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Studying stromatolites promises an insight into how life began as well as what the Earth was like 3.7bn years ago.

Studying stromatolites promises an insight into how life began as well as what the Earth was like 3.7bn years ago.

The Wisdom of Pearl Farming.

Recent studies suggest that pelagic sediments can enrich rare-earth elements (REE) acting as a significant reservoir for the global REE budget as well as a potential resource for future exploitation. Although Ca-phosphate (e.g., bioapatite fossils) and Fe-Mn (oxyhydr)oxides (e.g., micronodule) have been considered important REE carriers in deep-sea sediments, the proportion of REE held by each mineral phase remains enigmatic. Here, we have investigated the sediments from two promising REE-rich prospective areas: the Tiki Basin in the Southeast Pacific (TKB) and the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB). The mineral grains including bioapatite fossils and Fe-Mn micronodules have been inspected individually by in-situ microscale analytical methods. Correspondently, the REE bound to Ca-phosphate and Fe-Mn (oxyhydr)oxides have been sequentially extracted and quantified. The crucial role of Ca-phosphate is substantiated by sequential leaching which reveals its dominance in hosting ~69.3-89.4% of total REE. The Fe-Mn (oxyhydr)oxides carry ~8.2% to 22.0% of REE in bulk sediments, but they account for ~70.0-80.5% of Ce owing to their preferential adsorption of Ce over the other REE. Surface sediment on modern seafloor can accumulate high REE contents resulting from the REE scavenging by the host phases within the range of sediment-seawater interface. Differences between TKB and CIOB samples indicate that the REE enrichment in the deep-sea environment may be controlled by multiple factors including the productivity of overlying seawater (e.g., phosphorus flux), water depth relative to carbonate compensation depth (CCD), sedimentation rate, redox condition, and hydrothermal vent input (e.g., Fe-Mn precipitations).

Marine hardgrounds are common features during the Phanerozoic and hold significant sedimentological and economic importance. Intriguingly, previous reports of marine hardgrounds are concentrated in Calcite Seas, despite elevated seawater CaCO3 saturation in Aragonite Seas. This bias remains unclear in origin and requires more hardground information, especially from Aragonite Seas, for clarification. Well-developed Holocene marine hardgrounds at Abu Dhabi provide such a good opportunity. This study focused on a widespread and well-developed Holocene marine hardground layer at Abu Dhabi and analyzed its chronostratigraphy, petrology, mineralogy, and geochemistry. The results show that the studied hardground layer can be divided into lower and upper parts, characterized by planar upper surface and no borings nor encrustations. The lower part (with a 14C age of 6945−6368 cal yrs BP) formed during a sea-level transgression, and is laterally traceable along both a seaward and a landward direction. The upper part (with a 14C age of 5871−5452 cal yrs BP) formed during following sea-level transgression and/or stillstand, and disappears along a landward direction. Compared with the lower part, the upper hardground part is higher in δ13Ccarb and δ18Ocarb, supporting formation within more evaporated seawater settings depositing more high-Mg calcite. Both parts consist mainly of aragonite and high-Mg calcite in both carbonate grains and intergranular early-marine cement, but the lower hardground part contains more protodolomite within the early-marine cement. Moreover, an inverse relation in contents indicates a diagenetic transition from aragonite to dolomite during hardground formation and early diagenesis. Further, in combination with previous studies, the findings of this study confirm the rapidity, lateral diachronicity, and composite nature of Holocene marine hardgrounds with mineralogy controlled by sea-level changes. Similar hardgrounds may also be well developed i