0000000000217444
AUTHOR
Nicolas Freslon
Rare earth element and neodymium isotope tracing of sedimentary rock weathering
Chemical weathering plays an important role in sequestering atmospheric CO2, but its potential influence on global climate over geological timescales remains debated. To some extent, this uncertainty arises from the difficulty in separating the respective contribution of sedimentary and crystalline silicate rocks to past weathering rates in the geological record; two types of rocks having presumably different impact on the long-term carbon cycle. In this study, we investigate the use of rare earth element (REE) and neodymium isotopes (εNd) in leached iron oxide fractions of river sediments for tracing the origin of weathered rocks on continents. A new index, called ‘concavity index’ (CI), i…
Hafnium-neodymium isotope evidence for enhanced weathering and tectonic-climate interactions during the Late Cretaceous
<p>Over million-year timescale the carbon cycle evolution is driven by mantle CO<sub>2</sub> degassing (source) and by continental weathering that drawdowns atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> through silicate weathering reactions (sink). Based on a novel geochemical proxy of chemical weathering intensity (i.e. using measurements of Hf and Nd isotope ratios in clay-size fractions of sediments) and clay mineralogy, we discuss the links between tectonic, continental weathering and climate evolution during the late Cretaceous. That period records the very first step of the last greenhouse to icehouse transition and is concomitant to …
Goldschmidt Abstracts 2010 – F
We report on two novel procedures for the determination of several trace elements in seawater, including elements characterized by very low abundance (sub-0.1 to 1 ng l-1) in the ocean, such as REEs, Hf, and Th. Our methods are based on the procedure developed recently by Bayon et al. [1], and applied successfully to a wide range of geological samples. It involves addition of a Tm spike and pre-concentration using co-precipitation, prior to analysis by inductively coupled plasma-sector field mass spectrometry (ICP-SFMS). The addition of a small amount of Tm to the sample produces a positive Tm anomaly in the resulting REE pattern, which allows calculation of precise trace element concentrat…