Data in this folder are produced by a SoFarOcean Spotter wave buoy deployed along the south arm of the Great Salt Lake, near Antelope Island State Park from the period of July 13, 2021 through June 28, 2022, in relatively shallow water, approximately 1.6m.

Data in this folder are produced by a SoFarOcean Spotter wave buoy deployed along the south arm of the Great Salt Lake, near Antelope Island State Park from the period of July 13, 2021 through June 28, 2022, in relatively shallow water, approximately 1.6m.

Carbonate rocks provide unique and valuable sedimentary archives for secular changes in Earth's physical, chemical, and biological processes. However, reading the stratigraphic record produces overlapping, nonunique interpretations that stem from the difficulty in directly comparing competing biological, physical, or chemical mechanisms within a common quantitative framework. We built a mathematical model that decomposes these processes and casts the marine carbonate record in terms of energy fluxes across the sediment-water interface. Results showed that physical, chemical, and biological energy terms across the seafloor are subequal and that the energetic dominance of different processes varies both as a function of environment (e.g., onshore vs. offshore) as well as with time-varying changes in seawater chemistry and with evolutionary changes in animal abundance and behavior. We applied our model to observations from the end-Permian mass extinction-a massive upheaval in ocean chemistry and biology-revealing an energetic equivalence between two hypothesized drivers of changing carbonate environments: a reduction in physical bioturbation increased carbonate saturation states in the oceans. Early Triassic occurrences of 'anachronistic' carbonates-facies largely absent from marine environments after the Early Paleozoic-were likely driven more by reduction in animal biomass than by repeated perturbations to seawater chemistry. This analysis highlighted the importance of animals and their evolutionary history in physically shaping patterns in the sedimentary record via their impact on the energetics of marine environments.

Seawater carbonate chemistry links Earth's climate and carbon cycle through the production and preservation of carbonate sediments. Models and carbonate facies abundance records have generated hypotheses about trajectories of seawater carbonate chemistry, including responses to key events in the evolutionary history of carbonate biomineralizers. However, tests of these hypotheses have remained elusive. We applied a novel proxy for the carbonate mineral saturation state (Ω) of seawater based on the diameters of ooids—concentrically‐coated carbonate sand grains—to estimate Ω, dissolved inorganic carbon, alkalinity, and pH of seawater spanning Phanerozoic time. Reconstructed Ω values decreased sharply around ∼120 Ma, which we interpret as the fingerprint of the Mid‐Mesozoic Revolution of planktic calcifiers. Shifts in Ω across Ordovician time also suggest a possible causal relationship with the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. Our results demonstrate that ooid sizes are a useful tool for reconstructing Earth's ancient carbon cycle.

The deposition of marine carbonate rocks is influenced by climate and seawater chemistry. Carbonate platforms usually keep pace with subsidence and sea level rise but “platform drowning” occurs when carbonate sedimentation slows or when siliciclastics replace carbonates. Identifying specific mechanism(s) behind platform drowning is critical for understanding global environmental changes such as Ocean Anoxic Events (OAEs). We developed a model for OAEs which couples ocean basin redox processes to rates of carbonate sedimentation. Well‐oxygenated oceans have steep gradients in saturation state such that deep‐ocean dissolution is balanced by carbonate “overproduction” in shallow water. Through anaerobic metabolisms, deep‐ocean anoxia reduces both dissolution and overproduction, leading to slower accumulation rates in shallow‐water environments. This quasi‐steady state response links carbonate sedimentation with longer timescales associated with redox changes. Redox‐based drowning may have acted alongside other mechanisms to create spatially diverse patterns of platform drowning during Mesozoic OAEs and other Phanerozoic hyperthermal events.

