Abstract
Sr/Ca ratios in modern brachiopod shells reflect variations in ambient seawater, whereas their Na contents show no relationship with water depth or habitat. Their Mn and Fe contents are controlled, in part, by leaching of these elements from oxide coatings or the low input/sedimentation rate of detrital material into depositional areas such as Quatsino Sound.
For most Carboniferous brachiopods from North America, the Mn and Fe contents are similar to those recorded by their Recent counterparts. The high Mn and Fe contents in the brachiopods from shales suggest several possibilities for these levels. One possibility is the leaching of Mn and Fe from oxide coatings/matrix which was not completely removed in the cleaning process, or the high levels in part reflect unusual depositional conditions (some degree of anoxia) for the local shaly environments.
The Sr/Ca ratio of brachiopods and, by inference, complementary seawater, did not vary significantly during the Carboniferous. The Sr/Ca minimum observed in brachiopods of Mississippian age coincides with a dip in the 87Sr/86Sr curve and correlates with the Hercynian orogeny. This is attributed to the cycling of seawater through mid-ocean ridge basalts, and postulated exchange reactions account for variation in the composition of seawater-Ca. The unidirectional trend of heavier δ13C values from the Devonian to the Permian is intricately coupled with the evolution of the terrestrial biomass. In addition to expansion of terrestrial plants, burial of reduced carbon in the form of coal (organic matter) contributed to the observed shift. The start of the Permo-Pennsylvanian glaciation is marked by a negative excursion of the secular carbon trend, which is linked to weathering of reduced carbon and its return to the oceanic reservoir with its oxidized carbon. The oxygen isotope values reflect the unidirectional trend towards higher values of the carbon data with decreasing geologic age. Negative excursions of the trend may be related to extensive weathering of terrestrial and submarine rocks, whereas positive excursions may be related to hydrothermal alteration of submarine rocks and dehydration of oceanic crust during times of active sea-floor spreading. Oxygen-calculated water temperatures of unaltered brachiopod material are unrealistically high for all of the Devonian, and the Chesterian-Meramecian, Desmoinesian-Missourian, and Artinskian Epochs. During these times maximum water temperatures of 42° to 56°C are well above the thermal threshold of protein denaturation. This process, which is lethal to most higher organisms, demands an adjustment in oxygen of -2.5%. for samples older than Missourian, and of -1.250%. for samples spanning the Missourian-Artinskian interval. With these adjustments and salinity considerations made prior to calculations, water temperatures become reasonable for the Late Paleozoic epeiric, tropical seas of North America.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Al-Aasm IS & Veizer J (1982) Chemical stabilization of low-Mg calcite: an example of brachiopods. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 52: 1101–1109
Baker PA, Gieskes JM & Elderfield H (1982) Diagenesis of carbonates in deep sea sediments-evidence from Sr/Ca ratios and interstial Sr data. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 52: 71–82
Bamber EW, Macqueen RW & Ollerenshaw NC (1981) Mississippian stratigraphy and sedimentology, Canyon Creek (Moose Mountain), Alberta. Geological Association of Canada Field Guides 7: 177–194
Bathurst RGC (1975) Carbonate Rocks and their Diagenesis. Elsevier
Berner RA (1984) Sedimentary pyrite formation: an update. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 48: 605–615
Berner RA & Raiswell R (1983) Burial of organic carbon and pyrite sulfur in sediments over Phanerozoic time: a new theory. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 47: 855–862
Brand U (1981) Mineralogy and chemistry of the lower Pennsylvanian Kendrick fauna, eastern Kentucky — 1: trace elements. Chemical Geology 32: 1–16
Brand U (1982) The oxygen and carbon isotope composition of Carboniferous fossil components: sea water effects. Sedimentology 29: 139–147
Brand U (1983) Mineralogy and chemistry of the lower Pennsylvanian Kendrick fauna, eastern Kentucky, USA, Chemical Geology 40: 167–181
Brand U (1987b) Depositional analysis of the Breathitt Formation's marine horizons, Kentucky: trace elements and stable isotopes. Isotope Geoscience 65: 117–136
