Abstract:
Most authigenic carbonates previously recovered from the Cascadia slope have (super 87) Sr/ (super 86) Sr signatures that reflect shallow precipitation in equilibrium with coeval seawater. There is also evidence for carbonate formation supported by fluids that have been modified by reactions with the incoming Juan de Fuca Plate ( (super 87) Sr/ (super 86) Sr=0.7071; Teichert et al., 2005) or with terrigenous turbidites ( (super 87) Sr/ (super 86) Sr=0.70975 to 0.71279; Sample et al., 1993). We report on the strontium isotopic composition of carbonates and fluids from IODP Site U1329 and nearby Barkley Canyon (offshore Vancouver Island), which have strontium isotope ratios as low as 0.70539. Whereas the strontium and oxygen isotopic compositions of carbonates from paleoseeps in the uplifted Coast Range forearc indicate formation in ambient bottom seawater, several samples from the Pysht/Sooke Fm. show a (super 87) Sr-depleted signal ( (super 87) Sr/ (super 86) Sr=0.70494 and 0.70511) similar to that of the anomalous Site U1329 and Barkley Canyon carbonates. Our data, when analyzed in the context of published elemental and isotopic composition of these carbonates (Joseph et al., 2012), point to two formation mechanisms: 1) shallow precipitation driven by the anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) with delta (super 13) C values as low as -50 ppm and contemporaneous (super 87) Sr/ (super 86) Sr seawater ratios, and 2) carbonate precipitation driven by fluids that have circulated through the oceanic crust, which are depleted in (super 87) Sr. Carbonates formed from the second mechanism precipitate both at depth and at sites of deep-sourced fluid seepage on the seafloor. The (super 87) Sr-depleted carbonates and pore fluids found at Barkley Canyon represent migration of a deep, exotic fluid similar to that found in high permeability conglomerate layers at 188mbsf of Site U1329, and which may have fed paleoseeps in the Pysht/Sooke Fm. These exotic fluids likely reflect interaction with the 52-57Ma igneous Crescent Terrane, which supplies fluids with high calcium, manganese and strontium enriched in the non-radiogenic nucleide. Tectonic compression and dehydration reactions then force these fluids updip, where they pick up the thermogenic hydrocarbons and (super 13) C-enriched dissolved inorganic carbon that are manifested in fluids and carbonates sampled at Barkley Canyon and at Site U1329. The Crescent Terrane may have sourced cold seeps in this margin since at least the late Oligocene. Abstract Copyright (2012) Elsevier, B.V.