Geoscience Frontiers 12 (2021) 495–504
H O S T E D BY
Research Paper
Geochemistry of core sediments from the southeastern Bay of Bengal:
Inferences on weathering and early diagenetic changes
A. Prajith, Abhishek Tyagi, P. John Kurian *
National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Headland Sada, Vasco-da-Gama, 403 804, Goa, India
A R T I C L E I N F O
Handling Editor: Sohini Ganguly
Keywords:
Bay of Bengal
Trace elements
Chemical weathering
Summer monsoon
Mn-oxides
1. Introduction
The Bay of Bengal (BoB) and Andaman Sea receive large quantities of
sediments from the Himalayas, Peninsular India and Indo-Burman ranges
through the major rivers Ganga, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, Krishna,
Godavari, Cauvery, Irrawaddy and Salween (Colin et al., 1999, 2006;
Ahmad et al., 2005; Kessarkar et al., 2005; Tripathy et al., 2011;
Mazumdar et al., 2015). At present, the BoB and Andaman Sea regions
are characterized by the seasonal reversal of the atmospheric and oceanic
circulation pattern. During the winter monsoon, the temperature differ-
ence over the continent and ocean induces northeast dry winds, blowing
from the continent towards the ocean. In summer monsoon, southwest
winds blow from the ocean towards the continent carrying moisture and
precipitation over land. Heavy precipitation during summer monsoon
over the land transports a large volume of sediment and freshwater into
the BoB. This enormous freshwater flux into the BoB during summer
monsoon leads to a strongly stratified surface layer thereby restricting
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: john@ncpor.res.in, kurianjohn@gmail.com (P.J. Kurian).
Peer-review under responsibility of China University of Geosciences (Beijing).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2020.08.011
Received 11 December 2019; Received in revised form 26 June 2020; Accepted 13 August 2020
Available online 15 September 2020
1674-9871/© 2020 China University of Geosciences (Beijing) and Peking University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the
CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Geoscience Frontiers
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/gsf
A B S T R A C T
A sediment core (ABP24/05), collected at a water depth of 3520 m from the southeastern Bay of Bengal was
studied to determine the change in chemical weathering during the last glacial to deglacial periods and the factors
of sedimentary environment which controlled earliest diagenetic changes in the sediment after its deposition.
High ratios of K/Rb, Ti/Al and Zr/Rb during ~45 to ~18 cal kyr B.P. in the core sediments may be attributed to
the stronger physical erosion and turbidity currents activity during this period. This might have brought a higher
quantity of unaltered minerals to the study area. Low ratios of K/Rb, Zr/Rb, and Ti/Al and increase of SiO2/TiO2,
Rb/Al and Cs/Al from ~18 cal kyr B.P. to present may be indicating an increase in the rate of chemical
weathering during this period. The time of increased chemical weathering in the study area is consistent with
deglaciation warming in the tropical Indian Ocean and strengthening of river runoff into the Andaman Sea.
Climate change during the interglacial period by increased solar insolation thereby strengthened the summer
monsoon which might have led to intensified chemical weathering in the source region since ~18 cal kyr B.P. The
low organic carbon (OC), high Mn/Al, Fe/Al and the Mn-oxides minerals precipitation indicate prevailing of oxic
conditions during ~11 cal kyr B.P. in the core sediments, which is contradictory to suboxic conditions developed
in the deep ocean sediments in the western Bay of Bengal and the equatorial Indian Ocean. The low terrigenous
influx and export of less OC to the bottom sediments might have created a favorable condition for the formation of
Mn-oxides in the study area during Holocene.
the turbulent wind-driven vertical mixing to a shallow depth of <20 m
(Prasanna Kumar et al., 2002). This stable stratification leads to less
nutrient availability and less bioproductivity in the BoB (Prasanna Kumar
et al., 2002). During the winter monsoon, the freshwater influx is less
compared to the summer monsoon period, which weakens the stratifi-
cation in the water column resulting in increased mixing, nutrient
availability and productivity (Prasanna Kumar et al., 2004). The
paleo-productivity studies conducted in the BoB have also reported
enhanced bioproductivity during the weaker monsoon periods (colder
periods) (Phillips et al., 2014; Da Silva et al., 2018; Panmei et al., 2018).
