ESTONIAN ACADEMY
PUBLISHERS
eesti teaduste
akadeemia kirjastus
PUBLISHED
SINCE 1952
 
Earth Science cover
Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences
ISSN 1736-7557 (Electronic)
ISSN 1736-4728 (Print)
Impact Factor (2022): 1.1
Rare earth elements (REEs) in vertebrate microremains from the upper Pridoli Ohesaare beds of Saaremaa Island, Estonia: geochemical clues to palaeoenvironment c; pp. 115–120
PDF | doi: 10.3176/earth.2015.21

Authors
Živilė Žigaitė, Alexandre Fadel, Henning Blom, Alberto Pérez-Huerta, Teresa Jeffries, Tiiu Märss, Per Erik Ahlberg
Abstract

Rare earth element (REE) compositions of Nostolepis sp. scales, spines, plates and tesserae from Ohesaare bone beds were measured by in situ microsampling using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The obtained REE concentrations, normalized to Post-Archean Australian Shale concentrations, were evaluated using basic geochemical calculations and quantifications. The REE compositions were nearly identical across all the morphotypes and histologies of Nostolepis microremains, showing flat REE patterns with slight depletion in heavy REEs. There was no visible enrichment in middle REEs, indicating good geochemical preservation of bioapatite and absence of any pronounced fractionated REE incorporation during later stages of diagenesis. The shale-normalized (La/Yb)SN and (La/Sm)SN REE ratio compilations indicated adsorption as the dominating REE uptake mechanism across all datapoints. The absence of well-defined Ce anomaly suggested oxic palaeoseawater conditions, which agrees with the existing interpretations of the Ohesaare sequence as high-energy shoal and regressive open ocean sedimentary environments.

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