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Cold-seep-driven carbonate deposits at the Central American forearc: contrasting evolution and timing in escarpment and mound settings

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Abstract

Continuous surface cores of cold-seep carbonates were recovered offshore Pacific Nicaragua and Costa Rica from 800 to 1,500-m water depths (Meteor 66/3) in order to decipher their evolution and methane enriched fluid emanation in contrasting geological settings. Cores from the mounds Iguana, Perezoso, Baula V and from the Jaco Scarp escarpment were used for a multi-method approach. For both settings aragonite was revealed as dominant authigenic carbonate phase in vein fillings and matrix cementation, followed by Mg-calcite as second most abundant. This common precipitation process of CaCO3 polymorphs could be ascribed as indirectly driven by chemical changes of the advecting pore water due to anaerobic oxidation of methane. A more direct influence of seep-related microbial activity on the authigenic mineral assemblage in both settings is probably reflected by the observed minor amounts of dolomite and a dolomite-like CaMg carbonate (MgCO3 ~ 42 %). δ13C data of Jaco Scarp samples are significantly lower (−43 to −56 ‰ PDB) than for mound samples (−22 to −36 ‰ PDB), indicating differences in fluid composition and origin. Noteworthy, δ18O values of Scarp samples correlate most closely with the ocean signature at their time of formation. Documenting the archive potential, a high resolution case study of a mound core implies at least 40 changes in fluid supply within a time interval of approximately 14 ky. As most striking difference, the age data indicate a late-stage downward-progressing cementation front for all three mound cap structures (approx. 2–5 cm/ky), but a significantly faster upward carbonate buildup in the bulging sediments on top of the scarp environment (approx. 120 cm/ky). The latter data set leads to the hypothesis of chemoherm carbonate emplacement in accord with reported sedimentation rates until decompression of the advective fluid system, probably caused by the Jaco Scarp landslide and dating this to approximately 13,000 years ago.

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Acknowledgments

This publication is contribution no. 205 of the Sonderforschungsbereich 574 “Volatiles and Fluids in Subduction Zones” at Kiel University, which was supported as part of the SFB574 by grants from the German Science Foundation (DFG). We thank all members of the shipboard parties during cruise M66/3, the captain, crew and shipboard scientific party of the Meteor cruise M66/3, and the BGS Rockdrill I team. The authors gratefully acknowledge Michael Joachimski (Geozentrum Erlangen) for oxygen and carbon isotope analyses; Reinhard Kleeberg (TU Bergakademie Freiberg) for XRD analyses; Ulrike Westernströer and Benedikt Lerch (Institute of Geosciences, Kiel) for their help and assistance with the XRF core scanner. At Geomar Jan Fietzke is especially acknowledged for providing the Axiom MC-ICP-MS facility on high performance level; Jutta Heinze for XRD support; Mario Thöner for assistance with microprobe measurements; Andrea Gärtner for assistance with fluorescence microscopy; and Patrick Reichert for sample preparation support. We thank David Völker and two anonymous reviewers for improving the manuscript by constructive comments and helpful suggestions.

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  1. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Wischhofstr. 1-3, 24148, Kiel, Germany

    V. Liebetrau, N. Augustin, S. Kutterolf, M. Schmidt, A. Eisenhauer & W. Weinrebe

  2. Institute of Geosciences, University of Kiel, Ludewig-Meyn-Straße 10, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    D. Garbe-Schönberg

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  1. V. Liebetrau
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Correspondence to V. Liebetrau.

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V. Liebetrau and N. Augustin have contributed equally in this work.

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Liebetrau, V., Augustin, N., Kutterolf, S. et al. Cold-seep-driven carbonate deposits at the Central American forearc: contrasting evolution and timing in escarpment and mound settings. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 103, 1845–1872 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-014-1045-2

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