Advances in sequence stratigraphy and the development of depositional models have helped explain the origin of genetically related sedimentary packages during sea level cycles. These concepts have provided the basis for the recognition of sea level events in subsurface data and in outcrops of marine sediments around the world. Knowledge of these events has led to a new generation of Mesozoic and Cenozoic global cycle charts that chronicle the history of sea level fluctuations during the past 250 million years in greater detail than was possible from seismic-stratigraphic data alone. An effort has been made to develop a realistic and accurate time scale and widely applicable chronostratigraphy and to integrate depositional sequences documented in public domain outcrop sections from various basins with this chronostratigraphic framework. A description of this approach and an account of the results, illustrated by sea level cycle charts of the Cenozoic, Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Triassic intervals, are presented.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/235/4793/1156.full.pdf

Chronology of fluctuating sea levels since the triassic.

https://cyberleninka.org/article/n/352063.pdf

87Sr/86Sr, δ13C and δ18O evolution of Phanerozoic seawater

Equilibrium and nonequilibrium oxygen isotope effects in synthetic carbonates

The second edition of The Biomarker Guide is a fully updated and expanded version of this essential reference. Now in two volumes, it provides a comprehensive account of the role that biomarker technology plays both in petroleum exploration and in understanding Earth history and processes. Biomarkers and Isotopes in the Environment and Human History details the origins of biomarkers and introduces basic chemical principles relevant to their study. It discusses analytical techniques, and applications of biomarkers to environmental and archaeological problems. The Biomarker Guide is an invaluable resource for geologists, petroleum geochemists, biogeochemists, environmental scientists and archaeologists.

The Biomarker Guide

Organic geochemical proxies of paleoceanographic, paleolimnologic, and paleoclimatic processes

Climate Change in Continental Isotopic Records

Preservation of organic matter and alteration of its carbon and nitrogen isotope composition during simulated and in situ early sedimentary diagenesis

DOLOMITE (CaMg(CO3)2) is a common carbonate mineral which is found in much greater abundance in ancient rocks than in modern carbonate environments. Why this is so remains a mystery. Over the past 30 years, dolomite formation has been observed in several modern environments, and various thermodynamic, kinetic and hydrological factors have been proposed to explain its formation1,2. But attempts to precipitate dolomite at low temperatures in the laboratory have been unsuccessful3,4, and the 'dolomite problem' remains a source of controversy in sedimentary geology5-7. Here we describe experiments in which a ferroan dolomite with a fairly high degree of cation order was precipitated in the presence of sulphate-reducing bacteria from the Desulfovibrio group. We propose that the direct mediation of these anaerobes can overcome the kinetic barrier to dolomite nucleation, and that they may play an active role in the formation of this mineral in natural environments.

Microbial mediation as a possible mechanism for natural dolomite formation at low temperatures

Dolomite, despite its thermodynamic stability and abundance in the ancient rock record, is rarely found forming in Holocene environments. This enigma is frequently called the Dolomite Problem. The recent discovery of modern dolomite formation in Lagoa Vermelha, a shallow-water isolated coastal lagoon east of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, provides a new environment to investigate the factors promoting dolomite precipitation under earth surface conditions. Lagoa Vermelha serves as a natural laboratory in which the dolomite formation process was studied using an integrated hydrologic, geochemical, and sedimentological approach. The results of this study indicate that Ca-dolomite precipitation occurs under anoxic hypersaline conditions within a black sludge layer directly overlying the water/se iment interface. With deposition, the dolomite undergoes an "ageing" process, whereby increased ordering of the crystal structure occurs. Both the initial precipitation and subsequent early diagenesis are strongly mediated by microbial activity. In fact, using sulfate-reducing bacteria cultured from Lagoa Vermelha samples, a highly ordered dolomite has been produced in the laboratory at low temperatures. These experimental results combined with the study of the natural environment mandate that a microbial factor be added to the list of factors capable of causing dolomite precipitation. Considering the Lagoa Vermelha system, we propose a new actualistic model for dolomite formation, which we call the microbial dolomite model.

Microbial Mediation of Modern Dolomite Precipitation and Diagenesis Under Anoxic Conditions (Lagoa Vermelha, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

ABSTRACT Dolomite, despite its thermodynamic stability and abundance in the ancient rock record, is rarely found forming in Holocene environments. This enigma is frequently called the Dolomite Problem. The recent discovery of modern dolomite formation in Lagoa Vermelha, a shallow-water isolated coastal lagoon east of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, provides a new environment to investigate the factors promoting dolomite precipitation under earth surface conditions. Lagoa Vermelha serves as a natural laboratory in which the dolomite formation process was studied using an integrated hydrologic, geochemical, and sedimentological approach. The results of this study indicate that Ca-dolomite precipitation occurs under anoxic hypersaline conditions within a black sludge layer directly overlying the water/se iment interface. With deposition, the dolomite undergoes an \"ageing\" process, whereby increased ordering of the crystal structure occurs. Both the initial precipitation and subsequent early diagenesis are strongly mediated by microbial activity. In fact, using sulfate-reducing bacteria cultured from Lagoa Vermelha samples, a highly ordered dolomite has been produced in the laboratory at low temperatures. These experimental results combined with the study of the natural environment mandate that a microbial factor be added to the list of factors capable of causing dolomite precipitation. Considering the Lagoa Vermelha system, we propose a new actualistic model for dolomite formation, which we call the microbial dolomite model.

Judith A. McKenzie

Papers

Climate Change in Continental Isotopic Records

Preservation of organic matter and alteration of its carbon and nitrogen isotope composition during simulated and in situ early sedimentary diagenesis

Microbial mediation as a possible mechanism for natural dolomite formation at low temperatures

Microbial Mediation of Modern Dolomite Precipitation and Diagenesis Under Anoxic Conditions (Lagoa Vermelha, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Microbial mediation of modern dolomite precipitation and diagenesis under anoxic conditions