Brand U (1987b) Biogeochemistry of nautiloids and paleoenvironmental conditions of Buckhorn seawater (Pennsylvanian), southern Oklahoma. Palaeoecology, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeogeography 61: 255–264
Brand U & Morrison JO (1987) Paleoscence No 6. Biogeochemistry of fossil marine invertebrates. Geoscience Canada 14: 85–107
Brand U & Veizer J (1980) Chemical diagenesis of a multicomponent carbonate system — 1: trace elements. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 50: 1219–1236
Brand U & Veizer J (1981) Chemical diagenesis of a multicomponent carbonate system — 2: stable isotopes. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 51: 987–997
Brew DC & Beus SS (1976) A Middle Pennsylvanian fauna from the Naco Formation near Kohl Ranch, central Arizona. Journal of Paleontology 50: 888–906
Brock TD (1985) Life at high temperature Science 230: 132–138
Broecker WS (1982) Ocean chemistry during glacial time. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 46: 1689–1705
Burke WH, Denison RE, Heatherington EA, Koepnick RB, Nelson HF & Oto JB (1982) Variation of seawater 87Sr/86Sr throughout Phanerozoic time. Geology 10: 516–519
Claypool GE, Holser WT, Kaplan IR, Sakai H & Zak I (1980) The age curves of sulfur and oxygen isotopes in marine sulfate and their mutual interpretation. Chemical Geology 28: 199–260
Craig H (1957) Isotopic standards for carbon and oxygen and correction factors for mass spectrometric analysis of carbon dioxide. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 12: 133–149
Dennis AMN & Lawrence DR (1979) Macro-fauna and fossil preservation in the magoffin marine zone, Pennsylvanian Breathitt Formation of eastern Kentucky. Southeastern Geology 20: 181–190
Dott RH & Batten RL (1976) Evolution of the Earth. McGraw-Hill Book Company
Elderfield H, Gieskes JM, Baker PA, Oldfield RK, Hawkesworth CJ & Miller R (1982) 87Sr/86Sr and 180/160 ratios, interstitial water chemistry and diagenesis in deep-sea carbonate sediments of the Ontong Java Plateau. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 46: 2259–2267
Epstein S, Buchsbaum R, Lowenstam HA & Urey HC (1953) Revised carbonate-water isotopic temperature scale. Geological Society of America Bulletin 64: 1315–1325
Fairchild IJ (1983) Chemical controls of cathodoluminescence of natural dolomites and calcites: new data and review. Sedimentology 30: 579–583
Frakes LA (1981) Late Paleoclimatology. In: McElhinny MW & Valencio DA (Eds.) Paleoreconstruction of the Continents. Geodynamics Series 2: 39–44
Frank JR, Carpenter AB & Oglesby TW (1982) Cathodoluminescence and composition of calcite cement in the Taum Sauk Limestone (Upper Cambrian), southeast Missouri. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 52: 631–638
Garrels RM & Lerman A (1981) Phanerozoic cycles of sedimentary sulfur and carbon. Proceedings of National Academy of Science 78: 4652–4656
Garrels RM & Lerman A (1984) Coupling of sedimentary sulfur and carbon cycles — an improved model. American Journal of Science 284: 989–1007
Gregory RT & Taylor HP (1981) An oxygen isotope profile in a section of Cretaceous ocean crust, Samoil ophiolite, Oman: evidence for 180 buffering of the oceans by deep (⩾ 5 km) seawater hydrothermal circulation at midocean ridges. Journal of Geophysical Research 86: 2737–2755
Harland WB, Cox AV, Llewellyn PG, Picton CAG, Smith AG and Walters R (1982) A Geologic Time Scale. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 131 pp
Harris SE & Parker MC (1964) Stratigraphy of the Osage series in southeastern Iowa. Iowa Geological Survey Report of Investigations 1: 52
Herman Y (1981) Causes of massive biotic extinctions and explosive evolutionary diversification throughout Phanerozoic time. Geology 9: 101–108
Holland HD (1978) The chemistry of the atmosphere and oceans. Wiley-Interscience
Holland HD (1984) The chemical evolution of the atmosphere and oceans. Princeton Press
Holser WT (1984) Gradual and abrupt shifts in ocean chemistry during Phanerozoic time. In: Holland HD & Trendall AF (Eds.)Patterns of Change in Earth Evolution, pp 123–143, Springer-Verlag
Jillson WR (1919) The Kendrick shale — a new calcareous fossil horizon in the coal measures of eastern Kentucky. Mineral and Forestry Resources of Kentucky 1: 96–104
Johnson JH (1951) An introduction to the study of organic limestones. Quarterly Colorado School of Mines 46: 1–85
Karhu J & Epstein S (1986) The implications of the oxygen isotope records in coexisting cherts and phosphates. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 50: 1745–1756
