Paleoenvironmental Study of the Late Cretaceous–Eocene Tethyan Sea Associated with Phosphorite Deposits in Jordan

Abstract

Petrological, geochemical, and biostratigraphical investigations have been conducted on seventy-nine samples from four selected sections in Jordan to understand the factors that influenced the enrichment and deposition of massive phosphorite deposits. The calcareous nannofossil marker species Broisonia parca constrica and Reticulofenestra bisecta, from the assigned sections 1 and 2 (Hawar and Al Dhahikiyya), were indicative of the Campanian and Eocene periods, respectively. The enrichment of some ecological marker species such as Kamptnerius magnificus indicates that there were cold periods during phosphate precipitation. All thin sections of the phosphate samples are of grainstone and packstone textures and are composed of skeletal fragments and peloids. Skeletal fragments appeared to be the main component of Hawar phosphates with the existence of peloids, while peloids were the component in sections 2 and 3 (section 3: Al Hisa). At least three intervals of high phosphorous values appeared in the Hawar section, showing variations in the Ca and Nd isotopes and in the terrigenous inputs. Four periods of phosphate enrichment are observed in Sections 2 and 3. These are deep water circulation periods of the early and late Campanian period, interrupted by two periods of submarine and continental weathering. Deep water circulation was initiated during cooling in the Campanian period and indicated by high phosphorous and Ca isotope components and a decline in terrigenous indicators (Al, Si, Ti, and Fe). Submarine weathering during warmer deep-sea periods is indicated by a rising Nd isotope ratio when many of the igneous provinces were subjected to weathering. Continental weathering took place in the warmer periods, with the hydrologic cycle and enhancement of terrigenous indicators (Al, Si, Ti, and Fe) being observed. The effect of the hydrologic cycle was at its highest in the south during the Campanian period and in the Eocene, as both represented shallower settings.