A paleoenvironment is simply an environment that has been preserved in the rock record at some time in the past. Identifying a particular paleoenvironment from the data available in the sediments is not so simple. Determining the geochemical parameters associated with the environment can be very difficult largely due to diagenesis. Unique and complex conditions during deposition of the paleoenvironment may also contribute to the difficulty of deciphering the significance and meaning of the geochemical signatures in the rock record.
Paleoenvironments that are commonly studied from a geochemical perspective include a wide variety of marine and freshwater systems. Of particular interest in marine systems are silled basins, lagoons, carbonate shelves, banks and reefs, and deltas (Riediger and Bloch, 1995; Beier and Hayes, 1989; Grammer et al., 1993; Wallace et al., 1991). In freshwater systems, paleolacustrine deposits provide a wide range of geochemical studies due not only to the wide...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Beier, J.A. and Hayes, J.M. (1989) Geochemical and isotopic evidence for paleoredox conditions during deposition of the Devonian-Mississippian New Albany Shale, southern Indiana. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 101, 774–82.
Broecker, W.S. (1985) How to Build a Habitable Planet. New York: Eldigio Press, 291 pp.
Buchheim, H.P. (1994) Eocene Fossil Lake, Green River Formation, Wyoming: A history of fluctuating salinity. Soc. Sediment. Geol. Sp. Publ., 50, pp. 239–48.
Burns, S.J. and Matter, S. (1995) Geochemistry of carbonate cements in surficial alluvial conglomerates and their paleoclimatic implications, Sultanate of Oman. J. Sediment. Res., A65, 170–7.
Dorn, R.I. and Dickinson, W.R. (1989) First paleoenvironmental interpretation of a pre-Quaternary rock-varnish site, Davidson Canyon, southern Arizona. Geology, 17, 1029–31.
Foos, A.M. (1991) Aluminous lateritic soils, Eleuthera, Bahamas: A modern analog to carbonate paleosols. J. Sediment. Petrol., 61, 340–8.
Girty, G.H., Hanson, A.D., Knaack, C. and Johnson, D. (1994) Provenance determined by REE, Th and Sc analyses of metasedimentary rocks, Boyden Cave roof pendant, central Sierra Nevada, California. J. Sediment. Res., B64, 68–73.
Goldstein, R.H. (1990) Petrographic and geochemical evidence for origin of paleospeleothems, New Mexico: Implications for the application of fluid inclusions to studies of diagenesis. J. Sediment. Petrol., 60, 282–92.
Grammer, G.M., Ginsburg, R.N., Swart, P.K. et al. (1993) Rapid growth rates of syndepositional marine aragonite cements in steep marginal slope deposits, Bahamas and Belize. J. Sediment. Petrol., 63, 983–9.
Gromet, L.P., Dymek, R.F., Haskin, L.A. and Korotev, R.L. (1984) The ‘North American shale composite’: Its compilation, major and trace element characteristics. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 48, 2469–82.
Heller, P.L., Renne, P.R. and O'Neil, J.R. (1992) River mixing rate, residence time, and subsidence rates from isotopic indicators: Eocene sandstones of the US Pacific Northwest. Geology, 20, 1095–8.
Jannik, N.O., Phillips, F.M., Smith, G.I. and Elmore, D. (1991) A 36Cl chronology of lacustrine sedimentation in the Pleistocene Owens River system. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 103, 1146–59.
Kraus, M.J. and Aslan, S. (1993) Eocene hydromorphic paleosols: significance for interpreting ancient floodplain processes. J. Sediment. Petrol., 63, 453–63.
Maliva, R.G., Dickson, J.A.D., Smalley, P.C. and Oxtoby, N.H. (1995) Diagenesis of the Machar Field (British North Sea) chalk: Evidence for decoupling of diagenesis in fractures and the host rock. J. Sediment. Res., A65, 105–11.
Park, C.F. Jr. and MacDiarmid, R.A. (1975) Ore Deposits. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company, pp. 391–455.
Pratt, L.M., Comer, J.B. and Brassell, S.C. (1992) Geochemistry of Organic Matter in Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks: SEPM Short Course 27. Tulsa: Society for Sedimentary Geology, 100 pp.
Riediger, C.L. and Bloch, J.D. (1995) Depositional and diagenetic controls on source-rock characteristics of the Lower Jurassic ‘Nordegg Member’, western Canada. J. Sediment. Res., A65, 112–26.
Wallace, M.W., Kerans, C., Playford, P.E. and McManus, S. (1991) Burial diagenesis in the upper Devonian reef complexes of the Geikie Gorge region, Canning Basin, western Australia. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., 75, 1018–38.
Wedepohl, K.H. (1995) The composition of the continental crust. Geochem. Cosmochim. Acta, 59, 1217–32.
Cross-references
Carbon cycle; Carbonate sediments; Diagenesis; Earth's ocean geochemistry; Elements: trace; Geochemistry of sediments; Hydrologic cycle; Isotope fractionation; Natural resources; Nitrogen cycle; Occurrence of organic facies; Organics: contemporary degradation and preservation; Organics: sources and depositional environments; Paleotemperatures; Petroleum; Petroleum: in-reservoir biodegradation; Stable isotopes; Sulfur cycle
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this entry
Cite this entry
Kennedy, M.E. (1998). Paleoenvironments. In: Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_236
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_236
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-412-75500-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4496-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive