Authigenic ferrimagnetic iron sulfide preservation due to non-steady
state diagenesis: A perspective from Perseverance Drift, Northwestern
Weddell Sea
Abstract
We document magnetic mineral diagenesis with high resolution magnetic
susceptibility, hysteresis, isothermal remanent magnetization, and other
rock magnetic measurements through a shallow sulfate-methane transition
(SMT) at Perseverance Drift-a high-accumulation rate Holocene
biosiliceous Antarctic marine sediment deposit. The structure of the SMT
is defined with porewater measurements from the same core, allowing
direct comparison. Dissolution of the detrital (titano)magnetite
assemblage, with preferential dissolution of stochiometric magnetite,
occurs in the upper SMT. Higher coercivity magnetic minerals dissolve
more slowly, continuing to dissolve through the entire SMT and could be
a source of ferric iron for microbial respiration following exhaustion
of porewater sulfate, as suggested by accumulation of porewater ferrous
iron below the SMT. Superparamagnetic ferrimagnetic mineral
enrichment/depletion occurs in three phases through the SMT and is
coupled tightly to the availability of dissolved ferrous iron relative
to dissolved sulfide. High concentrations of authigenic
remanence-bearing iron sulfides, including greigite and hexagonal 3C
pyrrhotite, which can be detected using remanence parameters but not
in-field concentration dependent parameters, accumulate in a transient
horizon at the base of the SMT during this early diagenesis, where
sulfide is present but limited relative to dissolved ferrous iron.
Formation of this remanence-bearing iron sulfide horizon is likely
facilitated by continued iron reduction through the SMT. Non-steady
state perturbations that shift the porewater profile, such as changes in
carbon flux or sedimentation rate, can lead to preservation of these
transient horizons, much like well documented preservation of manganese
oxide layers in marine sediments following similar shifts to porewater
profiles.