Studies conducted on the sediments indicated that the intensity of
summer monsoon varied with the different climatic changes in the
northern hemisphere (Kudrass et al., 2001; Prajith et al., 2018). During
the Holocene period, the summer monsoon was more intense while the
winter monsoon was active during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)
(Sarkar et al., 1990; Rashid et al., 2011). These changes in monsoon in-
tensity during the Late Quaternary were mainly forced by the cyclical
A. Prajith et al. Geoscience Frontiers 12 (2021) 495–504

changes in solar insolation (Kutzbach, 1981; Clemens et al., 1991; Liu
et al., 2006; Mohtadi et al., 2016). Thus, the climate change during the
glacial to de-glacial period due to the increased solar insolation in the
northern hemisphere influenced the rate of chemical weathering in the
south Asian region which might have controlled the mobile and immo-
bile metals supply to the BoB and Andaman Sea (Colin et al., 2006;
Lupkar et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2019). Apart from the changing intensity of
summer monsoon, the freshwater stratification, turbidity, sedimentation
and productivity variation in different climatic periods has also influ-
enced the behavior and distribution of metals in the BoB and the Anda-
man Sea sediments (Chauhan et al., 1994; Colin et al., 1999, 2006;
Phillips et al., 2014; Joussain et al., 2016; Bejugam and Nayak, 2017; Li
et al., 2017; Da Silva et al., 2018; Prakashbabu and Ramaswamy, 2018;
Liu et al., 2019). The drastic climatic changes during the LGM to
de-glacial periods also generated different assemblages of clay minerals,
metals and magnetic mineral grain size in the BoB and Andaman region
sediments. This is directly related to the changing physical and chemical
weathering conditions in the Himalayan, Peninsular Indian region and
Indo-Burman Ranges (Colin et al., 1998; Lupkar et al., 2013; Tripathy
et al., 2014; Joussain et al., 2016; Miriyala et al., 2017; Prajith et al.,
2018; Liu et al., 2019).
The studies on core sediments indicated relatively low sedimentation
rates and hemipelagic deposits in the BoB and the Andaman Sea during
interglacial periods (Joussain et al., 2016). During glacial periods, the
higher sedimentation rates occurred in association with strong activity of
turbidity currents (Joussain et al., 2016). Colin et al. (1999, 2006)
reported stronger physical erosion in the Himalaya, Tibetan Plateau and
Indo-Burman Ranges during the glacial stages. The stronger physical
erosion and low sea level during glacial periods induced a higher quan-
tity of unaltered minerals into the BoB and Andaman Sea without any
noticeable changes in sedimentary sources through time (Colin et al.,
1999, 2006).
The geochemistry of deep-sea sediments in the BoB reported diage-
netic formations of Mn oxides and Mn micronodules in the bottom sed-
iments (Bejugam and Nayak, 2017; Li et al., 2017; Prakashbabu and
Ramaswamy, 2018). Chauhan et al. (1994) and Chauhan and Rao (1999)
also reported enhanced growth of manganese micronodules in the
eastern BoB core-top sediments. Studies on Fe–Mn crust formations on
top of Northern Ninety East Ridge noticed an increased rate of Fe–Mn
crust growth to the northern side and high influence of the Himalayan
River system in the detrital material (Hein et al., 2016). The studies in the
Andaman backarc basin indicated that the main sediment sources were
the detrital inputs from the Irrawaddy River and additional input from
the altered products of volcanic rocks (Kurian et al., 2008; Kameshraju
et al., 2012).
This study reports for the first time the major and trace metals
geochemistry of core sediments from the southeastern Bay of Bengal to
determine the change in the rate of chemical weathering during the last
glacial to de-glacial periods and its linkage to climate change.
