Volcanism and turbidity current events as drivers of the evolution of benthic redox conditions: Organic matter enrichment in the Chang 7 member, Upper Triassic Yanchang formation, Ordos Basin, North China

Abstract

Depositional events have a significant impact on the terrestrial redox conditions and provide evidence for studying the organic matter enrichment. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of volcanic and turbidity current events on benthic redox conditions during the Upper Triassic Chang 7 member (Ch7) of the Ordos Basin. To address these issues, the varying sedimentological settings, paleoredox conditions, and relationships between the redox environment and depositional events were investigated via sedimentary analysis of the profiles, microscopic analysis, organic geochemical analysis, and elemental geochemical data. The fine-grained sediments in the Chang 7₃ submember (Ch7₃) consist of abundant organic matter, collophanite, and framboidal pyrite. However, in the upper part of the Ch7 member, there was a decrease in organic matter, a decrease in the number of microorganisms, and an increase in pyrite size, indicating that the oxic environment is not favorable for organic matter enrichment. The element and geochemical proxies show similar vertical variations and redox changes. Volcanic activity can bring substantial amounts of material or elements to the basin. The enrichment of Hg and S exhibited considerable variation, ranging from 8.7 to 274.4 ppb and from 0.16 to 4.53 wt%, respectively, which influenced the organic matter accumulation through the flourishing and death of microorganisms and redox changes in the benthic environment of the terrestrial basin. As the lake basin shrinks, the Ti and Al contents increase with increasing frequency of turbidity current events, and the terrestrial debris transported to the lake basin gradually increases while carrying large amounts of oxygen and affecting sedimentation rates, contributing to the destruction of the reducing conditions of the benthic environment, subsequently, influencing organic matter accumulation. These results will be helpful in understanding the effect of multiple depositional events on organic matter enrichment in lacustrine basins.