Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 6-26-2013 Lower Aptian Comparative Stratigraphy of the Basco-Cantabrian Region (Spain) and Eastern Cordillera (Colombia): implications for local factors in the depositional record of Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE-1a) Tatiana Gaona Narvaez FIU, Earth and Environment Department, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Biogeochemistry Commons, Geochemistry Commons, Sedimentology Commons, and the Stratigraphy Commons Recommended Citation Gaona Narvaez, Tatiana, "Lower Aptian Comparative Stratigraphy of the Basco-Cantabrian Region (Spain) and Eastern Cordillera (Colombia): implications for local factors in the depositional record of Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE-1a)" (2013). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 952. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/952 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida LOWER APTIAN COMPARATIVE STRATIGRAPHY OF THE BASCO-CANTABRIAN REGION (SPAIN) AND EASTERN CORDILLERA (COLOMBIA): IMPLICATIONS FOR LOCAL FACTORS IN THE DEPOSITIONAL RECORD OF OCEANIC ANOXIC EVENT 1A (OAE-1A) A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in GEOSCIENCES by Tatiana Gaona-Narvaez 2013 To: Dean Kenneth G. Furton College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Tatiana Gaona-Narvaez, and entitled Lower Aptian Comparative Stratigraphy of the Basco-Cantabrian Region (Spain) and Eastern Cordillera (Colombia): implications for local factors in the depositional record of Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE-1a), having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ William Anderson Jr. _______________________________________ Laurel Collins _______________________________________ Rosemary Hickey-Vargas _______________________________________ Martin Quirke _______________________________________ Florentin Maurrasse, Major Professor Date of Defense: June 26, 2013 The dissertation of Tatiana Gaona-Narvaez is approved. _______________________________________ Dean Kenneth G. Furton College of Arts and Sciences _______________________________________ Dean Lakshmi N. Reddi University Graduate School Florida International University, 2013 ii DEDICATION To my parents, for a whole life of love and support. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank to the following institutions and individuals for their contribution to the success of my doctoral research: To my advisor, Dr. Florentin Maurrasse, for his scientific mentorship and economic support as well as his great sense of humanity and wisdom. To my committee members for their great disposition and advice, particularly Dr. William Anderson for providing me with fundamental isotopic data; to Dr. Marcos Lamolda and Dr. Laurel Collins who provided editorial comments on the first drafts of the papers submitted for publication. Thanks to Dr. Rosemary Hickey and Dr. Martin Quirke for their careful reading of the geochemical chapters of the dissertation. To Fernando Etayo-Serna, for mentoring me through many years. This work would not have been possible without his decades of observations and experience on the Cretaceous of Colombia, and the ideas he planted on my mind. Thanks to Dr. Rudolf Jaffe for his very useful course on organic geochemistry. Special thanks to Diane Pirie and Tom Beasley for training me in the use of the department’s reseach equipment, and for their constant technical and administrative support, as well as Dr.Tatiana Trejos in the TEAF lab, for training me to use the LA-ICPMS. Thanks to Carrie Rebenack and John Harris for their help with the carbon isotope analyses, and to Shane Butler from the Illinois Geological Survey for his work on the XRD analyses of my samples. I am very grateful to Florida International University and the Department of Earth and Environment for supporting me though teaching assistantships, the Doctoral Evidence Acquisition and Dissertation Year Fellowship programs; I am also grateful to Exxon-Mobil for their contribution to my project. To my colleagues Diana Montoya, Mauricio Pardo, Jorge Bernal and Vicente Rodriguez, for helping me in the field in the Colombian Andes. Last but not least, heartfelt thanks to Dr. Raisa Richardson and to my dear friends Bellatrix Castelblanco, Hardi Pfromm, Yosmel Sanchez, Fabian Duque, Danielle Ogurcak, and Luisa Rolon. iv ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION LOWER APTIAN COMPARATIVE STRATIGRAPHY OF THE BASCO-CANTABRIAN REGION (SPAIN) AND EASTERN CORDILLERA (COLOMBIA): IMPLICATIONS FOR LOCAL FACTORS IN THE DEPOSITIONAL RECORD OF OCEANIC ANOXIC EVENT 1A (OAE-1A) by Tatiana Gaona-Narvaez Florida International University, 2013 Miami, Florida Professor Florentin Maurrasse, Major Professor An important episode of carbon sequestration, Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE-1a), characterizes the Lower Aptian worldwide, and is mostly known from deeper-water settings. The present work of two Lower Aptian deposits, Madotz (N Spain) and Curití Quarry (Colombia), is a multiproxy study that includes fossil assemblages, microfacies, X-ray diffraction bulk and clay mineralogy, elemental analyses (major, minor, trace elements), Rock-Eval pyrolysis, biomarkers, inorganic and organic carbon content, and stable carbon isotopes. The results provide baseline evidence of the local and global controlling environmental factors influencing OAE-1a in shallow-water settings. The data also improve our general understanding of the conditions under which organic-carbon-rich deposits accumulate. The sequence at Madotz includes four intervals (Unit 1; Subunits 2a, 2b and 2c) that overlap the times prior to, during and after the occurrence of OAE-1a. The Lower Unit 1(3m thick) is essentially siliciclastic, and Subunit 2a (20m) contains Urgonian carbonate facies that document abruptly changing platform conditions prior to OAE-1a. Subunit 2b (24.4 m) is a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic facies with orbitolinid-rich levels that coincides with OAE-1a δ13C stages C4-C6, and is coeval with the upper part of the Deshayesites forbesi ammonite zone. Levels with v pyrite and the highest TOC values (0.4-0.97%), interpreted as accumulating under suboxic conditions, and are restricted to δ13C stages C4 and C5. The best development of the suboxic facies is at the level representing the peak of the transgression. Subunit 2c, within δ13C stage C7, shows a return of the Urgonian facies. The 23.35-m section at Curití includes a 6.3-m interval at the base of the Paja Formation dominated by organic-rich marlstones and shales lacking benthic fossils and bioturbation, with TOC values as high as 8.84%. The interval overlies a level containing reworked and phosphatized assemblages of middle Barremian to lowest Aptian ammonites. The range of values and the 13 overall pattern of the δ Corg (-22.05‰ to -20.47‰) in the 6.3m-interval is comparable with Lower Aptian δ13C stage C7. Thus, conditions of oxygen depletion at this site also occurred after Oceanic Anoxic Event-1a, which developed between carbon isotope stages C3 and C6.Both sites, Madotz and Curití, attest to the importance of terrigenous and nutrient fluxes in increasing OM productivity that led to episodic oxygen deficiency. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Biostratigraphy and Chemostratigraphy of Aptian Anoxic Events .............................. 2 1.2 Main Hypothesis .......................................................................................................... 7 1.3 General Objective ........................................................................................................ 7 1.4 Methodology Summary ............................................................................................... 8 1.5 Specific Questions ....................................................................................................... 8 1.6 Organization of the Dissertation .................................................................................. 9 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 10 2 GEOLOGICAL SETTING ................................................................................................... 15 2.1 Madotz Section (Basque-Cantabrian Region, Navarra, Spain) .................................. 15 2.2 Mesozoic Stratigraphic Framework of the “Sierra de Aralar” ................................... 17 2.3 Lithostratigraphy of the Lower Aptian Succession at Madotz ................................... 18 2.4 Biochronology of the Madotz section ........................................................................ 25 2.5 Curití Section (Eastern Cordillera, Colombia) ........................................................... 25 2.6 Lithostratigraphy of the Studied Section at Curití Quarry (Eastern Cordillera, Colombia) .................................................................................................................................