Geochemical proxies are also applied to interpret the factors of sedi-
mentary environment that controlled the earliest diagenetic changes in
the sediment after its deposition.

Fig. 1. Location of the gravity core (ABP 24/05) from the southeastern Bay of Bengal (a), circulation pattern during northeast (b) (Shetye et al., 1993), and southwest
monsoon (c) (Vinayachandran et al., 1999). The sediment cores discussed in the text are also shown (SK 218–1, Naidu and Govil, 2010; Pattan et al., 2013; SK
304A-05, Chandana et al., 2017; SK 168, Gebregiorgis et al., 2016; Miriyala et al., 2017). Bathymetric depth contours are in meters. Bathymetry data are from GEBCO
2014 global terrain models for ocean and land (https://www.gebco.net/data_and_products/gridded_bathymetry_data/).

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2. Materials and methods Table 1

Range and mean values of metals in the sediment core ABP24/05.
A gravity core of 3.06 m long collected at 3520 m water depth (Fig. 1; Range Average
ABP24/05) from the southeastern BoB (08
28.420 N and 90
40.970 E) on
%
board RV-Akademik Boris Petrov is used for the current study. Top 65 cm Na 0.88–1.91 1.63  0.17
of the sediment core is represented by dark brown sandy silt, the interval K 1.20–3.11 2.14  0.45
between 65 and 110 cm consists of light grey silty clay and the bottom of Mg 0.83–1.92 1.48  0.25
the core sediment is represented by dark grey clayey silt (Fig. 3). The top Al 4.62–10.73 7.84  1.68
Fe 3.14–6.63 4.71  0.73
100 cm of the sediment core was sub-sampled at 1 cm interval, 100–200 Ti 0.23–0.52 0.38  0.08
cm at 2 cm interval and 200–306 cm at 5 cm interval. These sub-samples Mn 0.04–1.01 0.15  0.15
were then dried at <40
C. For radiocarbon age calculations, planktonic μg/g
foraminifera, Globorotalia menardii collected from five specific sediment V 65.8–136.8 110.7  21.4
Cr 58.3–134.9 106.9  22.1
intervals of the core sediments were analyzed in the Accelerator Mass
Ba 280–915 537  194
Spectrometer (AMS) at the University of Arizona, USA (Fig. S1; Prajith Ni 42.4–123.9 89.4  21
et al., 2018). CALIB 7 (MARINE 13) was used to calibrate these radio- Cu 23.7–72.4 44.4  12.9
carbon ages to calendar ages (Stuiver and Reimer, 1993). A standard Sr 74.1–724.4 289.1  197.3
marine reservoir correction of 400 years was applied in all the radio- Co 15.1–27.2 22.1  3.2
Li 46.3–104.4 86.6  18.2
carbon ages. Powdered bulk sediments samples were used for total Zr 46.6–151.5 105  28
inorganic carbon (TIC) analyses (71 samples). TIC was determined by Rb 67.2–101.7 90.4  9.7
using a TOC-V series SSM-5000A Shimadzu elemental analyzer. To Cs 4.60–6.60 5.87  0.50
measure TIC, samples were placed in ceramic sample sockets and 0.5 mL Mo 0.08–2.31 0.47  0.52
Ga 7.7–23.6 16.1  3.4
of 85% phosphoric acid was added to remove the organic content. CaCO3
Zn 71.9–781.4 132.2  117.8
(%) values were calculated by multiplying a factor 8.333 with TIC. The Pb 9.22–21.1 14.3  2.1
accuracy of the TIC analysis was better than 5%. Th 5.96–8.04 7.19  0.53
For geochemical analysis, 10 mL of an acid mixture (HF, HNO3 and U 0.77–2.71 1.27  0.36
HClO4) in the ratio 7:3:1, respectively was added into ~50 mg of the
powdered sediments in Teflon beakers. This mixture was then kept
overnight and later dried on a hot plate at 190
C until samples in the Table 2
beakers were completely digested. 2 mL of 1:1 of Milli-Q water and HNO3 Factor analysis matrix after varimax rotation for sediment core from the Bay of
was added to dissolve the final residue. This residue was made up to 50 Bengal.
mL by using Milli-Q water. Reference standard SGR-1 and NIST 2702 and Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4
blank (without sediment) were also digested along with the sediments.
