Hypersaline conditions during deposition of the Calcare di Base revealed from archaeal di- and tetraether inventories

Birgel, Daniel; Guido, Adriano; Liu, Xiaolei; Hinrichs, Kai‐Uwe; Gier, Susanne; Peckmann, Jörn

doi:10.1016/j.orggeochem.2014.09.002

Cited by 42 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Previous paleobiology studies find ample evidence that halophilic microorganisms were present in the water column during deposition of the marginal Messinian evaporites (e.g. Turich and Freeman, 2011;Birgel et al, 2014). Our study is the first to use modern methods to isolate molecular organic compounds that are diagnostic of the environmental setting of the uppermost abyssal Messinian evaporites.…”

Section: Lipid Biomarkersmentioning

confidence: 84%

Evidence for deep-water deposition of abyssal Mediterranean evaporites during the Messinian salinity crisis

Christeleit

Brandon

Zhuang

2015

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

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Keywords:Messinian salinity crisis ACE index TEX 86 Mediterranean sea deep sea drilling project Scientific drilling of the abyssal evaporites beneath the deepest parts of the Mediterranean basin gave rise to the idea that the Mediterranean sea completely evaporated at the end of the Messinian. Herein, we show, using new organic geochemical data, that those evaporites were deposited beneath a deepwater saline basin, not in a subaerial saltpan, as originally proposed. Abundant fossil organic lipids were extracted from evaporites in Mediterranean Deep Sea Drilling Project cores. The archaeal lipid distribution and new analyses, using the ACE salinity proxy and TEX 86 temperature proxy, indicate that surface waters at the time of evaporite deposition had normal marine salinity, ranging from ∼26 to 34 practical salinity units, and temperatures of 25-28 • C. These conditions require a deep-water setting, with a mixed layer with normal marine salinity and an underlying brine layer at gypsum and halite saturation. After correction for isostatic rebound, our results indicate maximum drawdown of ∼2000 m and ∼2900 m relative to modern sea level in the western and eastern Mediterranean basins, respectively. Our results are consistent with previously proposed scenarios for sea level drawdown based on both subaerial and submarine incision and backfilling of the Rhone and Nile rivers, which require Messinian sea level drops of ∼1300 m and ∼200 m, respectively. This study provides new evidence for an old debate and also demonstrates the importance of further scientific drilling and sampling of deeper part of the abyssal Messinian units.

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Section: Lipid Biomarkersmentioning

confidence: 84%

Evidence for deep-water deposition of abyssal Mediterranean evaporites during the Messinian salinity crisis

Christeleit

Brandon

Zhuang

2015

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

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“…High amounts of GDGT-0 when compared to other iGDGTs have previously been seen in saline environments and methane seeps (Turich et al, 2007). In those environments, high percentages of GDGT-0 are usually coupled with high amounts of archeol (Turich and Freeman, 2011;Birgel et al, 2014;Li et al, 2016). Pleistocene samples from IODP U1460, a site near by with a more oceanic signature (blue dots) (Petrick et al, 2019), European lakes (red dots) (Blaga et al, 2009), global soil sample compilation (brown dots) (Weijers et al, 2006).…”

Section: Isoprenoid Gdgts In Sabkha Samplesmentioning

confidence: 93%

Distribution of Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol Tetraethers (GDGTs) in Microbial Mats From Holocene and Miocene Sabkha Sediments

2019

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Sabkhas are important settings for understanding early earth biological environments, and the algal mats associated with them are thought to be potential source rocks for hydrocarbon production. In this study we compare the sedimentological facies and distribution of branched, and isoprenoid glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) in modern and mid-Holocene sabkha sediments from Abu Dhabi with well-preserved Miocene (12-13 Ma) sabkha sediments recently recovered at IODP site U1464 off the north coast of Australia. We show that the facies of the Miocene sediments is very similar to Holocene and modern sabkhas. Furthermore, we show that there are distinct patterns of isoprenoid GDGT distributions in the modern sabkha and that these patterns are well preserved in both the buried Holocene and the Miocene algal mats. The sabkha sediments analyzed are characterized by high %GDGT-0 and methane index, dominance of branched GDGTs over crenarchaeol (high BIT index), an unusual distribution of isoprenoid GDGTs 1-3, and also low abundance of archeol. The distribution of branched GDGT differs between modern and Miocene sabkhas and is similar in Miocene sabkha and non-sabkha sediments suggesting that they may be of limited use to distinguish paleo-sabkha sediments. Overall, isoprenoid GDGT distributions appear to be different from those found in modern soils, lakes and marine sediments, as well as from those found in Miocene shallow water sediments right below the sabkha, therefore they could be used in combination with facies analysis to identify paleo-sabkha environments in sedimentary sequences.

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“…6d). Hopanes and steranes have similarly been reported from other MSC deposits, such as carbonate deposits and organic-rich marls (e.g., Sinninghe Damsté et al 1995b;Guido et al 2007;Birgel et al 2014;Natalicchio et al 2017), and gypsums deposited during stage 1 of the MSC (ten Haven et al 1985;Schouten et al 2001;Isaji 2018). Our study reports here for the first time the presence of steranes in evaporites precipitated above the saturation point of halite (concentrated over 10 times of the seawater).…”

Section: The Biomarker Assemblages and Their Origins Unit C Shale-anhmentioning

confidence: 60%

Biomarker records and mineral compositions of the Messinian halite and K–Mg salts from Sicily

Isaji

Yoshimura

Kuroda

et al. 2019

Prog Earth Planet Sci

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The evaporites of the Realmonte salt mine (Sicily, Italy) are important archives recording the most extreme conditions of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). However, geochemical approach on these evaporitic sequences is scarce and little is known on the response of the biological community to drastically elevating salinity. In the present work, we investigated the depositional environments and the biological community of the shale-anhydrite-halite triplets and the K-Mg salt layer deposited during the peak of the MSC. Both hopanes and steranes are detected in the shale-anhydrite-halite triplets, suggesting the presence of eukaryotes and bacteria throughout their deposition. The K-Mg salt layer is composed of primary halites, diagenetic leonite, and primary and/or secondary kainite, which are interpreted to have precipitated from density-stratified water column with the halite-precipitating brine at the surface and the brineprecipitating K-Mg salts at the bottom. The presence of hopanes and a trace amount of steranes implicates that eukaryotes and bacteria were able to survive in the surface halite-precipitating brine even during the most extreme condition of the MSC.

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Hypersaline conditions during deposition of the Calcare di Base revealed from archaeal di- and tetraether inventories

Cited by 42 publications

References 72 publications

Evidence for deep-water deposition of abyssal Mediterranean evaporites during the Messinian salinity crisis

Evidence for deep-water deposition of abyssal Mediterranean evaporites during the Messinian salinity crisis

Distribution of Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol Tetraethers (GDGTs) in Microbial Mats From Holocene and Miocene Sabkha Sediments

Biomarker records and mineral compositions of the Messinian halite and K–Mg salts from Sicily

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