Altered oceanic crust as an inorganic record of paleoseawater Sr concentration

The minimum Sr content of seawater at 90–95 Ma is determined from the Sr content and Sr isotopic composition of the sheeted dike complex of oceanic crust that was hydrothermally altered at this time on the basis of simple mass and heat balances. When this approach is applied to sheeted dike complexes that were hydrothermally altered by modern seawater a minimum fluid Sr content of <3 μ g g −1 is calculated. This is substantially less than the modern ocean Sr content of ∼7.8 μ g g −1 supporting the arguments that the approach provides a robust minimum Sr content of the ocean at the time of crust formation. Applying the same approach to the sheeted dike complexes in the Cretaceous Troodos and Oman ophiolites gives minimum Sr contents for the ocean at this time of 27 and 38 μ g g −1 , respectively. These values are consistent with previous studies of biomineralized carbonate that suggest higher Sr/Ca in seawater at this time and fluid inclusion analyses that suggest higher Ca contents in the ocean at this time. The Ca content of the ocean must have been at the upper end of the range suggested by fluid inclusion analyses (≥30 mmol kg −1 ). The high Ca and Sr content of seawater at 90–95 Ma was, at least partially, due to enhanced submarine hydrothermal circulation which leaches Sr from the basaltic crust because it coincides with a time of low seawater 87 Sr/ 86 Sr. Elevated Sr contents at this time may have impacted the evolution and/or biogeochemical role of the Acantharians which secrete a SrSO 4 skeleton.