Phosphatized calcareous conglomerate from the Kara Sea floor

Abstract

Trawling of the bottom in the northeastern Kara Sea during cruise 125 of the R/V Professor Shtokman in 2013 recovered a block of cavernous, partly phosphatized carbonate rock consisting of biogenic carbonate material and partly crystallized diagenetic calcite. The fauna remains are mainly Oligocene–Pliocene planktonic and benthic foraminifers, with less common Oligocene–Miocene coccoliths and single wormlike organisms. Part of the phosphatized material in caverns is impregnated by manganese and iron oxides and enriched in heavy and trace metals. According to the oxygen isotopic composition, this rock formed under moderate temperature conditions. In terms of morphology, mineralogy, and the abundance of organic remains, the block is comparable to methanogenic carbonates found in other parts of the ocean, but shows no isotopically light carbon signatures typical of methane activity. This indicates the diversity of the carbon isotope composition of the Arctic carbonates.