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Cited by 1,592Geochemistry and Elemental AnalysisPaleontology and Stratigraphy of FossilsGeological and Geochemical Analysis

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 197 of the 197 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 5 of the 69 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

Evolution of Sedimentary Rocks

Veizer, J., Mackenzie, F.T.·2014·Treatise on Geochemistry
DOI 10.1016/b978-0-08-095975-7.00715-4
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TL;DR

This chapter argues that recycling and evolution are complementary rather than opposing explanations for the secular decline of sedimentary mass with age, and that the lithologic and geochemical record of sediments is controlled chiefly by the preservation probabilities of tectonic settings. It synthesizes global mass–age inventories, clastic geochemistry, and seawater isotope records to reconstruct the evolution of the exogenic system.

Key findings

  • The present-day global sedimentary mass is ~2.7×10²⁴ g, of which ~72.6% lies on continents (orogenic belts 51.9%, platforms 20.7%), 12.9% in passive-margin basins, 5.5% in active-margin basins, and ~8.3% on the ocean floor; mass declines exponentially with age.
  • Oceanic crust has a half-life (t₅₀) of ~60 My, corresponding to generation/destruction of ~3.5 km² (~20 km³) per year and a maximum life span under 200 My; continental crust totals 7.177×10⁹ km³, with ~25% formed 4.0–2.6 Gy ago, ~35% between 2.6 and 1.7 Gy, and ~40% subsequently, giving a long-term generation rate of ~1.7±0.1 km³ yr⁻¹.
  • The sedimentary cycle is estimated to be ~90±5% cannibalistic, reaching near steady state around the Archean/Proterozoic transition; carbonates constitute ~30% of the Phanerozoic sedimentary mass, with a post-Permian half-life of ~86 My versus 130 My for the total sedimentary mass (carbonate recycling ~1.5× faster).
  • Seawater ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (present 0.7092) derives ~3/4 from riverine and ~1/4 from mantle flux, declining from Cambrian to Jurassic then rising steeply; the Precambrian lower envelope straddles mantle values until the Archean/Proterozoic transition, favoring episodic continental growth over early complete crustal generation.

Methods

  • Narrative synthesis/review chapter (Treatise on Geochemistry, 2nd ed.), relying heavily on Veizer (1988a), Veizer (2003), and Morse and Mackenzie (1990)/Mackenzie and Morse (1992); no new primary data are generated.
  • Applies population-dynamics formalism (survival curves, half-life t₅₀, mean age, oblivion age t_max, recycling constant b) to crustal, tectonic-realm, and sedimentary populations, and compiles existing global databases (e.g., n=5059 Precambrian carbonate samples; 4055 Phanerozoic ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr samples; ~4500 samples for δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O; 9557 for δ¹⁸O).
  • Compares compiled mass–age distributions, clastic geochemistry (K₂O/Na₂O, Th/Sc, REE, Sm–Nd and Lu–Hf model ages), and seawater isotope curves (Sr, Os, S, C, O, plus B and Ca) against tectonic and continental-growth scenarios.

Limitations

  • The authors repeatedly state that databases are of poor or uneven reliability: "only major features of the record can be quantitatively interpreted," preservation-probability systematics are "nothing more than a conceptual framework," and Precambrian Sr and δ³⁴S records suffer poor stratigraphic and geochronological resolution.
  • Several key datasets are explicitly contested in the text: the Given and Wilkinson (1987) dolomite mass–age data (challenged by Holland and Zimmerman, 2000, and Zenger, 1989), the statistical significance of ooid trends (Bates and Brand, 1990), and the causative link between seafloor-spreading rates and seawater chemistry (Rowley, 2002).
  • The text itself notes unresolved problems: the physical mechanism coupling δ³⁴S and δ¹³C is "not clarified," the meaning of higher-order isotope oscillations "is not yet understood," and clumped-isotope thermometry yields elevated temperatures (up to 70 °C) that conflict with the well-preserved sample set—an inconsistency the authors flag as unresolved.

