Mineralogy of the silt fraction in surficial sediments from the United States mid-Atlantic shelf, slope and rise
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Abstract
An analysis of the abundances and distributions of silt-sized heavy minerals from the U.S. mid-Atlantic outer continental shelf, slope, and rise shows that heavy minerals constitute a substantially greater weight percent of the silt fraction than that of the sand fraction regardless of environment and sediment texture. Concentrations of silt-sized heavy minerals progressively decrease from the shelf where they average 6.94%, to the slope and rise where they average 4.45% and 3.45%, respectively. A mixed amphibole-garnet+staurolite-epidote-pyroxene association dominates the silt-sized heavy mineral assemblage on the slope and rise; an ilmenite-amphibole-epidote association predominates on the shelf. Downslope trends in detrital nonmicaceous silt-sized heavy mineral abundances are related to hydraulic sorting rather than to chemical weathering. Elevated concentrations of the authigenic pyrite, siderite, dolomite+ankerite, and, possibly, phosphorite in the surficial slope sediment suggests that formation of silt-sized heavy minerals by diagenetic processes is relatively more important there than on the continental shelf or rise.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Mineralogy of the silt fraction in surficial sediments from the United States mid-Atlantic shelf, slope and rise |
| Series title | Marine Geology |
| DOI | 10.1016/0025-3227(92)90015-A |
| Volume | 103 |
| Issue | 1-3 |
| Year Published | 1992 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Elsevier |
| Contributing office(s) | Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center |
| Description | 13 p. |
| First page | 185 |
| Last page | 197 |
| Country | United States |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |