Abstract: The lithogenic fraction in marine sediments can be a key proxy to reconstruct past changes in atmospheric
circulation, river runoff among other sedimentary processes. But, accurate isolation of the lithic component
within biogenic-rich sediments can be particularly challenging in areas of high marine productivity. We present
an experiment to isolate and characterize this lithogenic fraction that ensures the full elimination of biogenic
and authigenic components. This experiment demonstrates that standard procedures used in most of
the studies of terrigenous fraction in marine sediments, are inadequate to remove efficiently most of the biogenic components in sediments from high productivity regions such as the Eastern Equatorial Pacific. The
experiment reviews each of the procedure steps designed for the removal of organic matter, carbonate, Fe-Mn
oxides, and biogenic silica. The most critical steps were the removal of organic matter incorporated in fecal
pellets, and the elimination of the biogenic silica. The continuous monitoring of the grain-size distribution of
the samples along the experiment steps allows evaluating the impact that an inadequate procedure can induce on the grain size. Finally, lithic grain-size distributions were characterized using k-means statistical technique providing objective information for climate interpretation. The proposed approach ensures the quality of the results and allows magnifying the information provided by the lithic fraction in marine sediments.
Otras publicaciones de la misma revista o congreso con autores/as de la Universidad de Cantabria
Fuente: Limnol. Oceanogr.: Methods 13, 2015, 127–137
Editorial: American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASMO)
Año de publicación: 2015
Nº de páginas: 11
Tipo de publicación: Artículo de Revista
DOI: 10.1002/lom3.10013
ISSN: 1541-5856
Proyecto español: GRACCIE (CONSOLIDER-INGENIO CSD 2007-00067)