Chemostratigraphy of the lower Cretaceous Mural Limestone, Rancho Bufalo section, Sonora, Mexico: Implications for OAE 1b

A multidisciplinary approach of the Aptian-Albian Mural Limestone including petrography, geochemistry and stable isotope data is undertaken for the 660-m thick Rancho Bufalo section of northeastern Sonora to characterize source of rare earth elements and to infer paleo-redox conditions. The lithofacies of limestones range from mudstone to boundstone. The unaltered signatures of the δ13C values are confirmed by using Mn and Sr concentrations and their ratios along with the absence of correlation between δ13C and δ18O values. The limestones have large variations in ΣREE and Al2O3 contents (8.0 − 95.8 ppm; 0.45% − 7.10 ppm; respectively). Most limestones show non-seawater-like REE + Y patterns with positive Eu anomalies and negative Ce anomalies. The limestones have positive Ba anomalies in six intervals and most of them were resulted due to weathering and depositional processes and not due to sea level variations. The redox proxies of U, V/Cr and V/(V + Ni) indicate that the bottom water conditions fluctuated from oxic to anoxic. The high-resolution carbon isotope curve reveals four OAE 1 b sub-events: Jacob, Kilian, Paquier, and Leenhardt. The carbon isotope curve of the Rancho Bufalo section is comparable to that of the Cerro Pimas and Peregrina Canyon sections of Mexico.