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Suspension is the key mechanism by which fine‐grained sediment (≤125 μm) is winnowed and transported across shallow‐water carbonate platforms into adjacent deep waters. Unlike sliding and saltation, which deliver sedimentary structures via bedload, the sedimentological signature of suspended sediment is more cryptic. This study focuses on suspended sediment, and its drivers – wind, waves and tides – to better constrain the processes responsible for the transport of fine‐grained sediments. By building forward from remote sensing algorithms developed for deep‐waters, sediment suspension in the shallow water column can be mapped from satellite. By applying machine learning to Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data for Great Bahama Bank, this study demonstrates how the drivers of sediment suspension change over 18 years across this 100 000 km2 carbonate platform. Through time, both seasonal patterns of suspension, as well as those induced by El Niño‐Southern Oscillation and, more subtly, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation were tracked. El Niño‐Southern Oscillation modulates wind‐induced currents, while Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation affects local sea level. Across space, this study shows how the eastern margin of Great Bahama Bank, which is traditionally considered to be wind‐dominated, primarily owes its suspended sediment to tidal currents focused between islands. Sediment suspension across the leeward margin of Great Bahama Bank, meanwhile, can be attributed to wind‐induced currents and waves. The authors consider this work a step towards delivering a quantitative, reproducible, process‐based understanding of sediment suspension atop carbonate platforms using Earth observation data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in sea-level are linked to glacial-interglacial variability and have been claimed as the main factor controlling the production of carbonate platform factories. The Maldives archipelago (Indian Ocean), composed of two rows of atolls that enclose an inner sea, is a very sensitive region to sea-level changes. The sediments of the Inner Sea, offer an excellent study site to explore the impact of sea-level changes on carbonate platforms. Elemental geochemical composition records, obtained by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core-scanning, from the Maldives Inner Sea (IODP Site U1467), have been used in this work to evaluate the influence of orbitally-driven sea-level fluctuations on the carbonate production and export from the neritic environment into the Maldives Inner Sea over the last 1.3 million years. High Sr aragonite-rich carbonates (HSAC) from neritic settings are deposited in the Maldives Inner Sea during sea-level highstand intervals, increasing the values of the Sr/Ca ratio. In contrast, during sea-level lowstand periods large areas of the atolls were exposed or unable to grow and the demise in the carbonate production and sediment export is reflected as low Sr/Ca values in the Inner Sea. However, we propose that sea level is not the only factor controlling the production of HSAC during sea-level highstands since several interglacial periods before and after the Mid-Brunhes event (MBE, ~430 ka) indicate high carbonate production (high Sr/Ca). The intensity of the summer monsoon and the Indian Ocean Dipole probably modulated the production at the atolls. Marine Isotope Stage 11 stands out as a period with high sea-level and rather high carbonate production in the Maldives platform. This extraordinary carbonate production in the Maldives atolls (and in other low latitude carbonate platforms) probably contributed to the Mid-Brunhes dissolution event through a strong shelf-to-basin fractionation of carbonate deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variations in the carbon isotopic composition of carbonate and organic carbon (δ13Ccarb and δ13Corg) are generally used to record perturbations in the global carbon cycle, which are in turn closely linked to changes in climate. However, because of climate gradients on Earth, assignment of the "global" signal in ancient records is not straightforward. Here, we report the δ13C values of organic material in the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous sedimentary record of the Vaca Muerta Formation, situated in the Neuquén Basin, Argentina, which show similar patterns to those observed in several northern latitude basins. This record of δ13C values in the organic material differs from those measured in the early Atlantic Ocean, a record previously considered to be representative of the global values of organic carbon. As a result of the global synchronicity observed in the δ13C values of organic material from both northern and southern latitudes, we suggest that these patterns may represent the global record of δ13C values in organic material rather than those measured in the proto--Atlantic Ocean. The δ13C values of the organic components show a slight initial decrease of ~2‰ in the early Tithonian (149-145 Ma) and then another decrease of ~2‰ before reaching a minimum of -30.29‰ in the late Tithonian (145-143 Ma), followed by a gradual increasing trend throughout the Berriasian (143.1-137.7 Ma). The early Valanginian (137.7-135.5 Ma) was marked by a more substantial increase in δ13C values up to -23.46‰. These changes mirror those seen in Northern Hemisphere locations during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, where this perturbation has been termed the Volgian isotopic carbon excursion (VOICE). This difference in the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous δ13C values between the early Atlantic Ocean and the Neuquén Basin is interpreted to be the result of the climate gradient at the time, which was characterized by more humid conditions in high latitudes compared to dry conditions in the Atlantic Ocean basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early marine cementation is a fundamental process for many characteristics of carbonates, like the stabilisation of steep slopes. The genesis of early cements is often attributed to physicochemical processes but there is evidence for microbial mediation. To elucidate the role of microbes and associated organic material, in vitro experiments were undertaken in the presence and absence of indigenous microbiota in ooids from Schooner Cays, Bahamas and compared with native grapestones from Joulter Cays, Bahamas. Microscopic examinations by stereomicroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and thin section analysis of in vitro incubations with native flora document rapid grain fusion, resulting in the formation of grapestones within 30–60 days. The initial binding of the grains is primarily facilitated by exudates of extracellular polymeric substances and microbial communities acting as catalysts in the formation of micritic bridges, cements and encrusted aggregates. In vitro grapestones are similar to native grapestones from Joulter Cays with intergranular areas infested with extracellular polymeric substances, microbes, micritic cements, amorphous calcium carbonate nanograins and micritised outer surfaces. These similarities suggest that incubations with native flora follow similar mineralisation mechanisms as in the natural environment. In contrast, sterilised grains remain loose with little crystal formation after 60 days and are devoid of microbes and organic exudates. Owing to the near absence of precipitates, abiotic precipitation is not the driving force promoting early cements. In contrast, grain fusion is microbially mediated via both a passive mechanism, where extracellular polymeric substances and cell surfaces function as templates for crystal nucleation and generation of micritic cements, and through an active mechanism by which biofilm heterotrophs and autotrophs induce chemical alterations of a local environment, facilitating precipitation. This study underscores that microbially mediated cementation can occur at fast rates and that firmground to hardgrounds and slope stabilisation take place shortly after deposition of carbonate grains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]