Chemistry of calcium carbonate-rich shallow water sediments in the Bahamas

The geochemistry of calcium carbonate-rich sediments from a variety of environments throughout the Bahamas was investigated with particular emphasis on the factors that control the pore water chemistry. Most sediments are supersaturated with respect to aragonite, the most abundant carbonate component. Experimental studies indicate that the observed in situ calcium carbonate ion activity products can often be produced as reversible metastable equilibria between the sediments and seawater. This is interpreted as being the result of interactions between the solutions and the minor high Mg-calcite component present in these sediments. Although the overlying waters are more supersaturated than the pore waters, carbonate dissolution, not precipitation, dominates in these sediments as a result of organic matter oxidation and the resulting increase in P/sub CO/sub 2//. The carbonate sediments of the Bahamas are remarkable for their purity, with the exception of special environments such as mangrove swamps and tidal flats with algal mats. Organic matter and heavy metal content is extremely low. Only minor sulfate reduction is occurring in most sediments. Phosphate is undetectable in all pore waters, probably as a result of adsorption on carbonate mineral surfaces. Other dissolved pore water components such as ammonia and DOC are much lower than typicallymore » found in shallow water fine-grained terrigeneous sediments.« less