Freshwater microbial mud: Punctuated diagenesis during marine transgression in the Florida Everglades, USA

Abstract

AbstractThis manuscript documents the diagenetic progression from deposition to early burial of freshwater low‐Mg calcite mud within a Holocene sequence of the Everglades and Florida Bay (Florida, USA). During initial, in situ burial, the texturally‐complex, organic‐rich mud, exhibits high susceptibility to alteration, within a primarily dissolution‐driven realm. Seaward, a brackish‐water transitional burial environment currently displays evidence of mixed precipitation and dissolution. This brackish stage burial alteration may be due to fluid exchange (a relatively high fluid‐to‐rock ratio) in a submerged estuary setting. Lastly, the burial environment in Florida Bay records a transgression from freshwater to near‐normal marine conditions. This island setting currently exhibits a diagenetic trend towards low‐Mg calcite precipitation in intervals of both the marine and freshwater mud. Burial of freshwater mud beneath nearly 3 m of marine mud during rising sea level appears to have preserved a considerable amount of original textures, as compared with younger freshwater deposits now within the transitional brackish‐water setting. Geochemical and textural data within the freshwater mud sections suggest that complex early diagenesis begins shortly after burial at the site of formation, and perhaps even during deposition. The findings herein document three major implications for coastal zone paludal carbonates: (i) that incipient textural diagenesis in low‐Mg calcite crystals can be extremely early and the stability and petrographic fidelity of these deposits are vulnerable due to the open, trellis‐like structure of the crystals; (ii) relatedly, the stable isotope signature of the original low‐Mg calcite crystals is also vulnerable to alteration by secondary precipitation within the open crystal structure; and (iii) during marine transgression, the paludal calcite crystals likely experience a shift from interstitial fluids that are dissolution‐dominated (freshwater) to more precipitation‐dominated as marine fluids overtake the pore fluid regime. Because palustrine deposits are used as palaeoenvironmental archives, it is important to understand their diagenetic and preservation potential. This study has implications for those concerned with the deposition, reactivity and preservation potential of continental and microbial carbonates.