Magnesium carbonates have been identified within the landing site of the Perseverance rover mission. This study reviews terrestrial analog environments and textural, mineral assemblage, isotopic, and elemental analyses that have been applied to establish formation conditions of magnesium carbonates. Magnesium carbonates form in five distinct settings: ultramafic rock‐hosted veins, the matrix of carbonated peridotite, nodules in soil, alkaline lake, and playa deposits, and as diagenetic replacements within lime—and dolostones. Dominant textures include fine‐grained or microcrystalline veins, nodules, and crusts. Microbial influences on formation are recorded in thrombolites, stromatolites, crinkly, and pustular laminites, spheroids, and filamentous microstructures. Mineral assemblages, fluid inclusions, and carbon, oxygen, magnesium, and clumped isotopes of carbon and oxygen have been used to determine the sources of carbon, magnesium, and fluid for magnesium carbonates as well as their temperatures of formation. Isotopic signatures in ultramafic rock‐hosted magnesium carbonates reveal that they form by either low‐temperature meteoric water infiltration and alteration, hydrothermal alteration, or metamorphic processes. Isotopic compositions of lacustrine magnesium carbonate record precipitation from lake water, evaporation processes, and ambient formation temperatures. Assessment of these features with similar analytical techniques applied to returned Martian samples can establish whether carbonates on ancient Mars were formed at high or low temperature conditions in the surface or subsurface through abiotic or biotic processes. The timing of carbonate formation processes could be constrained by 147 Sm‐ 143 Nd isochron, U‐Pb concordia, 207 Pb‐ 206 Pb isochron radiometric dating as well as 3 He, 21 Ne, 22 Ne, or 36 Ar surface exposure dating of returned Martian magnesium carbonate samples.

Abstract Ocean chemistry and carbonate sedimentation link Earth's climate, carbon cycle, and marine pH. The carbonate system in seawater is complex and there are large uncertainties in key parameters in deep time. Here, we link sedimentary textures formed in arid coastal environments and preserved in the rock record to past seawater carbonate chemistry. Prior to the mid‐Mesozoic, tepee structures and pisoids – features associated with peritidal environments – co‐vary with available shelf area during cycles of supercontinent formation and rifting. In contrast, tepees and pisoids are consistently scarce after the mid‐Mesozoic, which coincides with a radiation in pelagic calcifiers as well as the breakup of Pangea. Numerical models suggest that the global and temporal abundances of tepee structures and pisoids are correlated with secular shifts in seawater chemistry, and that trends likely reflect the underlying influence of tectonics and biotic innovation on marine alkalinity and the saturation states of carbonate minerals. As independent sedimentary proxies, tepees and pisoids serve as benchmarks for global carbon cycle models and provide a new proxy record of seawater chemistry that can help discern links among tectonics, biotic innovation, and seawater chemistry.

In carbonate‐forming environments, authigenic minerals can cement surface sediments into centimeter‐sized intraclasts that are later reworked into “flat‐pebble” or “edgewise” conglomerates. Flat‐pebble conglomerates comprise only a small portion of facies in modern marine environments but are common in ancient strata, implying that seafloor cements were more widespread in the past. Flat‐pebble conglomerates nearly disappeared after the Ordovician radiation, yet it is unclear if this decline was due to changing seawater chemistry or if increased infaunalization and bioturbation simply worked to break down nascent clasts. We discovered a process analog that produces flat‐pebble conglomerates around the Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA, and studied these facies using field observations, wave models, satellite imagery, petrography, and microanalytic chemical data. Clasts were sourced from wave‐rippled grainstone that cemented in situ in offshore environments. Lake floor cements formed under aragonite saturation states that are lower than modern marine settings, suggesting that physical processes are at least as important as chemical ones. Results from our wave models showed that coarse sediments near the field site experience quiescent periods of up to 6 months between suspension events, allowing isopachous cements to form. Using a simple mathematical framework, we show that the main difference between Great Salt Lake and modern, low‐energy marine settings is that the latter has enough bioturbating organisms to break up clasts. Observations from Great Salt Lake demonstrate how geologic trends in flat‐pebble abundance could largely reflect changes in total infaunal biomass and ecology without requiring regional‐to‐global changes in seawater chemistry.