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Crossref · 10.1016/b978-0-08-095975-7.00715-4

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Citations

Cites

Research works printed but not linked: 31

  1. Agegian, 1988, Carbonate production and flux from a mid-depth bank ecosystem, National Undersea Research Center Report, 88, 5
  2. Bonifacie, 2008, Temperature and oxygen isotope composition of the Ediacaran oceans: Constraints from clumped isotope carbonate thermometry, EOS Transactions, 89
  3. Cloud, 1976, Major features of crustal evolution, Transactions of the Geological Society of South Africa, 79, 1
  4. Goldstein, 1987, The Nd and Sr isotope systematics of river water dissolve material: Implications for the source of Nd and Sr in seawater, Chemical Geology, 66, 245
  5. Gregor, 1968, The rate of denudation in post-Algonkian time, Proceedings of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science, 71, 22
  6. Kampschulte A (2001) Schwefelisotopenuntersuchungen an strukturell substituierten Sulfaten in marinen Karbonaten des Phanerozoikums – Implikationen für die geochemische Evolution des Meerwassers und Korrelation verschiedener Stoffkreisläufe. PhD Thesis, Ruhr Universität, Bochum.
  7. Karhu, 1996, Carbon isotopes and the rise of atmospheric oxygen, Geology, 24, 867, 10.1130/0091-7613(1996)024<0867:CIATRO>2.3.CO;2 · doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1996)024
  8. Mackenzie, 1975, Sedimentary cycling and the evolution of seawater, vol. 1, 309
  9. Mackenzie, 2005, Boundary exchanges in the global coastal margin: Implications for the organic and inorganic carbon cycles, vol. 3, 193
  10. McLennan, 2003, The roles of provenance and sedimentary processes in the geochemistry of sedimentary rocks, vol. 5, 1
  11. Palmer, 1996, Boron isotope geochemistry: An overview, Reviews in Mineralogy, 33, 709
  12. Patchett, 2003, Provenance and crust-mantle evolution studies based on radiogenic isotopes in sedimentary rocks, vol. 5, 89
  13. Plummer, 1975, Mixing of seawater with calcium carbonate ground water, Geological Society of America Memoir, 142, 219
  14. Ronov, 1949, A history of the sedimentation and epeirogenic movements of the European part of the USSR (based on the volumetric method), Trudy Geofizicheskogo Instituta AN SSSR, 3, 1
  15. Ronov, 1976, Global carbon geochemistry, volcanism, carbonate accumulation, and life, Geokhimiya, 8, 1252
  16. 1976, Geochemistry International, 13, 175
  17. Sackett, 1989, Stable carbon isotope studies on organic matter in the marine environment, vol. 3, 139
  18. Schuchert, 1931, Geochronology of the age of the Earth on the basis of sediments and life, Bulletin of the National Research Council, 80, 10
  19. Sorby, 1879, The structure and origin of limestones, Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, 35, 56
  20. Southam, 1981, Global sedimentary mass balance and sea level changes, vol. 7, 1617
  21. Strakhov, 1969, vol. 2
  22. Tan, 1988, Stable carbon isotopes in dissolved inorganic carbon in marine and estuarine environments, vol. 3, 171
  23. Vail, 1977, Seismic stratigraphy and global changes of sea level: 4. Global cycles of relative changes of sea level, AAPG Memoir, 26, 83
  24. Veizer, 1983, Trace element and isotopes in sedimentary carbonates, Reviews in Mineralogy, 11, 265
  25. Veizer, 2003, Isotopic evolution of seawater on geological timescales: Sedimentological perspective, vol. 5, 99
  26. Veizer, 1996, Temporal pattern of sedimentation: Phanerozoic of North America, Geochemistry International, 33, 64
  27. Vinogradov, 1967, The formation of the oceans, Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Geologicheskaya, 4, 3
  28. Vinogradov, 1956, Composition of the sedimentary rocks of the Russian platform in relation to the history of its tectonic movements, Geochemistry, 6, 533
  29. Vinogradov, 1956, Evolution of the chemical composition of clays of the Russian platform, Geochemistry, 2, 123
  30. Vinogradov, 1952, Evolution of the chemical composition of carbonate rocks, Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Geologicheskaya, 1, 33
  31. Zhu P (1999) Calcium Isotopes in the Marine Environment. PhD Thesis, University of California, San Diego.

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Metadata

Authors
Veizer, J., & Mackenzie, F. T.
Affiliations
  • University of Ottawa (CA)
  • University of Hawaii System (US)
Venue
Treatise on Geochemistry
Publisher
Elsevier
Published
2014
Pages
399-435
DOI
10.1016/b978-0-08-095975-7.00715-4
OpenAlex
W1610145251
Semantic Scholar
474ab19eb85fbc8e4bc93f458dd5b739e84d26ec
Cited by
1,592
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 66 · 2019: 55 · 2018: 35 · 2017: 40 · 2016: 41 · 2015: 55 · 2014: 36
FWCI
73.16
Type
book chapter
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Treatise on Geochemistry (publishedVersion)
  • Medical Entomology and Zoology
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geochemistry and Elemental Analysis
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
Keywords
sedimentation rate, secular variation, sediment geochemistry, recycling, uniformitarianism, steady state

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