Abstract
Continental and marine sediments are composed of a mixture from different sources and are influenced by a variety of environmental factors and transport processes prior to deposition. For analysis and interpretation, these sources and processes are often challenging to disentangle. We show that end-member modelling of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core-scanning data helps to overcome these challenges by unmixing different environmental signals from high-resolution sediment geochemical records. We apply this approach to a 100 m long lacustrine succession from Lake Towuti, Indonesia, to separate the regional climate and tectonic history from local ecological and diagenetic processes. The resulting six end-members (EMs) are interpreted to represent changes in ecological (EM1), climatic (EMs 2–4), tectonic (EM 5) and geomorphic (EM6) processes determining changes in sediment composition. Because end-member analysis allows for the tracking of transient and overlapping processes, climatic changes can be followed throughout the 100 m-long succession, suggesting alternating wet and dry periods in Central Sulawesi over long (several 100 000 years) time scales. We show that end-member analysis on elemental data sets offers a detailed and objective means to disentangle depositional processes in sedimentary successions resulting from varying tectonic and environmental factors involved in sediment formation and deposition. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1040-1051 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Journal of Quaternary Science |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 13 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The Towuti Drilling Project was partially supported by grants from the International Continental Drilling Program, the US National Science Foundation, the German Research Foundation, the Swiss National Science Foundation (20FI21_153054/1 and 200021_153053/1), Brown University, Genome British Columbia, and the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education (RISTEK). PT Vale Indonesia, the US Continental Drilling Coordination Office, the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam and DOSECC Exploration Services are acknowledged for logistical assistance to the project. We further thank Rik Tjallingii for constructive comments on MCL corrections, Elisabeth Dietze for help with end‐member modelling, Martin Wille for discussions on metal chemistry, and Sebastian Diehl for statistical advice. This research was carried out with permission from RISTEK, the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia, and the Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) and Government of Luwu Timur of Sulawesi. Data available on request from the authors.
Funding Information:
The Towuti Drilling Project was partially supported by grants from the International Continental Drilling Program, the US National Science Foundation, the German Research Foundation, the Swiss National Science Foundation (20FI21_153054/1 and 200021_153053/1), Brown University, Genome British Columbia, and the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education (RISTEK). PT Vale Indonesia, the US Continental Drilling Coordination Office, the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam and DOSECC Exploration Services are acknowledged for logistical assistance to the project. We further thank Rik Tjallingii for constructive comments on MCL corrections, Elisabeth Dietze for help with end-member modelling, Martin Wille for discussions on metal chemistry, and Sebastian Diehl for statistical advice. This research was carried out with permission from RISTEK, the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia, and the Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) and Government of Luwu Timur of Sulawesi. Data available on request from the authors.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Keywords
- end-member analysis
- geochemistry
- Lake Towuti
- stratigraphy
- XRF core scanner
Continental Scientific Drilling Facility tags
- TDP