Preserved cross-set thicknesses are powerful tools for unravelling past environmental conditions. The relative rate of bedform aggradation to migration (climb angle) is encoded into the distribution of cross-set thicknesses. In siliciclastic settings, climb angles have been used to reconstruct properties of the depositional system, including ancient topography, which exerts a control on local aggradation rates. Cross-set thickness distributions in carbonate environments should prove equally useful. Carbonate sediments are often bound by early cements or microbes, both of which influence sediment transport. If cross sets record these interactions, then they may contain information about local—and possibly global—changes to sediment cohesion. To test this idea, we analyzed the distribution of cross-set thicknesses in a grainstone interval of the Cretaceous Glen Rose Formation at an outcrop in Austin, TX, USA. Bedform climb angles inferred from the distribution of cross-set thicknesses were on the order of 0.5° to 5°. In siliciclastic systems, climb angles this high are typically driven by the filling of local relief; relief is minor in this carbonate system. We interpret this as evidence for rapid bed aggradation driven by early cements or organic binding, a boundary condition of potential significance to carbonate depositional settings. We suggest that at geologic time scales, global trends in carbonate bedform preservation should be sensitive to both carbonate chemistry and biotic innovations. If so, our results provide a quantitative method for exploring these topics in deep time.

Geochemical data from carbonates often constrain the nature of environmental change during biotic turnover events. Many ancient carbonates, however, formed in geographically-isolated basins subject to local environmental factors, resulting in varying extinction rates between open ocean and restricted settings. It follows that high-resolution data from restricted basins may help unravel poorly-understood biotic crises such as the Mid-Capitanian extinction, which had especially high extinction rates in restricted settings. This study examines factors controlling salinity, stratification, and oxygenation in the Capitanian (Middle Permian) Delaware Basin, USA. Elemental and carbon isotope measurements from time-equivalent strata reveal differences between shallow- and deep-water masses, pointing to local controls such as stratification and de-oxygenated bottom water. Basinal dolomites and evaporites mark periods of elevated salinity tied to sea-level lowstands, which correspond with turnovers in fusulinid and brachiopod communities. Faunal turnover in the Delaware Basin demonstrates a fundamental attribute of restricted basins: water chemistry is often tightly coupled to physical process such as sea level change. We suggest that the relationships among sea level fluctuations, chemical changes, and biotic turnover may explain why the Capitanian mass extinction was more severe in isolated basins than the open ocean. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stratal geometries and platform trajectories in shelf-top carbonates contain a record of past eustatic, tectonic, and oceanographic changes throughout earth history. However, intrinsic structural processes such as faulting, fracturing, and differential compaction complicate the interpretation of strata! architecture in these settings. Large-scale stratal geometries cannot be used to constrain key depositional variables (e.g., water depth and facies relationships) until the relative contribution of specific structural and depositional processes can be quantified. These problems can be overcome using integrated structural and stratigraphic frameworks that employ stepwise reconstruction of shelf-top geometries using facies analysis and high-resolution spatial data. This study examines the origins of seaward-dipping (up to 18 degrees) shelf-top strata of the Permian Seven Rivers Formation in McKittrick Canyon, New Mexico. Traditional field mapping and a digital outcrop model compiled from airborne lidar allow quantitative assessments of the relationships among facies, structures, and stratal geometries. Results indicate that there are at least two origins for variations in stratal architecture in the Seven Rivers, including (1) primary dips associated with steepening of the bathymetric profile towards the shelf edge and (2) both landward and seaward rotation of fault blocks during deposition of successively younger strata. Removing compaction-driven deformation localized in front of the underlying Goat Seep margin allows more accurate estimates of reef depth and platform trajectory. Comparison of these results with previous studies suggests that neglecting either the depositional or the structural component of shelf-top architecture introduces significant errors into the reconstructed bathymetric profile. The Seven Rivers Formation serves as a useful analog for addressing challenges related to the interpretation of depositional profiles and platform histories in other steep-walled carbonate shelves.