Abstract
The suggestion1 that a meteorite impact at the end of Cretaceous time (the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary) caused the extinction of many groups of organisms and left an anomalous iridium concentration in sediments has stimulated interest in both the extinctions and in the geochemistry of Ir (refs 2–6). The geochemical behaviour of Ir is not well understood, partly because of the scarcity of concentration data for common rocks, soils and waters. Here we report Ir abundances in Mississippi River suspended matter (MRSM) and Gulf of Mexico (GOM) sediments and suggest that these values may be representative of much of the upper continental crust (that accessible to rock weathering). These data imply that the processes leading to the well known enrichment of iridium in deep-sea sediments7 are similar to those which enrich elements such as Ni and Co.
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Fenner, F., Presley, B. Iridium in Mississippi River suspended matter and Gulf of Mexico sediment. Nature 312, 260–262 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/312260a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/312260a0
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