Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2023, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (5): 144-153.doi: 10.11978/2022224CSTR: 32234.14.2022224

• Marine Geology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The impact of cold seepage on geochemical indices for redox conditions of marine sediments ―Site F active seep site in the northeastern South China Sea*

LI Niu1,2(), DI Pengfei1,2, FENG Dong3, CHEN Duofu3   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
    2. Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511458, China
    3. Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Hadal Science and Technology, College of Marine Sciences, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China
  • Received:2022-10-21 Revised:2022-12-25 Online:2023-09-10 Published:2023-03-14
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(41976061)

Abstract:

Redox-sensitive elements (Mo, U, V, Re, Ni, Co, Cr) have been widely used as geochemical indicators to infer the redox states of marine sediments at deposition, as well as oxygen concentrations in overlying water and atmosphere. However, the sulfidation environment in pore water formed by cold seepage due to microbial activity can result in alterations and ambiguities of redox signals indicated by these elements, which may challenge the effectiveness of the reconstructed redox state. In this paper, the contents of redox-sensitive elements of three push core sediments at the active seep site F of the South China Sea were studied. Compared with the oxic sediments, the seep sediments generally show higher Mo content, indicating the fixed Mo by hydrogen sulfide from the anaerobic oxidation of methane. U/Th, V/Cr, and Ni/Co indicate that the seep sediments are formed in the bottom water with high oxygen concentration, which is consistent with the measured results. However, V/(V+Ni) > 0.7 indicates anoxic conditions, which may be related to the lower Ni content in terrestrial debris. The Re/Mo ratio is similar to the modern seawater value, indicating a euxinic environment. The above analysis shows that Re and Mo in cold seep sediments are easily affected by methane seepage and possibly not used as geochemical indices for redox conditions in a methane-rich environment.

Key words: cold seep, redox conditions, geochemical index, anaerobic oxidation of methane, South China Sea