Knauth PA & Epstein S (1976) Hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios in nodular and bedded cherts. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 40: 1095–1108
Keith ML (1982) Violent volcanism, stagnant oceans and some inferences regarding petroleum, strata-bound ores and mass extinctions. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 46: 2621–2637
Kump LR & Garrels RM (1986) Modeling atmospheric O2 in the global sedimentary redox cycle. American Journal of Science 286: 337–360
Land LS (1970) Phreatic versus vadose meteoric diagenesis of limestone: Evidence for a fossil water table. Sedimentology 14: 175–185
Lane NG (1973) Paleontology and paleoecology of the Crawfordsville fossil site (upper Osagian, Indiana). California University Publications Geological Sciences 99: 141
Langenheim RL & Webster GD (1979) Carboniferous stratigraphy in the Grand Canyon country, northern Arizona and southern Nevada. American Geological Institute Guidebook Series, Field trip 13: 53–72
Lindh TB (1983) Temporal variations in 13C, 34S and global sedimentation during the Phanerozoic. Unpubl. M.Sc. thesis, University of Miami. 98 pp
Lindh TB, Saltzman ES, Sloan JL, Mattes BW & Holser WT (1981) A revised 13C-age curve (abs). Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs 13: 498
Lindsay RF (1977) Petrology and petrography of the Great Blue Formation at Wellsville Mountain, Utah. Brigham Young University Geology Studies 24: 115–140
Lowenstam HA (1961) Mineralogy, O18/O16 ratios, and strontium and magnesium contents of Recent and fossil brachiopods and their bearing on the history of the oceans. Journal of Geology 69: 241–260
Lowenstam HA (1963) Biological problems relating to the composition and diagenesis of sediments. In: Donnelly TW (Ed), The Earth Sciences (pp 137–195). University of Chicago Press
Machel, H-G (1985) Cathodoluminescence in calcite and dolomite and its chemical interpretation. Geoscience Canada 12: 139–147
Mahler HR & Cordes EH (1971) Biological chemistry. Harper & Row Publishers. 1009
Meyers WJ (1974) Carbonate cement stratigraphy of the Lake Valley Formation (Mississippian), Sacramento Mountains, New Mexico. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 44: 837–861
Millman JD (1974) Marine Carbonate. Springer-Verlag
Morrison JO & Brand U (1986) Paleoscence No 5. Geochemistry of Recent marine invertebrates. Geoscience Canada 13: 237–254
Morrison JO, Brand U & Rollins HB (1985) Paleoenvironmental and chemical analysis of the Pennsylvanian Brush Creek fossil allochems, Pennsylvania, USA, 10th International Carboniferous Congress, Compte Rendu (Madrid) 2: 271–280
Mudge MR & Yochelson EL (1962) Stratigraphy and paleontology of the uppermost Pennsylvanian and lowermost Permian rocks in Kansas. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 323: 213
Muehlenbachs K & Clayton RN (1976) Oxygen isotope composition of the oceanic crust and its bearing on seawater. Journal of Geophysical Research 81: 4365–4369
Nie HH, Hull CH, Jenkins JG, Steinbrenner K & Bent DH (1975) Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. McGraw-Hill
Norton CW (1975) Foraminiferal distribution and paleogeography of the Brush Creek Marine event (Missourian: Pennsylvanian) in the Appalachian Basin. Unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, University of Pittsburgh. 146 pp
Perry EC & Tan FC (1972) Significance of oxygen and carbon isotope variations in Early Precambrian cherts and carbonate rocks of southern Africa. Geological Society of America Bulletin 83: 647–664
Pingitore NE Jr (1976) Vadose and phreatic diagenesis: Processes, products and their recognition in corals. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 46: 985–1006
Pingitore NE Jr (1978) The behavior of Zn2+ and Mn2+ during diagenesis: Theory and application. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 48: 799–814
Popp BN, Anderson TF & Sandberg PA (1986a) Textural, elemental, and isotopic variations among constituents in Middle Devonian limestones, North America. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 56: 715–727
Popp BN, Anderson TF & Sandberg PA (1986b) Brachiopods as indicators of original isotopic compositions in some Paleozoic limestones. Geological Society of America Bulletin 97: 1262–1269
Popp BN, Podosek FA, Brannon JC, Anderson TF & Pier J (1986) 87/86Sr ratios in Permo-Carboniferous sea water from the analyses of well-preserved brachiopod shells. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 50: 1321–1328
Sando WJ, Mamet BL & Dutro JT Jr (1969) Carboniferous megafaunal and microfaunal zonation in the northern Cordillera of the United States US Geological Survey Paper 613: 29
