Abstract
Paleocene–Eocene phosphorite beds from three major outcrops of the Maknassy-Mezzouna basin (Central-Tunisia) were geochemically investigated to improve local stratigraphy, determine their ages, and attempt to constrain ocean circulation. 87Sr/86Sr ratios of phosphate materials from the Chouabine Formation display a large variation even within the same deposit (87Sr/86Sr between 0.707782 and 0.707830). Based on the Sr isotope data obtained in teeth enamels, further supported by the results in coprolites, Sr isotope ages of 57 ± 1.1 Ma were attributed to Layers I and II, and 62 ± 1.4 Ma to Layer III. These results assign a Paleocene Epoch for the principal phosphate series. The 87Sr/86Sr value of teeth enamel sample from the upper phosphate bed suggests an age of 46 ± 1 Ma for this sequence. Furthermore, the Nd isotopic compositions of these samples were used as a tracer for seawater circulation. The 143Nd/144Nd values of the analyzed samples vary between 0.512174 and 0.512202, corresponding to εNdCHUR between – 8.1 and – 8.4. These values are similar to those reported from Gafsa-Metlaoui basin, southern Tunisia and other North African phosphorite deposits. These data are reminiscent of those of the Atlantic Ocean, which is new argument of the overturning of Tethys Circumglobal Current during the Paleogene period. The obtained results suggest water exchange between Tethys and Atlantic Ocean during this period.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data used to support the findings of this study are publicly available at [https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-023-02316-3].
References
Ahmed B (2015) Landslide susceptibility mapping using multi-criteria evaluation techniques in Chittagong Metropolitan Area, Bangladesh. Landslides 12:1077–1095. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-014-0521-x
Angulo RJ, de Souza MC, da Camara Rosa MLC et al (2022) Paleo-sea levels, Late-Holocene evolution, and a new interpretation of the boulders at the Rocas Atoll, southwestern Equatorial Atlantic. Mar Geol 447:106780. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2022.106780
Barrat JA, Taylor RN, Andre JP et al (2000) Strontium isotopes in biogenic phosphates from a Neogene marine formation: implications for palaeoseawater studies. Chem Geol 168:325–332. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0009-2541(00)00200-X
Batenburg SJ, Voigt S, Friedrich O et al (2018) Major intensification of Atlantic overturning circulation at the onset of Paleogene greenhouse warmth. Nat Commun 9:4954. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07457-7
Beji-Sassi A (1984) Beji-Sassi: Pétrographie, minéralogie et géochimie... - Google Scholar. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=P%C3%A9trographie%2C%20min%C3%A9ralogie%20et%20g%C3%A9ochimie%20des%20sediments%20phosphat%C3%A9s%20de%20la%20bordure%20oriental%20de%20l%27Ile%20de%20Kasserine%20(Tunisie)&author=A.%20B%C3%A9ji-Sassi&publication_year=1984. Accessed 16 Apr 2023
Beji-Sassi A (1996) Beji Sassi: Les inclusions vitreuses des ilménites,... - Google Scholar. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Les%20inclusions%20vitreuses%20des%20ilm%C3%A9nites%2C%20apatites%20et%20quartz%20des%20s%C3%A9diments%20phosphat%C3%A9s%20de%20Tunisie%3A%20t%C3%A9moignages%20d%E2%80%99un%20volcanisme%20alcalin%20d%E2%80%99%C3%A2ge%20Pal%C3%A9oc%C3%A8ne%20Sup%C3%A9rieur%20%C3%A0%20%C3%89oc%C3%A8ne&author=A.%20B%C3%A9ji-Sassi&publication_year=1996&pages=227-234. Accessed 16 Apr 2023
Beji-Sassi A (1999a) Les phosphates dans les bassins paleogenes de la partie meridionale de l’Axe Nord-Sud. (Tunisie). These Doct d’Etates-Sci, Univ Tunis
Beji-Sassi A (1999b) BEJI: Les phosphates dans les bassins paléogènes... - Google Scholar. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Les%20phosphates%20dans%20les%20basins%20Pal%C3%A9og%C3%A8nes%20de%20la%20partie%20m%C3%A9ridionale%20de%20l%E2%80%99axe%20Nord-Sud%20(Tunisie)&author=A.%20B%C3%A9ji-Sassi&publication_year=1999b. Accessed 16 Apr 2023
Beji-Sassi A, Laridhi-Ouzaa N, Zaier A, Clocchiatti R (2001) Paleocene-Early Eocene alkaline volcanic activity in Tunisia phosphatic sediments. Comparison with Cretaceous magmatism and geodynamic significance. Les Journées De L’ETAP 47–58
