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The major-ion (Mg2+, Ca2+, Na+, K+, SO 4 2 - , and Cl−) chemistry of Cretaceous seawater was determined from analyses of seawater-derived brines preserved as fluid inclusions in marine halites. Fluid inclusions in primary halite from three evaporite deposits were analyzed by the environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) technique: the Early Cretaceous (Aptian, 121.0–112.2 Ma) of the Sergipe basin, Brazil and the Congo basin, Republic of the Congo, and the Early to Late Cretaceous (Albian to Cenomanian, 112.2–93.5 Ma) of the Khorat Plateau, Laos, and Thailand. The fluid inclusions in halite indicate that Cretaceous seawater was enriched several fold in Ca2+, depleted in SO 4 2 - , Na+, and Mg2+, and had lower Na+/Cl−, Mg2+/Ca2+, and Mg2+/K+ ratios compared to modern seawater. Elevated Ca2+ concentrations, with Ca2+ > SO 4 2 - at the point of gypsum saturation, allowed Cretaceous seawater to evolve into Mg2+–Ca2+–Na+–K+–Cl− brines lacking measurable SO 4 2 - .The major-ion composition of Cretaceous seawater was modeled from fluid inclusion chemistries for the Aptian and the Albian-Cenomanian. Aptian seawater was extreme in its Ca2+ enrichment, more than three times higher than present day seawater, with a Mg2+/Ca2+ ratio of 1.1–1.3. Younger, Albian-Cenomanian seawater had lower Ca2+ concentrations, and a higher Mg2+/Ca2+ ratio of 1.2–1.7. Cretaceous (Aptian) seawater has the lowest Mg2+/Ca2+ ratios so far documented in Phanerozoic seawater from fluid inclusions in halite, and within the range chemically favorable for precipitation of low-Mg calcite ooids and cements. Results from halite fluid inclusions, together with Mg2+/Ca2+ ratios measured from echinoderm and rudist calcite, all indicate that Early Cretaceous seawater (Hauterivian, Barremian, Aptian, and Albian) had lower Mg2+/Ca2+ ratios than Late Cretaceous seawater (Coniacian, Santonian, and Campanian). Low Aptian-Albian Mg2+/Ca2+ seawater ratios coincide with negative excursions of 87Sr/86Sr ratios and δ34SSO4, and peak Cretaceous ocean crust production rates, all of which suggests a link between seawater chemistry and midocean ridge hydrothermal brine flux.

The major-ion (Mg2+, Ca2+, Na+, K+, SO42−, and Cl−) composition of Permian seawater was determined from chemical analyses of fluid inclusions in marine halites. New data from the Upper Permian San Andres Formation of Texas (274–272 Ma) and Salado Formation of New Mexico (251 Ma), analyzed by the environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) X-ray energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) method, along with published chemical compositions of fluid inclusions in Permian marine halites from North America (two formations of different ages) and the Central and Eastern European basins (eight formations of four different ages) show that Permian seawater shares chemical characteristics with modern seawater, including SO42− > Ca2+ at the point of gypsum precipitation, evolution into Mg2+-Na+-K+-SO42−-Cl− brines, and Mg2+/K+ ratios ∼5. Permian seawater, however, is slightly depleted in SO42− and enriched in Ca2+, although modeling results do not rule out Ca2+ concentrations close to those in present-day seawater. Na+ and Mg2+ in Permian seawater are close to (slightly below) their concentrations in modern seawater. Permian and modern seawater are both classified as aragonite seas, with Mg2+/Ca2+ ratios >2, conditions favorable for precipitation of aragonite and magnesian calcite as ooids and cements. The chemistry of Permian seawater was modeled using the chemical composition of brine inclusions for three periods: Lower Permian Asselian-Sakmarian (296–283 Ma), Lower Permian Artinskian-Kungurian (283–274 Ma), and Upper Permian Tatarian (258–251 Ma). Parallel changes in the chemistry of brine inclusions from equivalent age evaporites in North America, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe show that seawater underwent secular variations in chemistry over the 50 million years of the Permian. Modeled SO42− concentrations are 20 mmol per kg H2O (mmolal) and 19 mmolal in the Asselian-Sakmarian and Artinskian-Kungurian, with higher concentrations in the Upper Permian Tatarian (23 mmolal). Modeled Ca2+ is at or above its concentration in modern seawater throughout the Permian. Mg2+ is close to (slightly below) its concentration in modern seawater (55 mmolal) in the Asselian-Sakmarian (52 mmolal), and Tatarian (52 mmolal), but slightly higher than modern seawater in the Artinskian-Kungurian (60 mmolal). Mg2+/Ca2+ ratios are 3.5 (total range = 2.7 to 5.5) in the Lower Permian and rose slightly to 3.7 (total range = 3.1 to 5.8) in the Upper Permian, primarily due to decreases in Ca2+. These results are consistent with models that predict oscillations in the major-ion composition of Phanerozoic seawater on the basis of changes in the midocean ridge/river water flux ratio driven by changes in the rate of midocean ridge crust production. The Permian was characterized by low sea levels, icehouse conditions, and southern hemisphere glaciation. Such conditions, analogous to the present ice age, and the similarities between Permian seawater and modern seawater, all suggest that general Phanerozoic supercycles, driven by mantle convection and global volcanicity, also control the major-ion chemistry of seawater.

Fluid inclusions from marine halites have long been studied to determine the chemical composition of ancient seawater. Chemical analyses of the major ions in fluid inclusions in halites from the solar saltwork of Great Inagua Island, Bahamas, and from the supratidal sabkha, Baja California, Mexico, show that modern marine halites faithfully record the chemical signature of seawater. The major ions in Great Inagua and Baja California fluid inclusions display distinctive linear trends when plotted against one another (ie., Na+, K+, and SO42− vs. Mg2+ and Cl−), which track the evaporation path of seawater as it evolved during the crystallization of halite. These evaporation paths defined for the major ions by fluid inclusions in halite overlap findings of computer simulations of the evaporation of modern seawater by the Harvie, Moller, and Weare (HMW) computer program. The close match between the HMW seawater evaporation paths and the Great Inagua fluid inclusion data is not surprising considering the carefully controlled inflow, evaporation, and discharge of seawater at the Great Inagua saltwork. The major ion chemistry of fluid inclusions from the Baja California halites matches the HMW seawater evaporation paths in most respects, but one Baja fluid inclusion has lower concentrations of Mg2+ than evaporated seawater. Nonmarine inflows and syndepositional recycling of preexisting salts in the Baja California supratidal setting were not large enough to override the chemical signature of evaporating seawater as the primary control on the Baja fluid inclusion compositions. Fluid inclusions in halites from the nonmarine Qaidam Basin, Qinghai Province, western China, have a distinctly different major ion chemical signature than does “global” seawater. The fluid inclusion chemistries from the Qaidam Basin halites do not lie on the evaporation pathways defined by modern seawater and can clearly be differentiated from fluid inclusions containing evaporated seawater. If fluid inclusions in halites from modern natural settings contain unmistakable samples of evaporated seawater, then evaluation of the chemistry of ancient seawater by chemical analysis of fluid inclusions in ancient marine halites by means of the same approach should be valid.