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Geochemical history of a Lower Miocene lake, the Cypris Formation, Sokolov Basin, Czech Republic

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Abstract

The intracontinental Lower Miocene Cypris paleo-lake originated during progressive subsidence in the Sokolov Basin, part of the Cenozoic Ohře Rift, after the deposition of coal seams. The Cypris Fm. consists almost entirely of lacustrine clays with variable mineral composition and organic matter, where this succession is 70–120 m thick. The main objective of this study was to interpret the geochemical history of the Lower Miocene Cypris Fm. using high-resolution, down-core geochemical records and study of the organic matter. This work revealed that the lower part of the lacustrine sediment sequence was deposited in a freshwater lake, in an open hydrological system. An increase in the K/Zr and K/Ti ratios towards the upper part of the Cypris Fm. indicates a gradual increase in the pelitic fraction of the local sediments and/or a decline in input of volcanic material. Simultaneously, increasing Ca/K and Sr/K ratios indicate the precipitation of carbonates, predominantly dolomite and siderite. In the upper part of the Cypris Fm., there is a significant increase in Na/K, Na/Zr, and Na/Ti ratios, suggesting increasing salinity (alkalinity) of the paleoenvironment in a closed hydrological system. Reaction between the Na-rich water and clastic components of the sediment in an alkaline medium gave rise to the formation of zeolites, mixed-layer clay minerals and smectite. Abundant remains of aquatic organisms, especially algae, increased with greater salinity in the upper part of the Cypris Fm. This is reflected in the greater hydrogen index (HIRock Eval), and the growing proportion of liptinite group macerals of aquatic origin in the bulk organic matter. During the entire history of sedimentation in the Miocene lake, repetitive changes in the sediment geochemistry occurred at both micro- and macroscales, and fluctuations of K/Ti, K/Zr, and Sr/Ca ratios over meters to tens of meters are observed. These changes probably reflect either long-term climate fluctuations during the Lower Miocene or oscillations caused by changes in the rate of subsidence of the basin floor. Variations in the elemental composition of sediments can be used to correlate individual boreholes across the entire sedimentary basin.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Grants 205/09/1162 and 206/09/1642 from the Czech Science Foundation and an Internal Grant of the Czech Geological Survey No. 321 410). We thank Dr. Juraj Franců (Czech geological Survey, branch Brno) for performing the Rock Eval, TOC and TIC analyses. We are indebted to Jiří Adamovič and Madeleine Štulíkova for corrections to the English. The technical support provided by the Sokolovská uhelná, Ltd. mining company is highly appreciated. We appreciate the very valuable comments and suggestions of an anonymous reviewer and Co-Editor in Chief Mark Brenner.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Czech Geological Survey, Klárov 3, 118 21, Prague 1, Czechia

    Bohdan Kříbek & Ilja Knésl

  2. Sokolovská uhelná, Ltd., Staré náměstí 69, 35 601, Sokolov, Czechia

    Petr Rojík

  3. Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics, Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, V Holešovičkách 41, 182 09, Prague 8, Czechia

    Ivana Sýkorová

  4. Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 43, Prague 2, Czechia

    Karel Martínek

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  1. Bohdan Kříbek
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Correspondence to Bohdan Kříbek.

Electronic supplementary material

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10933_2017_9970_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Fig. S1 Comparison of Zr and As concentrations in rocks penetrated by borehole Dp 333-09 using a portable X-ray fluorescence-apparatus (PXRF), and by the ICP-MS method carried out in the ACME Chemical Laboratories, Canada (PDF 134 kb)

10933_2017_9970_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

Fig. S2 Photomicrographs of major types of the Cypris Fm. claystones; a massive claystone without apparent lamination with black clasts of organic matter of the coal type. The lower part of the Cypris Fm; b Massive texture of a claystone with high content of disseminated carbonate grains represented mostly by ankerite and siderite. The lower part of the Cypris Fm; c A laminated Cypris Fm. claystone, the upper part of the Cypris Fm. Lamination is a result of alternating dark brown layers formed mainly of clay minerals and quartz, light brown layers consisting of organic matter of algal type. Transmitted light, without polarizers (PDF 174 kb)

