

“…According to Liu et al (2005), the concentrations of conservative lithophile elements ''scandium (Sc) and aluminum (Al)'' in sediments are not noticeably affected by biogenic cycles and anthropogenic contamination. The content of total REE of Lake Acıgöl sediment is positively correlated with Sc and Al with a correlation coefficient of 0.93 and 0.71, 0.84 and 0.92 and 0.69 and 0.76 for surface, shallow core and lithological sediments, respectively (Fig.…”

Microbial biomineralization of iron seepage water: Implication for the iron ores formation in intertidal zone of Zhoushan Archipelago, East China Sea

“…Especially, the Al and Si belong to immobile major elements, which can be easily preserved in the remnant product of weathering. On the contrary, the Mg, Ca, K and Na are characterized of high mobility, and they can be easily leached out from the bedrock or soils to the beach sediments or seawater (Liu et al, 2005). Furthermore, the presence of anatase (TiO 2 ) (Table 1) is also indicative of strong weathering, resulting in low content of soluble elements such as Ca, Na and Mg in the iron ores.…”