ALBERT

Notes: Recent (〈50 years old) freshwater cyanobacterial carbonates from diverse environments (streams, lakes, waterfalls) throughout Britain and Ireland were analysed for their stable carbon and oxygen isotope compositions. The mean δ18O value of −5–9‰ PDB for river and stream data represents calcite precipitation in equilibrium with the mean oxygen isotopic composition of precipitation in central Britain (−7–5‰SMOW) assuming a mean water temperature of 9°C. The mean δ18O of lake data, −4–5‰ PDB, is statistically different, reflecting the effects of residence time and/or variations in the oxygen isotopic composition of rainfall. Carbon isotopes have wide variations in both fluviatile and lake data sets (+ 3 to −12‰ PDB). These variations are principally controlled in the fluviatile samples by contribution of isotopically light ‘soil zone’ carbon relative to isotopically heavier carbon from limestone aquifer rock dissolution. Lake samples have the heaviest carbon isotope values, reflecting a trend toward isotopic equilibrium between atmospheric CO2 and aqueous HCO−3.We infer that isotopic compositions of ancient cyanobacterial carbonates should also record environmental information, although the effects of stabilization and diagenesis on primary δ18O values will need careful consideration. Primary carbon isotope compositions should be well preserved, although in marine samples values will be buffered by the isotopic composition of aqueous marine bicarbonate.

Notes: Detailed information on semi-arid, palustrine carbonate–calcrete lithofacies associations in a sheetwash-dominated regolith setting is sparse. This is addressed by studying the Lower Limestone of the Lameta Beds, a well-exposed Maastrichtian regolith in central India. The general vertical lithofacies assemblage for this unit comprises: (a) basal calcareous siltstones and marls with charophytes, ostracods and gastropods; (b) buff micritic limestones associated in their upper parts with calcretized fissure-fill sandstones; (c) sheetwash as fissure-fill diamictites and thin pebbly sheets, locally developed over a few metres; and (d) sandy, nodular, brecciated and pisolitic calcretes at the top. The sequence is ‘regressive’, with upsection filling of topographic lows by increased sheetwash. Lateral lithofacies change is marked, but there are no permanent open-water lake deposits. In topographic lows close to the water table, marshy palustrine or groundwater calcretes formed, whereas on better drained highs, brecciation and calcretization occurred. Prolonged exposure is implied, suggesting that shrinkage was the main cause of brecciation. Evidence for rhizobrecciation and other biological calcrete fabrics is sparse, contrasting with the emphasis on root-related brecciation in many studies of palustrine lithofacies. Stable isotope (δ18O and δ13C) values are consistent with the palustrine limestones being fed from meteoric-derived groundwater with a strong input of soil-zone carbon. There is overlap of both δ18O and δ13C values from the various palustrine and calcrete fabrics co-occurring at outcrop. This suggests that, in groundwater-supported wetlands, conversion from palustrine carbonate to calcrete need not show isotopic expression, as the groundwater source and input of soil-zone carbon are essentially unchanged. Cretaceous–Tertiary δ18O and δ13C values from palustrine lithofacies and associated calcretes appear to be strongly influenced by the inherited values from lakes and wetlands. Hydrologically closed lakes and marine-influenced water bodies tend to result in low negative palustrine δ18O and δ13C values. During brecciation and calcretization, the degree of isotopic inheritance depends on whether or not alteration occurs in waters that are different from those of the original water body or wetland. Marked biological activity (e.g. rhizobrecciation or root mat development) during calcretization may lower δ13C values where C3 plants are abundant but, in shrinkage-dominated systems, δ13C values will be largely inherited from the palustrine limestones.