10. INTERPRETATION OF BURIAL HISTORY AND REBOUND FROM LOADING EXPERIMENTS AND OCCURRENCE OF MICROSTYLOLITES IN MIXED SEDIMENTS OF CARIBBEAN SITES 999 AND 10011

Ida L. Fabricius2

ABSTRACT

Compaction curves for 11 samples from the mixed sediments and calcareous chalk with clay from the Caribbean Sites 999 and 1001 are discussed with reference to compaction curves for calcareous ooze and chalk of the Ontong Java Plateau (Leg 130). The burial history is discussed from preconsolidation data and present burial conditions and suggests a removal of ~400 m of sediment at the hiatus 166 meters below seafloor (mbsf) at Site 1001. This interpretation predicts a previous burial to >500 mbsf for depth intervals containing microstylolites, which corresponds to observations at Sites 999 and 807 (Ontong Java Plateau). Thus, data from three sites from two widely separate regions indicate that microstylolites in carbonates form at minimum burial depths deeper than 500 m. No direct link between formation of microstylolites and cementation was found, suggesting that dissolution and precipitation are not necessarily related. Porosity rebound during core retrieval could not be detected for soft sediments, whereas a porosity rebound of ~2% was deduced for deeper, cemented intervals.

Comparing the compaction curves, two distinct rates of porosity loss are noted: (1) samples dominated by clay (>45% insoluble residue) compact at a higher rate than samples dominated by fine-grained carbonate and (2) fine-grained carbonatesupported samples (with <45% insoluble residue) compact at the same rate irrespective of the content of nonsupporting microfossils or pore-filling clay.

1Leckie, R.M., Sigurdsson, H., Acton, G.D., and Draper, G. (Eds.), 2000. Proc. ODP, Sci. Results, 165 [Online]. Available from World Wide Web:
<http://www-odp.tamu.edu/publications/165_SR/165TOC.HTM>. [Cited YYYY-MM-DD]

2Institut for Geologi og Geoteknik, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, Bygning 204, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark. iggill@pop.dtu.dk

Date of initial receipt: 15 July 1998
Date of acceptance: 29 April 1999
Ms 165SR-006

NEXT