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Recent sapropel formation in the eastern Mediterranean

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Abstract

During the 1983 expedition of the RV Tyro in the eastern Mediterranean, a combined programme of seismological, micropalaeontological and geochemical research was performed. The geochemical research focused mainly on the interstitial water and the chemical composition and origin of sapropels. For this purpose box-cores, piston-cores and bottom-water samples were collected. We report here that some of these cores showed clear evidence of long-term stagnant bottom-water conditions in a small basin south of Crete (for which we propose the name Tyro Basin)1. The bottom water is strongly anoxic, whereas the sediment down to at least 400 cm is sapropel to sapropelic. As salt concentrations in the bottom water are eight times higher than in normal seawater, the anoxic conditions in this basin are probably due indirectly to dissolution of salt from a nearby diapir.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geochemistry, Institute of Earth Sciences, State University of Utrecht, Budapestlaan 4, Utrecht, 3584 CD, The Netherlands

    G. J. de Lange & H. L. ten Haven

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  1. G. J. de Lange
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  2. H. L. ten Haven
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de Lange, G., ten Haven, H. Recent sapropel formation in the eastern Mediterranean. Nature 305, 797–798 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/305797a0

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