Belayouni H (1984) Étude de la matière organique dans la série phosphatée du bassin de Gafsa-Métlaoui (Tunisie): application à la compréhension des mécanismes de la phosphatogenèse. Doc BRGM 77:204
Ben Hassen A, Trichet J, Disnar J-R, Belayouni H (2009) Données nouvelles sur le contenu organique des dépôts phosphatés du gisement de Ras-Draâ (Tunisie). CR Geosci 341:319–326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crte.2009.02.001
Ben Hassen A, Trichet J, Disnar J-R, Belayouni H (2010) Pétrographie et géochimie comparées des pellets phosphatés et de leur gangue dans le gisement phosphaté de Ras-Draâ (Tunisie). Implications sur la genèse des pellets phosphatés. Swiss J Geosci 103:457–473. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00015-010-0029-x
Bozkurt E, Satir M (2000) The southern Menderes Massif (western Turkey): geochronology and exhumation history. Geol J 35:285–296. https://doi.org/10.1002/gj.849
Burollet PF (1956) Contribution à l’étude stratigraphique de la Tunisie centrale. Ann Mines Géol 18:350
Burollet PF, Oudin JL (1980) Paléocène et Eocène en Tunisie, pétroles et phosphates. Géologie comparée des gisements de phosphates et de pétroles. Orléans 24:205–216
Capo RC, Stewart BW, Chadwick OA (1998) Strontium isotopes as tracers of ecosystem processes: theory and methods. Geoderma 82:197–225. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7061(97)00102-X
Catuneanu O, Galloway WE, Kendall CGStC et al (2011) Sequence stratigraphy: methodology and nomenclature. nos 44:173–245. https://doi.org/10.1127/0078-0421/2011/0011
Cayeux L (1896) Note préliminaire sur la constitution des phosphates de chaux du Sénonien du sud de la Tunisie. CR Acad Sci Paris 123:273–276
Cayeux L (1939) Les phosphates de chaux sédimentaires de France. Imprimerie nationale
Chaabani F (1995) Dynamique de la partie orientale du bassin de Gafsa au Crétacé et au Paléogène: Etude minéralogique et géochimique de la série phosphatée Eocène, Tunisie méridionale
Chekhma H, Fakhraoui M, Khssibi M (2002) Carte géologique de Mazzouna
Chiaradia M, Müntener O, Beate B (2020) Effects of aseismic ridge subduction on the geochemistry of frontal arc magmas. Earth Planet Sci Lett 531:115984. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.115984
Cook PJ, Shergold JH (1984) Phosphorus, phosphorites and skeletal evolution at the Precambrian—Cambrian boundary. Nature 308:231–236. https://doi.org/10.1038/308231a0
Dickin AP (2018) Radiogenic isotope geology. Cambridge University Press
Ehrenberg SN, Nadeau PH (2002) Postdepositional Sm/Nd fractionation in sandstones: implications for neodymium-isotope stratigraphy. J Sediment Res 72:304–315. https://doi.org/10.1306/060901720304
Fakhraoui M, Boukadi N, Chekhma H (2002) Carte géologique d’El Maknassy
Faure G, Mensing TM (2005) Isotopes: principles and applications. Wiley
Föllmi KB (1996) The phosphorus cycle, phosphogenesis and marine phosphate-rich deposits. Earth Sci Rev 40:55–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-8252(95)00049-6
Garnit H, Bouhlel S, Barca D, Chtara C (2012) Application of LA-ICP-MS to sedimentary phosphatic particles from Tunisian phosphorite deposits: Insights from trace elements and REE into paleo-depositional environments. Geochemistry 72:127–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemer.2012.02.001
Garnit H, Bouhlel S, Jarvis I (2017) Geochemistry and depositional environments of Paleocene-Eocene phosphorites: Metlaoui group, Tunisia. J Afr Earth Sc 134:704–736. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2017.07.021
Gautheron C, Sawakuchi AO, dos Santos Albuquerque MF et al (2022) Cenozoic weathering of fluvial terraces and emergence of biogeographic boundaries in Central Amazonia. Global Planet Change 212:103815. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2022.103815
Grandjean P, Cappetta H, Michard A, Albarede F (1987) The assessment of REE patterns and 143Nd/144Nd ratios in fish remains. Earth Planet Sci Lett 84:181–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-821X(87)90084-7
Jacobsen SB, Wasserburg GJ (1980) Sm-Nd isotopic evolution of chondrites. Earth Planet Sci Lett 50:139–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-821X(80)90125-9
