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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bernhardt, Anne, Oelze, Marcus, Bouchez, Julien, von Blanckenburg, Friedhelm, Mohtadi, Mahyar, Christl, Marcus, Wittmann, Hella
Format: Dataset Open Access
Language:en
Published: PANGAEA 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.918725
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Table of Contents:
  • As reverse weathering has been shown to impact long-term changes in atmospheric CO2 levels, it is crucial to develop quantitative tools to reconstruct marine authigenic clay formation. We explored the potential of the beryllium (Be) isotope ratio (10Be/9Be) recorded in marine clay-sized sediment to track neoformation of authigenic clays. The power of such proxy relies on the orders-of-magnitude difference in 10Be/9Be ratios between continental Be and Be dissolved in seawater. On riverine and marine sediments collected along a Chilean margin transect we chemically extracted reactive phases and separated the clay-sized sediment fraction. We compare the riverine and marine 10Be/9Be ratio of this fraction. Moreover, we compare the elemental and mineralogical composition and the Nd and Sr-isotopic composition of these samples. 10Be/9Be ratios increase four-fold from riverine to marine sediment. We attribute this increase to the incorporation of Be high in 10Be/9Be from dissolved biogenic opal, which also serves as a Si-source for the precipitation of marine authigenic clays. 10Be/9Be ratios thus sensitively track reverse-weathering reactions forming marine authigenic clays.