Sources of Material for Surface Bottom Sediments in Some Regions of the Nordic Seas (According to Geochemical Data)

Abstract

The mineral, bulk chemical (main rock-forming oxides) composition and systematics of rare-earth elements, Sc, Cr, Zr and Th of surface bottom sediments taken in a number of cruises of the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh in the Nordic Seas (Mona, Knipovich, Kolbeinsey and Aegir ridges, the basins of the Norwegian and Greenland seas, the continental slope of Svalbard, the western continental margin of the Barents Sea, etc.) are considered to determine the sources of fine-grained material of bottom sediments. If for coastal sediments the primary influence of terrigenous drift is obvious, then seaward sediments are affected by “relatively war-mer” Atlantic waters, leading to their dilution with calcium carbonate, the main producers of which are planktonic foraminifers. It is concluded that the source of fine-grained aluminosiliciclastics for most of the studied samples were both acidic and basic igneous rocks (volcanic rocks of Iceland) in different proportions.