Kocsis L, Ounis A, Chaabani F, Salah NM (2013) Paleoenvironmental conditions and strontium isotope stratigraphy in the Paleogene Gafsa Basin (Tunisia) deduced from geochemical analyses of phosphatic fossils. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 102:1111–1129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-012-0845-5
Kocsis L, Ounis A, Baumgartner C et al (2014) Paleocene-Eocene palaeoenvironmental conditions of the main phosphorite deposits (Chouabine formation) in the Gafsa Basin, Tunisia. J Afr Earth Sc 100:586–597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.07.024
Kolodny Y, Luz B, Navon O (1983) Oxygen isotope variations in phosphate of biogenic apatites, I. Fish bone apatite—rechecking the rules of the game. Earth Planet Sci Lett 64:398–404. https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-821X(83)90100-0
Lécuyer C, Grandjean P, O’Neil JR et al (1993) Thermal excursions in the ocean at the Cretaceous—tertiary boundary (northern Morocco): δ18O record of phosphatic fish debris. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 105:235–243
Mahjoub K, M’hadhbi M (2005) Carte géologique de Jebel Melloussi
Martin EE, Haley BA (2000) Fossil fish teeth as proxies for seawater Sr and Nd isotopes. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 64:835–847. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7037(99)00376-2
McArthur JM, Howarth RJ (2005) Strontium isotope stratigraphy. In: Gradstein FM, Ogg JG, Smith AG (eds) A geological timescale. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 96–105
McArthur JM, Howarth RJ, Bailey TR (2001) Strontium isotope stratigraphy: LOWESS version 3: best fit to the marine Sr-isotope curve for 0–509 Ma and accompanying look-up table for deriving numerical age. J Geol 109:155–170
Notholt AJG, Sheldon RP, Davidson DF (1989) Phosphate deposits of the world: volume 2. Phosphate rock resources. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Ounis A (2011) Apport de la géochimie des Terres Rares et des isotopes pour la compréhension des mécanismes de la phosphatogenèse: exemple de la partie occidentale du bassin de Gafsa-Métlaoui. PhD Thesis, PhD Thesis, University El Manar, Tunis
Ounis A, Kocsis L, Chaabani F, Pfeifer H-R (2008) Rare earth elements and stable isotope geochemistry (δ13C and δ18O) of phosphorite deposits in the Gafsa Basin, Tunisia. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 268:1–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.07.005
Pin C, Briot D, Bassin C, Poitrasson F (1994) Concomitant separation of strontium and samarium-neodymium for isotopic analysis in silicate samples, based on specific extraction chromatography. Anal Chim Acta 298:209–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/0003-2670(94)00274-6
Sassi S (1974) La sedimentation phosphatee au Paleocene dans le sud et le centre Ouest de la Tunisie. These de Doct d’etat es Sci, Univ de Paris Sud
Sassi S, Horchani-Naifer K, Fattah N, Ferid M (2019) Stratigraphic and mineralogical study of Chouabine formation in the Meknassy Basin (Central Tunisia). In: Doronzo DM, Schingaro E, Armstrong-Altrin JS, Zoheir B (eds) Petrogenesis and exploration of the earth’s interior. Springer, Cham, pp 153–156
Scheibner C, Speijer RP (2008) Late Paleocene–early Eocene tethyan carbonate platform evolution — a response to long- and short-term paleoclimatic change. Earth Sci Rev 90:71–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2008.07.002
Sheldon RP (1987) Association of phosphorites, organic-rich shales, chert and carbonate rocks. Carbonates Evaporites 2:7–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03174301
Shields G, Stille P, Brasier M (2000) Isotopic records across two phosphorite giant episodes compared: the Precambrian-Cambrian and the late Cretaceous-recent. In: Glenn C, Lucas J, Prévot-Lucas L (eds) Marine authigenesis: from global to microbial. SEPM, pp 103–115
Soudry D, Glenn CR, Nathan Y et al (2006) Evolution of Tethyan phosphogenesis along the northern edges of the Arabian-African shield during the Cretaceous-Eocene as deduced from temporal variations of Ca and Nd isotopes and rates of P accumulation. Earth Sci Rev 78:27–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2006.03.005
Stanley SM (1970) Relation of shell form to life habits of the Bivalvia (Mollusca). Geological Society of America, pp 1–282
Stanley GD, Fagerstrom JA (1988) Ancient reef ecosystems; an introduction to the volume. Palaios 3:110. https://doi.org/10.2307/3514524
