Open AccessSystematics of variations in excess Al and Al/Ti in sediments from the central equatorial Pacific
Author(s) -
Timothy David A.,
Calvert Stephen E.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
paleoceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1944-9186
pISSN - 0883-8305
DOI - 10.1029/97pa03646
Subject(s) - authigenic , geology , scavenging , oceanography , flux (metallurgy) , mineralogy , aluminosilicate , sediment , paleoceanography , tracer , sediment trap , geochemistry , chemistry , geomorphology , diagenesis , biochemistry , physics , organic chemistry , nuclear physics , antioxidant , catalysis
The proposal that the accumulation rate (AR) of scavenged Al in central equatorial Pacific sediments is controlled by bulk particle flux and therefore can be used as a paleoproduction proxy is tested by examining the relationship between Al and Ti using data on core WEC8803B‐GC51 published by Murray et al. [1993]. The downcore profile of the excess Al AR follows the bulk AR, consistent with the Al‐scavenging hypothesis and is due to a relatively constant abundance of excess Al down core. However, there have been large changes in the aluminosilicate AR to this region, suggesting that changes in the Al/Ti value do not solely trace variability in the delivery rate of scavenged Al. Assuming that the excess Al in this core is not the result of an analytical artifact, we present an alternative to the Al‐scavenging hypothesis that involves authigenic clay mineral formation, or some other process, causing the occurrence of excess Al at a relatively constant abundance of the sediment. This process may well be independent of bulk particle flux or paleoproduction.