Meteoric diagenesis in Pleistocene reef limestones of Xisha Islands, China |
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| Authors: | Liu Jian Ye Zhizheng Han Chunrui Liu Xinbo Qu Gaosheng |
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| Institution: | aInstitute of Marine Geology, MGMR, P.O. Box 18, Qingdao, 266071, People’s Republic of China;bNanjing Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Nanjing, 210016, People’s Republic of China |
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| Abstract: | This paper focuses on a borehole, Xichen-1 well, drilled on the Chenhang Island, Xisha Islands in the South China Sea. Mineralogical, petrographic, stable isotopic and minor-element data from the Holocene to Pleistocene interval (0–179 m ) in the Xichen-1 well are discussed in detail. The 400-m-long core is divisible into four mineralogical facies: a high-Mg calcitic aragonite facies (0–16.91 m, Holocene), an aragonitic low- Mg calcite facies (16.91–30.60 m, Late Pleistocene), a low- Mg calcitic facies (30.60–179 m, Middle-Early Pleistocene) and a low- Mg calcitic and dolomitic facies (179–400 m, Early Pleistocene–Late Miocene). The Holocene section has much higher whole-rock δ18O and δ13C values and Mg and Sr content than the non-dolomitized Pleistocene limestones (16.91–179 m). The 16.91–165 m interval is characterized by a relatively invariant oxygen isotopic composition and very heterogeneous carbon isotopic composition. Between 165 and 179 m, there is a positively correlated increase of whole-rock δ18O and δ18C with depth, and Mg content also shows a gradual increase with depth. Petrographic data demonstrate that the Pleistocene reef sequence has been extensively affected by meteoric waters. We conclude that the Late Pleistocene section (16.91–30.60 m) and the Middle-Early Pleistocene section (30.60–165 m) have suffered incomplete and complete meteoric diagenesis, respectively, and that the Early Pleistocene interval (165–179 m) was diagenetically altered in a meteoric–marine mixing environment. |
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