Vol 52, No 6 (2017)

The paper presents the first results of a comparative study of the composition and distribution of organic matter (OM) (C_org, n-alkanes, Pr, Phy) in samples of the ferromanganese nodule–sediment–pore water system taken at a single site in the Clarion–Clipperton Fracture Zone, Pacific Ocean. Samples were taken during Cruise 120 of R/V James Cook in 2015. The results of the comparison of organogeochemical parameters in the lipid fraction of OM in ferromanganese nodules of different size and morphology with the underlying sediment (0–1 cm) and pore water revealed both principle genetic affinity of OM therein and significant discrepancies between the processes of diagenesis during the formation and growth of each individual ore sample.

Upper Eocene and Lower Oligocene rocks in the northeastern Caucasus were examined in the most representative Chirkei section (Sulak River basin). Sharp lithogeochemical distinctions between them were revealed. The results of the study of nannoplankton demonstrated that the Eocene/Oligocene interface occurs slightly below the boundary between the Belaya Glina and Khadum formations. The studied section revealed a series of nannoplankton bioevents facilitating its stratigraphic subdivision. It has been established that organic matter (OM) in rocks of the Khadum Formation is characterized by a relatively high degree of maturity. Probably, the material of mainly marine genesis contains a terrigenous OM admixture. Positive oxygen isotope anomaly in the upper part of the Belaya Glina Formation reflects global climate changes (cooling) near the Eocene/Oligocene interface. Limitation of the anomaly by the upper boundary of the Belaya Glina Formation is likely related to changes in water salinity variations in the Early Oligocene basin and intense early diagenetic processes in rocks therein. Lithological, geochemical, and paleoecological data suggest that the Khadum paleobasin was depleted in oxygen. Such environment was unstable with periodic intensification or attenuation. Paleoecology in the Belaya Glina basin was typical of normally aerated basins.

The paper presents the results of study of the Sr, C, and O isotope compositions in Upper Jurassic carbonate rocks of the Baidar Valley and Demerdzhi Plateau in the Crimean Mountains represented by different facies of the carbonate platform at the northern active margin of the Tethys. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr value in them varies from 0.70699 to 0.70728. Based on the Sr chemostratigraphic correlation, the age of massive and layered limestones in the western part of the Ai-Petri and Baidar yailas (pastures) is estimated as late Kimmeridgian–early Tithonian, whereas the age of flyschoids of the Baidar Valley are estimated as late Tithonian–early Berriasian. The nearly synchronous formation of carbonate breccias of the Baidar Valley and Demerdzhi Plateau in late Tithonian–early Berriasian is substantiated. A summary section of Upper Jurassic rocks is compiled based on the Sr chemostratigraphic data. It has been established that δ¹⁸O values in the studied carbonate sediments vary from–2.9 to 1.3‰ (V-PDB). At the same time, shallow-water sediments in the internal part and the edge of the Crimean carbonate platform are depleted in ¹⁸O (–2.9 to +0.1‰) relative to sediments on the slope and foothill (–0.5 to +1.3‰). It is demonstrated that δ¹³C values do not depend on the facies properties and decrease in younger carbonate sediments from 3–3.5‰ to 1–1.5‰ in line with the Late Jurassic general trend. The δ¹³C values obtained for the Crimean carbonate platform turned out to be 0.5–1‰ higher than the values typical of the deep-water marine setting at the western margin of the Tethys. These discrepancies are likely related to peculiarities of water circulation and high bioproductivity in marine waters of the northern Peri-Tethys.

The typical for marine sediments decrease in the amount of sulfate ion in interstitial solutions with increasing depth owing to sulfate reduction and attenuation of the diffusion of near-bottom waters is manifested as the basic-to-acid zonation in the sulfur isotope composition of the diagenetic pyrite nodules (increase of δ³⁴S values from the center to edge). In sandstones of the Early Carboniferous Emyaksin Formation, which is developed at middle reaches of the Vilyui River (Sakha-Yakutia), we detected a peculiar sulfide nodule. In contrast to common nodules, this nodule is marked by the δ³⁴S value decreasing from 7.5…8.6‰ at the center to –30…–31.4‰ at the edge. Such acid-to-basic zonation is attributed to the origin of nodule in a freshened basin (delta) with a sulfate-depleted environment, which gave way to a sulfate-enriched environment owing to the expulsion brines from the underlying gypsiferous sequences.