Carbonate sediments & natural organic matter

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This research project explores the diagenesis of carbonate sediments in relation to both organisms that live near to the sediment surface and the non-living, natural organic matter that exudates into the interstitial environment during their degradation. The primary focus is to monitor the natural process of humification and how it influences, e.g., the formation of organic colloids and authigenic Ca-carbonates. Humification, next to photosynthesis, represents one of the most important transfer mechanisms of organic carbon on Earth. In general, it comprises the transformation of labile, biological macromolecules into geological macromolecules that are stable under the conditions of the Earth's surface. By consequence, and if certain conditions apply, such low-molecular weight humic compounds should be detectable even in geologically mature sedimentary rocks, hundreds of million of years in age. Recent insights from the analysis of modern and ancient sediments indicate that Phanerozoic, fine-grained carbonate mounds acted as a major sink of relatively fresh geopolymers. Humification, in concert with mineral authigenesis, not only offers an explanation for the accretion mechanism of these limestones, it also explains other geological features such as their fluorescence or the early opening of a cavity system. In the short term perspective, this project intends to substantiate our approach by exploring early diagenesis below the sponge bioherms of the Great Bahama Bank. The expected phenomena (calcification of sponge tissue, polycondensation, dissolution of opaline spicules, recrystallisation of aragonite) should serve as a paradigm for the ancient sponge-rich carbonate mounds. Such mounds were much more common in the geological past where they built up to form large structures. Prominent examples of ancient mounds, which I explore for comparison, occur in the Jurassic of the Atlas mountains in Morocco. However, the research interest there has a larger scope in that it also considers recovery from mass extinction, its impact on depositional geometries and the mobilisation of natural organic matter in the deep-burial environment. These issues are important for subsurface prognosis and exploration strategies for hydrocarbon reservoirs.