3540253912-Prelims_I_XX.qxd 6/1/05 12:49 PM Page i Emelyan M. Emelyanov The Barrier Zones in the Ocean 3540253912-Prelims_I_XX.qxd 6/1/05 12:49 PM Page iii Emelyan M. Emelyanov The Barrier Zones in the Ocean Translated into English by L.D. Akulov, E.M. Emelyanov and I.O. Murdmaa With 245 Figures and 107 Tables 3540253912-Prelims_I_XX.qxd 6/1/05 12:49 PM Page iv Dr. Emelyan M. Emelyanov Research Professor in Marine Geology Prospekt Mira 1 Kaliningrad 236000 Russia E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Translated into English by – Leonid D. Akulov, Emelyan M. Emelyanov, Ivar O. Murdmaa (specific geological terminology) The book was originally published in Russian under the title “The barrier zones in the ocean. Sedimentation, ore formation, geoe- cology”. Yantarny Skaz, Kaliningrad, 1998, 416 p. (with some new chapters, Tables and Figures) Library of Congress Control Number: 2005922606 ISBN-10 3-540-25391-2 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York ISBN-13 978-3-540-25391-4 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the mate- rial is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recita- tion, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer-Verlag. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. Springer is a part of Springer Science+Business Media Springeronline.com © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005 Printed in The Netherlands The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: E. Kirchner, Heidelberg Typesetting: SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Production: Almas Schimmel Printing: Krips bv, Meppel Binding: Stürtz AG, Würzburg Printed on acid-free paper 30/3141/as 5 4 3 2 10 3540253912-Prelims_I_XX.qxd 6/1/05 12:49 PM Page v Dedication This book is dedicated to Immanuel Kant Professor of Albertina University on the occasion of Königsberg’s 750th and Kaliningrad’s 60th Anniversary. 3540253912-Prelims_I_XX.qxd 6/1/05 12:49 PM Page vii Preface Processes of sedimentation and ore formation in seas and oceans are commonly considered from the standpoint of the facial or climatic zonations. Regularities of climatic lithogenesis, which have been developed by N.M.Strakhov for land and con- tinental seas, were later adopted by P.L.Bezrukov and A.P.Lisitzin in application to oceanic aquatories. Processes of sedimentation in all oceans were considered from this point of view. Later, a proper understanding of processes of sedimentogenesis at smaller oceanic areas – in lithologic-geochemical provinces – became increasingly important. Traditionally, the description of processes of sedimentogenesis in Russian-language literature, was usually terminated by the formation of bottom sed- iment types and their composition. In this case, the ore formation was as if beyond the scope of these processes. The same is true for geoecological problems. In partic- ular, ore-forming processes and geoecology are commonly studied by scientists as different disciplines. All this led the author, which have studied processes of sedimentogenesis and geochemistry of single elements for about 45 years, to conclusion that processes of sediment transformation, change of forms of migration of chemical elements and formation of sediments with anomalously high concentrations of chemical elements in seawater and at the bottom of seas and ocean are especially active at the bound- aries between different water environments and at the boundaries between areals of different sediment zones or their lithologic-geochemical zones or provinces (Emelyanov, 1982). In the course of time, the author pay particular attention to processes occurring just at the boundaries and within boundary zones. Following A.I.Perelman (1979), the author called these boundaries as geochemical barriers and geochemical barrier zones. Special symposiums and conferences with the aim to evaluate the role of processes occurring at these barriers and boundary zones were held in the USSR (Russia) (Emelyanov, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1998, 2003; Kasimov and Vorobyov (eds.), 2002). Studies and generalization of experience enabled the author to synthesize knowl- edge in all these scientific fields. The book based on this synthetic approach was published in 1998 in Russian language. It had a wide response in Russia and in other countries. The author suggested the term limology (from the Latin word “limes”, meaning boundary) to identify the field of science related to boundary processes. Following the theory