title: Major and minor element geochemistry of deep-sea sediments in the Azores Platform and southern seamount region.
abstract: The Azores Platform and the Irving and Great Meteor seamounts south of the archipelago (38°N-29°N) have rarely been studied geochemically, a fact which is surprising given that they represent the south-eastern limit of region V outlined in the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention). The main aim of the present work was therefore to characterise the spatial variability of major and minor elements in deep-sea sediment cores from these two regions. XRD and geochemical analyses revealed that whereas the Azores Platform sediments are composed of a mixture of biogenic and detrital volcanic material, those at the seamounts are characterised by carbonated biogenic remains. The latter sediments were found to contain very low amounts of volcanic or hydrothermal detrital material, being almost entirely comprised of CaCO3 (more than 80%).
authors.affiliation: IH - Instituto Hidrográfico, Rua das Trinas, 49, 1249-093 Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: carla.palma@hidrografico.pt.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Palma
authors.affiliation: IH - Instituto Hidrográfico, Rua das Trinas, 49, 1249-093 Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Anabela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: IH - Instituto Hidrográfico, Rua das Trinas, 49, 1249-093 Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valença
authors.affiliation: Centro de Geologia da Universidade de Lisboa, C6, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal; Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência da Universidade de Lisboa, Rua da Escola Politécnica, 58, 1250-102 Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cascalho
authors.affiliation: CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies & Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Eduarda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology & CESAM, Campus Universitário de Santiago, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ana I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Lillebø
authors.affiliation: CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies & Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Armando C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Duarte
authors.affiliation: EMEPC - Task Group for the Extension of the Continental Shelf, Rua Costa Pinto, 165, 2770-047 Paço de Arcos, Portugal.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pinto de Abreu
mesh_terms: D001394:Azores; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000032:analysis*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014131:Trace Elements; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Azores; Deep-sea; Geochemistry; Metals; Reference concentration; Sediment