On the origin and early diagenesis of early Triassic carbonate mud (Dolomites, Italy)

The earliest Triassic (early Induan) deposits of the Italian Southern Alps are shallow water oolites, and lime-
mudstone formed in an open shelf (mid to outer carbonate ramp) sedimentary environment, deposited after the
end-Permian extinction that killed all carbonate producers. The origin of these lime-mudstones is thus enigmatic.
We used a multidisciplinary petrographic and geochemical approach to identify the origin and early diagenesis of
early Triassic lime-mudstones of the Dolomites (Northern Italy).
This fine carbonate is made of pitted crystals of microsparite,
∼
25
μ
m in diameter, exhibiting zonation both in
fluorescence and cathodoluminescence. Field and standard petrographic observations exclude an origin from frag-
mentation or abrasion of carbonate grains. Strontium content, measured in-situ with electron microprobe, has a
bimodal distribution with values locally as high as > 4000 ppm.
Lipid biomarker analysis revealed molecular fossils of bacteria (terminally-branched alkanes, hopanes, and scarce
methylhopanes) along with compounds of low source specificity (n-alkanes), whereas biomarkers of algae (ster-
anes) were not detected. This suggests that, differently from modern Caribbean shelfs, this fine carbonate did not
originate from the disgregation of green algae. A Pristane to Phytane ratio < 1 also suggests deposition under
anoxic conditions, in agreement with the known status of "superanoxia" of earliest Triassic oceans.
Overall, our observations suggest an aragonitic mineralogy of the carbonate mud, followed by calcite replacement
and cementation in the marine burial early diagenetic environment. Our data strongly suggest that the early Trias-
sic carbonate mud of the Dolomites was precipitated in the water column, similarly to the modern whitings of the
Bahamas, and then settled on a shelf bottom below wave base.
Our study shows that these lime-mudstones contain aragonite replaced by calcite and calcite cement, in variable
proportions. The
δ
13
C of aragonite is expected to be
∼
2.5
h
higher than calcite precipitated from the same wa-
ter. Thus, even in the simplified scenario of carbonate mud replacement in a semi-closed system, followed by
pore occlusion by syntaxial calcite overgrowth, the carbon isotopic composition of this lime-mudstone cannot be
straightforwardly interpreted as a record of the
δ
13
C of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) of early Triassic seawater.