Rock Magnetic Study in the Methanogenesis Zone, Site U1437, IODP Exp 350, Izu Rear Arc

Abstract:

In 2014, IODP Expedition 350 drilled a 1806.5 m deep hole at Site U1437 in the Izu Bonin rear arc. The Site presents an unusual deep methanogenesis zone because of a release of sulfate below the sulfate reduction zone (27-83 mbsf) which may buffer methanogenesis by anaerobic methanogens. Methane abundance gradually increases with depth, with significant abundance at ~750-1459 mbsf with a maximum value at 920 mbsf.

The rock magnetic study carried out in Hole U1437D from ~775 to ~1000 mbsf shows a drastic change of the magnetic properties at ~850 mbsf coincidently with a stronger release of methane from < 60 ppm at 841 mbsf to ~300 ppm at 854 mbsf. That also corresponds to a depth interval where no core was recovered (~846-854 mbsf). For the sake of clarity, we call hereafter zone A the depth interval above this non-recovered interval (775-846 mbsf) and zone B the interval below (854-1000 mbsf). Both belong to the same lithostratigraphic unit composed of tuffaceous mudstones intercalated with volcanoclastics. In the zone A, NRM, magnetic susceptibility, ARM, SIRM, HIRM display high values. In the zone B, these parameters show much lower values of one order of magnitude less, except for the interval 936-950 mbsf that corresponds to a local maximum (but still lower values than the zone A). Besides, the rock magnetic parameters for grain size and coercivity, such as ARM/χ, S-ratio and Bcr do not show any variations throughout the entire studied interval, although S-ratio displays slightly lower values from ~850 to ~930 mbsf. Grains are low coercivity pseudo-single domain sized.

According to the present data, two preliminary hypotheses can be proposed to explain the observations. 1) The non-recovered interval between the zones A and B can be caused by the presence of a sedimentary hiatus and/or a fault, which may be consistent with the observed change in sedimentation rate. 2) No hiatus in the sedimentation. The changes in the magnetic properties can be explained by a decreasing content of the ferrimagnetic minerals. The observation of iron sulfides in the zone B (mainly pyrite) suggests pyritization with the transformation of the detrital ferrimagnetic minerals into pyrite, driven by a deep AOM (anaerobic oxidation of methane) reaction. We will discuss the details of the geochemical interpretation together with the rock magnetic results.