Phosphatic concretions and nodules from the upper continental slope,northern New South Wales |
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| Authors: | C C von der Borch |
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| Institution: | Deepsea Drilling Project , Scripps Institution of Oceanography , La Jolla, California, 92037, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | Phosphatic concretions and nodules, some of which are coated with goethite, have been dredged at depths between 210 and 385 m from the upper continental slope off northern New South Wales. Some of these appear to have been concentrated on a low sea level terrace at a depth of about 210 m by wave action, while deeper‐water non‐abraded examples may have been winnowed from host sediments by relatively gentle current activity. Similarities in structure, mineralogy and age of contained fauna are noted between nodules described in this paper and phosphatic nodules from the California Continental Borderland, the Chatham Rise off New Zealand and Cainozoic sediments outcropping in Victoria. It is proposed that the Eastern Australian material formed as phosphatic concretions within phosphorus‐enriched slope sediments during diagenesis and that they have since been winnowed, exposed and in some cases re‐cemented into agglomerations on the sea floor in areas of low sedimentation rate. |
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