Stille P, Steinmann M, Riggs SR (1996) Nd isotope evidence for the evolution of the paleocurrents in the Atlantic and Tethys Oceans during the past 180 Ma. Earth Planet Sci Lett 144:9–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-821X(96)00157-4
Stow DAV (2012) Vanished ocean: how Tethys reshaped the world. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Tanaka T, Togashi S, Kamioka H et al (2000) JNdi-1: a neodymium isotopic reference in consistency with LaJolla neodymium. Chem Geol 168:279–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0009-2541(00)00198-4
Thomas P (1885) Thomas: Sur la découverte de gisements de phosphate... - Google Scholar. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Sur%20la%20d%C3%A9couverte%20de%20gisements%20de%20phosphate%20du%20chaux%20dans%20le%20sud%20de%20la%20Tunisie&author=P.%20Thomas&publication_year=1885. Accessed 16 Apr 2023
Thomas DJ, Bralower TJ, Jones CE (2003) Neodymium isotopic reconstruction of late Paleocene–early Eocene thermohaline circulation. Earth Planet Sci Lett 209:309–322. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0012-821X(03)00096-7
Vennemann TW, Hegner E (1998) Oxygen, strontium, and neodymium isotope composition of fossil shark teeth as a proxy for the palaeoceanography and palaeoclimatology of the Miocene northern Alpine Paratethys. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 142:107–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-0182(98)00062-5
Vennemann TW, Fricke HC, Blake RE et al (2002) Oxygen isotope analysis of phosphates: a comparison of techniques for analysis of Ag3PO4. Chem Geol 185:321–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0009-2541(01)00413-2
Vroon PZ, van der Wagt B, Koornneef JM, Davies GR (2008) Problems in obtaining precise and accurate Sr isotope analysis from geological materials using laser ablation MC-ICPMS. Anal Bioanal Chem 390:465–476. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-007-1742-9
White WM (2015) Isotope geochemistry. Wiley
Wood R (1999) Reef evolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York
Yao W, Paytan A, Wortmann UG (2018) Large-scale ocean deoxygenation during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum. Science 361:804–806. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aar8658
Zaïer A (1998) Zaïer: basin evolution and deposition during the... - Google Scholar. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Basin%20evolution%20and%20deposition%20during%20the%20early%20Paleocene%20in%20Tunisia&author=A.%20Za%C3%AFer&publication_year=1998&pages=375-393. Accessed 16 Apr 2023
Zaïer A (1999) Zaïer: evolution tecto-sédimentaire du bassin phosphat... - Google Scholar. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Evolution%20tectono-s%C3%A9dimentaire%20du%20bassin%20phosphate%20du%20centre-ouest%20de%20la%20Tunisie%20min%C3%A9ralogie%2C%20p%C3%A9trographie%2C%20g%C3%A9ochimie%20et%20gen%C3%A8se%20des%20phosphorites&author=A.%20Za%C3%AFer&publication_year=1999. Accessed 16 Apr 2023
Zhao X, Fu L, Wei J et al (2019) Late Permian back-arc extension of the eastern Paleo-Tethys ocean: evidence from the east Kunlun Orogen, Northern Tibetan Plateau. Lithos 340–341:34–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2019.05.006
Acknowledgements
The authors are gratefully acknowledging all the support received from the “Compagnie des Phosphates de Gafsa”, Tunisia, especially Nadhmi Khadher for his help during fieldwork. We thank Michèle Senn for her assistance with chemical analyses. Isotopic analyses were generously funded by the « Section des Sciences de la Terre et de l’Environnement, Université de Genève ». Constructive comments by the reviewers are very much appreciated.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors whose names are listed below confirm that they have NO affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Sassi, S., Ounis, A., Horchani-Naifer, K. et al. New Sr and Nd isotope data from phosphorites of the Maknassy-Mezzouna basin (Tunisia) and their geochronological and paleo-oceanographical implications. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 112, 1599–1612 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-023-02316-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-023-02316-3