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Geology

Probing the memory of mud

Nature volume 406, pages 951–952 (2000)Cite this article

The implications of this study are wide ranging, from our understanding of the evolution of marine plankton and links between the biogeochemical cycles of silica and carbon, to the interpretation of fine-grained mudrocks and their use in reconstructing past environments. Because they are made of silt- and clay-sized particles (less than 62 and 4 micrometres, respectively), the analysis of mudrocks is beyond the resolution of optical microscopy and requires more time-consuming and expensive techniques.

The work of Schieber et al.1 is based on the innovative use of three complementary methods. Under a scanning electron microscope, the textures of individual particles are resolved using back-scattered electron imagery and cathodoluminescence. Non-luminescent quartz silts are characteristic of formation in situ (by dissolution and re-precipitation of SiO2 within the sediment) rather than by erosion from pre-existing rocks. Schieber et al. identified most of the quartz silt in their mudrock samples as non-luminescent. To confirm this interpretation they used an ion microprobe to measure oxygen isotope ratios from individual quartz grains.

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Figure 1: What is the origin of the quartz found in ancient mudrocks?

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  1. School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Southampton Oceanography Centre, European Way, SO14 3ZH, Southampton, UK

    Alan Kemp

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  1. Alan Kemp
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Correspondence to Alan Kemp.

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Kemp, A. Probing the memory of mud. Nature 406, 951–952 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35023211

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