The term sapropel is used in a generic sense to describe fine-grained and unconsolidated sediments rich in organic matter that have been deposited under water; in coal petrology, sapropelic coals are those that formed from algal material deposited in aquatic environments. The term sapropel is also often used as a generic term for distinct dark-colored, organic carbon-enriched sediment layers that are found in organic-carbon-poor host sediments. In the Holocene sediment record of several silled basins (e.g., the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the Marmara Sea) an organic carbon-enriched sediment layer – often termed sapropel – marks the change in depositional environment and in biological production coincident with the post-glacial transgression.
In a stricter sense, the term stands for a sedimentary feature of the Mediterranean (and Red) Sea with specific connotations regarding the origin: sediment cores and land exposures from the Mediterranean Sea contain rhythmic series of sapropel...
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Emeis, KC. (2009). Sapropels. In: Gornitz, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4411-3_204
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