The Geochemistry of Qatar Coastal Waters and its Impact on Carbonate Sediment Chemistry and Early Marine Diagenesis

Abstract

The southern margin of the Arabian Gulf is a ''classic'' shallow-water, evaporative, carbonate-producing setting. The sediments and early diagenetic products creating the ''Great Pearl Bank'' of the United Arab Emirates to the east and accumulating in the coastal regions of Qatar to the west have long been studied as modern analogs for ancient evaporitic carbonate deposits of the rock record. An integrated study measuring the chemistry of Qatar subtidal coastal waters, evaporating tidal-pond waters (to halite saturation), and meteoric pond waters was undertaken encompassing both the dry (fall) and wet (winter/spring) seasons of 2016-2017. Measured parameters included temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and alkalinity, as well as major-ion (Na , Ca 2 , Mg 2 , K , Sr 2 , Cl -, and SO 4 2-