Schidlowski M & Junge CE (1981) Coupling among the terrestrial sulfur, carbon and oxygen cycles: numerical modeling based on revised Phanerozoic carbon isotope record. Geochimica Cosmoschimica Acta 45: 589–594
Schulz GE & Schirmer RH (1979) Principles of Protein Structure. Springer-Verlag. 314 pp
Scotese CR, Bambach RK, Barton C, van der Voo R & Ziegler AM (1979) Paleozoic base maps. Journal of Geology 87: 217–277
Sherwood BA, Sager SL & Holland HD (1987) Phosphorus in foraminiferal sediments from North Atlantic Ridge cores and in pure limestones. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 51: 1861–1866
Smith EA (1890) Geological structure and description of the valley regions adjacent to the Cahaba coal field. Geological survey of Alabama 2: 133–180
Spencer AC & Paige S (1935) Geology of the Santa Rita mining area, New Mexico. US Geological Survey Bulletin 859: 78
Squires RL (1973) Burial environment, diagenesis, mineralogy, and Mg & Sr contents of skeletal carbonates in the Buckhorn asphalt of Middle Pennsylvanian age, Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma. Unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, California Institute of Technology. 184 pp
Stanley SM (1984) Temperature and biotic crises in the marine realm. Geology 12: 205–208
Staudigel H, Muehlenbachs K, Richardson SH & Hart SR (1981) Agents of low-temperature ocean crust alteration. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 77: 150–157
Sutherland SK & Henry TW (1977) Carbonate platform facies and new stratigraphic nomenclature of the Morrowan Series (Lower and Middle Pennsylvanian), northeastern Oklahoma. Geological Society of America Bulletin 88: 425–440
Thomson J, Higgs NC, Jarvis I, Hydes DJ, Colley S & Wilson TRS (1986) The behaviour of manganese in Atlantic carbonate sediments. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 50: 1807–1818
Turekian KK (1955) Paleoecological significance of the strontium-calcium ratio in fossils and sediments. Geological Society of America Bulletin 66: 155–158
Vail, PR & Mitchum RM (1979) Global cycles of relative changes of sea level from seismic stratigraphy. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 29: 469–472
Veizer J (1977) Geochemistry of lithographic limestones and dark marls from the Jurassic of southern Germany. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie 153: 129–146
Veizer J (1983) Trace elements and isotopes in sedimentary carbonates. Reviews in Mineralogy 11: 265–300
Veizer J & Fritz P (1976) Possible control of post-depositional alteration in oxygen paleotemperature determinations. Earth and Planetary Science Letter 33: 255–260
Veizer J, Holser WT & Wilgus CK (1980) Correlation of 13C/12C and 34S/32S secular variations. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 44: 579–587
Veizer J, Fritz P & Jones B (1986) Geochemistry of brachiopods: oxygen and carbon isotopic records of Paleozoic oceans. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 50: 1679–1696
von Bitter PH (1972) Environmental control of conodont distribution in the Shawnee Group (Upper Pennsylvanian) of eastern Kansas. The University of Kansas Publications 59: 105
von Bitter PH & Plint-Geberl HA (1982) conodont biostratigraphy of the Codroy Group (Lower Carboniferous), southwestern Newfoundland, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 19: 193–221
Wassenaar LI, Brand U & Terasmae J (1988) Geochemical and paleoecological investigation using invertebrate macrofossils of the Late Quarternary Champlain Sea, Ontario and Québec. Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper 35
Wefer G (1985) Die Verteilung stabiler Isotope in Kalkschalen mariner Organismen. Geologisches Jahrbuch A82: 3–111
Williams A (1971) Scanning electron microscopy of the calcareous skeleton of fossil and living brachiopods. In: Heywood VH (Ed) Scanning Electron Microscopy: Systematics and Evolutionary Applications. Academic Press
Wilson AC, Sarich VM & Maxson LR (1974) The importance of gene rearrangement in evolution: Evidence from studies on rates of chromosomal, protein, and anatomical evolution. Proceedings National Academy of Science 71: 3028–3030
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brand, U. Biogeochemistry of Late Paleozoic North American brachiopods and secular variation of seawater composition. Biogeochemistry 7, 159–193 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00004216
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00004216