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Palaeozoic cold seep carbonates from Europe and North Africa—an integrated isotopic and geochemical approach

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Abstract

In this paper, we report the highest and lowest carbon isotope values known from Palaeozoic carbonate rocks. These unusual δ13C values (−50 to +23.5‰) are due to microbial methanogenesis and methanotrophy in Silurian to Carboniferous carbonates. Trace elements were used to decipher the primary mineralogy of the carbonate cements. Very high Sr values and low amounts of Mg, Fe and Mn point toward aragonite precursors, whereas high Fe and Mn values are indicative of primary calcites and allow reconstruction of the redox conditions. Four carbonate deposits are described from the Meseta and the Antiatlas of Morocco, the Pyrenees (France) and the Harz mountains (Germany). The highest δ13C values in concretion below the uppermost Silurian Spinatrypa Mound (Moroccan Meseta) give evidence, that CO2 was produced during methanogenesis. δ13C values between −10 and −32‰indicate that the formation of microbial carbonates and cements in the Middle Devonian Hollard Mound (Antiatlas) and in the Lower Carboniferous sediments of the Iberg (Harz) formed at thermogenetic methane or petroleum seeps. The Late Bashkirian carbonate mound of the High Pyrenees (Tantes Mound) is the first Palaeozoic carbonate with seepage fluids being dominated by biogenic methane. Matrix carbonates exhibit δ13C values as low as −34‰. In some parts, voids make up more than 50 vol% of the mound. They are filled with several generations of cement. The earliest void filling is isopachous fibrous cement, which represents former aragonite. Most negative δ13C values of −50‰were measured in these isopachous fibrous cements. The difference of 55‰in δ13C values between normal sediments and early aragonite cements can only be explained by the contribution of CO2 from anaerobic oxidation of biogenic methane in a cold seep setting.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is dedicated to the memory of Erik Flügel. At first, he was teacher and than colleague of the senior author. We had some great time together in the field, starting in former Yugoslavia and then Turkey, continuing in the Permian of the Southern Alps and later in the Hamar Laghdad area, where we examined the Lower Devonian mud mounds. The Middle Devonian Hollard Mound described in this paper was reserved at that time to the research group of Walliser (Göttingen), who introduced us to the geology of this region. Erik Flügel also taught the junior author, and we are both very much obliged to him for his advises and his generosity, even if we asked stupid questions. As the senior author, I have to admit, that (after the sudden death of Wolfgang Krebs 1981) I lost my best mental father and friend. I am grateful to colleagues of the ECOS VIII team (France), who introduced me to the geology of the Pyrenees. We thank M. Joachimski (Erlangen) for help with isotope analyses (he also mapped the Hamar Laghdad during his Diploma thesis under the guidance of Erik Flügel and the senior author). We are pleased to thank J. Peckmann (Bremen) for his valuable comments, which improved our article significantly. This study was financially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Project Bu 312/35)

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  1. Institut für Geologie und Mineralogie, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schlossgarten 5, D-91054, Erlangen, Germany

    Werner Buggisch & Stefan Krumm

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Correspondence to Werner Buggisch.

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Buggisch, W., Krumm, S. Palaeozoic cold seep carbonates from Europe and North Africa—an integrated isotopic and geochemical approach. Facies 51, 566–583 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-005-0005-5

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