of geochemical barriers and GBZs, the processes of sedi- mentogenesis were considered for the Atlantic Ocean (Emelyanov, 1982), Baltic (Emelyanov, 1986, 1995), Black (Mitropolskiy et al., 1982) and Mediterranean seas 3540253912-Prelims_I_XX.qxd 6/1/05 12:49 PM Page viii viii Preface (Emelyanov and Shimkus, 1986). Attempts have been undertaken to classify the stages and models of evolution of sedimentary manganese (Emelyanov, 1986, 1995) and ferruginous pseudo-oolitic ores (Emelyanov, 1982). When writing this book, the author was based on data collected in the course of his own 45-year long studies, and also scientific publications in Russian language. Readers in other countries are hardly aware of most of them, if at all. Also, the author used principal works of overseas authors on the subject (see References). The given (English language) book is considerably improved and complemented version of Russian edition (approx. 15% more than its Russian version): text, tables and especially Figures were subjected to considerable renewing. The reason for this is that new generalizing publications on the Arctic basin have been issued (Lisitzin, Vinogradov, Romankevich, 201; Kassens et al., 1999; Shulz and Zabel (eds.), 2000; Aibulatov, 2000) as well as many other publications, open the way for this edition. Unfortunately, problems with using scientific English language journals from other countries, including Internet libraries, prevent us from wider using of literature pub- lished after 2000 year. I gratefully acknowledge all scientists whose publications were used in this book. This book consists of 4 parts and describes various theoretical and application aspects of the concept of geochemical barriers and barrier zones in oceans, which are interpreted as portions of water or sedimentary column, where the intensity of migration of chemical elements abruptly changes in one or another direction within a short space interval. The first chapter of the book describes general characteristics of barrier and bar- rier zones in oceans, and the hierarchy of them is established. Here, the author pro- vides a detailed substantiation of the concept, according to which GBZs means a discontinuity of continuity for medium properties, both in vertical and horizontal directions. This general point is illustrated by various examples of sediment fluxes in nature: from the time when sediments enter the ocean and until they are buried to be finally transformed in bottom sediments. According to the author, there are more than 40 geochemical barriers and barrier zones in the ocean. The second chapter is called as “Barriers as transformation areas of sedimentary material”. Here, the author describes specific processes of delivery, transformation and deposition of sedimentary material onto bottom, where the Atlantic Ocean, Baltic, Black and Mediterranean seas taken as an example. This chapter describes the early stage of processes of sedimentogenesis, with River-Sea GBZs taken as an example. For this purpose, data obtained from rivers including Amazon, Congo, Columbia, Ob, Lena, Yenisei, Nile, Neva and Neman, where the formation of thick sedimentary bodies occurs, are used. Hereinafter, the effects of mechanical barriers occurring in zones such as “Shore-Sea”, “Front of coastal upwelling” and “Ice-Water boundary”, are considered with provision for their importance in terms of geology. Fate of sedimentary materials crossing Ocean-Atmosphere barrier is traced until they are buried after the early stage of diagenesis. The sequence of environmental conditions where sediments are exposed to various effects is as following: a layer of photosynthesis, thermoicline, halocline, oxygen minimum layer, CCD, water-bottom GBZs and upper active layer of sediments. Description of processes occurring in 3540253912-Prelims_I_XX.qxd 6/1/05 12:49 PM Page ix Preface ix each of cited vertical GBZs is terminated by an estimation of its importance in terms of geology. The third chapter is called as “Lithogeochemical barriers as leading factors in ore formation”. This chapter describes the present-day processes of ore formation in coastal zone (placers) and also ferruginous pseudo-oolitic ores (in river-sea GBZ) and phosphorites (in zone of coastal upwelling). Also, role of pycnocline in forma- tion of ferromanganese crusts in platform seas, role of oxygen minimum layer in for- mation of cobalt-bearing ore crusts, role of CCD in formation of Fe-Mn nodules, role of redox (Eh) barrier in water in formation of