EAP - Oil Shale publications

PUBLISHED
SINCE 1984

Oil Shale

ISSN 1736-7492 (Electronic)
ISSN 0208-189X (Print)

Open Access Journal

CiteScore: 2.6

Impact Factor (2022): 1.9

NITROGEN ISOTOPES IN KUKERSITE AND BLACK SHALE IMPLYING ORDOVICIAN-SILURIAN SEAWATER REDOX CONDITIONS; pp. 60–75

PDF | doi: 10.3176/oil.2013.1.06

Authors

ENLI KIIPLI, TARMO KIIPLI

Abstract

For the first time data on nitrogen isotopes from the Ordovician-Silurian sedimentary rocks of the Baltic Basin are reported. Supplementary samples come from several regions worldwide. The data reveal the existence of different primary bioproductivity pathways in the Ordovician-Silurian. During the formation of black shale surface waters were oxygen-poor and maintained N₂-fixing primary production indicated by δ¹⁵N –0.3‰ on average. The average δ¹⁵N of kukersite oil shale is +7.4‰. The positive δ¹⁵N values are in accordance with the formation of kukersite in oxic waters, showing that Gloeocapsomorpha prisca was a nitrate-using not N₂-fixing cyanobacterium-like organism. The black shale samples from the deep shelf suggest that seawater, including the photic zone, often suffered from deficiency of oxygen.

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