10933_2017_9970_MOESM3_ESM.pdf

Fig. S3 Photomicrographs of claystones of Cypris Fm. (back scattered electrons, BSE); a Continuous laminae of organic matter (dark gray) in claystones from the upper part of the Cypris Fm.; b A close-up of a lamina rich in organic matter with remnants of calcified algal filaments (white); c Clastic grain of K-feldspar (orthoclase) lined with darker water-rich phase low in potassium (PDF 123 kb)

10933_2017_9970_MOESM4_ESM.pdf

Fig. S4 A photomicrograph of the Cypris Fm. claystone very rich in analcime. The rock is composed of a clay matrix, which encloses numerous authigenic grains of analcime, smaller clastic grains of potassium feldspars, carbonates (ankerite-siderite), fragments of detrital mica, and pyritized plant tissues. The upper part of the Cypris Fm. Back scattered electrons; b-h Distribution of the individual elements. Interpretation of the results is shown in Fig. 3 (PDF 214 kb)

10933_2017_9970_MOESM5_ESM.pdf

Fig. S5 Photomicrographs of organic matter particles in the Cypris Fm. claystones. Drillcore Dp 333-09; a Fragment of humified and partly gellified wood cell tissue including huminite macerals: textinite (Te), ulminite (Ul), corpohuminite (Ch). Depth: 57.18 m; b Resinite particles (Re) fill cell volumes in a tissue remnant. Organic carbon-poor sample, depth: 69.66 m; c Fragments of lamalginite (La) and telaginite (Ta) with small particles of bituminite (Bi) and liptodetrinite (Ld) dispersed in clay matrix. Depth: 48.46 m; d Organic carbon-rich laminae composed of dark lamalginite (La) and lamelar bituminite (Lb) in clay matrix. Depth: 35.98 m; e Organic carbon-rich position of the Cypris Formation claystone composed of lamalginite laminae (bright yellow, La) in the lamalginite and bituminite groundmass (Lb) with scattered inertinite fragments (black) and fine-grained quartz grains (Q). Depth: 35.46 m; f Framboidal and crystalline pyrite (Py) in yellow fluorescent telalginite (Al) dispersed in mineral matrix. Depth: 73.56 m; a, b, c, d reflected light, oil immersion; c, e, f fluorescence mode, dry objective (PDF 137 kb)

10933_2017_9970_MOESM6_ESM.pdf

Fig. S6 Boreholes Dp 333-09 and Jp 585-09 and the Rb/K, Mn/Fe ratios and As concentrations in both boreholes. The contents of As reflect pyrite occurrence (PDF 121 kb)

10933_2017_9970_MOESM7_ESM.pdf

Fig. S7 Repetition of thinly laminated, organic carbon-rich positions of claystones (yellow) with layers of carbonate-rich claystones (gray) in the upper part of the Cypris Fm. Organic carbon-rich claystone positions contain 8–9 wt% of organic matter of algal origin (kerogen Type I), the bedding surfaces are covered with fragments of quartz, mica and detrital quartz, presumably of eolian origin. Layers of carbonate as much as 30 cm thick show distinct lamination, and indicate either warmer climatic periods or periods of increased salinity/alkalinity, when lake water was oversaturated with CaCO3 (PDF 187 kb)

10933_2017_9970_MOESM8_ESM.pdf

Table S1 Matrix of Spearman’s correlation coefficients for sediments of the Cypris Formation. Upper triangle, PXRF data, number of samples: 1635 (PDF 23 kb)

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Kříbek, B., Knésl, I., Rojík, P. et al. Geochemical history of a Lower Miocene lake, the Cypris Formation, Sokolov Basin, Czech Republic. J Paleolimnol 58, 169–190 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-017-9970-2

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