Eigen value 18.30 2.69 1.76 1.52
The digested sample solutions were analyzed for major and trace metals % variance 63.11 9.29 6.06 5.25
in ICP-MS and ICP-OES at NCPOR, India. The accuracy of the analyses for Na 0.17 0.93 0.15 0.04
major and trace metals used in this study was better than 10%. The SiO2 Mg 0.76 0.58 0.04 0.16
in sediments was measured using powdered carbonate free lithogenic K 0.77 0.56 0.08 0.21
Al 0.84 0.44 0.13 0.17
fraction of the sediments, in a Wavelength Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence
Ti 0.85 0.42 0.15 0.19
Spectrometry (WDXRF, Axios, PANalytical). The standard JSD 1 Fe 0.91 0.09 0.12 0.14
(Geological Survey of Japan) was used for quality control and the accu- V 0.90 0.04 0.23 0.22
racy of the analyses was better than 5%. To avoid biogenic silica (excess Cr 0.93 0.02 0.25 0.15
silica) in total SiO2 content of core sediments, the excess silica is sub- Co 0.93 0.02 0.20 0.11
Li 0.93 0.03 0.24 0.20
tracted from the total SiO2 (The excess silica calculated using the formula Ga 0.79 0.32 0.01 0.06
SiO2excess ¼ SiO2  3.38  Al2O3, see Nath et al., 1989). Rb 0.93 0.02 0.29 0.10
Statistical methods of factor analyses (Table 2) and principal Cs 0.89 0.10 0.32 0.04
component analysis (PCA; Fig. 2) were used to characterize the metal Zr 0.81 0.15 0.23 0.21
Pb 0.33 0.19 0.00 0.12
associations in the sediment core. PCA and factor analyses help to
Th 0.87 0.07 0.33 0.02
differentiate metals contributed from various sources and also to identify U 0.57 0.33 0.36 0.11
groups of metals that behaved similarly in a particular geochemical Mn 0.16 0.00 0.02 0.94
environment. To confirm the manganese oxides in the sediment intervals, Mo 0.62 0.05 0.06 0.67
5 samples were analyzed using Schottky Field Emission Scanning Elec- Ca 0.97 0.04 0.14 0.17
Ba 0.89 0.05 0.15 0.32
tron Microscope (FESEM-EDS, JSM-7610) to capture images of Mn pre- Sr 0.96 0.03 0.16 0.18
cipitates and to perform elemental analysis on Mn precipitates. Cu 0.77 0.04 0.06 0.44
Ni 0.92 0.07 0.20 0.07
3. Results Zn 0.19 0.29 0.13 0.01
CaCO3 0.93 0.04 0.19 0.18
Corg 0.16 0.41 0.29 0.58
Based on five 14C dates, the 3.06 m long sediment core covers the past Clay 0.54 0.33 0.46 0.02
~46 cal kyr B.P. (Fig. S1). The average sedimentation rate in the sedi- Silt 0.35 0.03 0.83 0.05
ment core ABP24/05 is 6.7 cm/kyr which is comparable with the average Sand 0.50 0.12 0.83 0.04
sedimentation rates of earlier published records in the southeastern BoB
(5.3 cm/kyr during last 60 kyr, Raza et al., 2017; 4.2 cm/kyr during last
35 kyr, Raza and Ahmad, 2013). The sedimentation rate was high during until ~18 cal kyr B.P. and these values drastically decreased from ~18
~24 to ~11 cal kyr B.P. (9–11.5 cm/kyr) whereas low sedimentation rate cal kyr B.P., whereas ratios of SiO2/TiO2, Rb/Al and Cs/Al values
was observed during ~11 cal kyr B.P. to present (4 cm/kyr) (Fig. 3). increased from ~18 cal kyr B.P. in the core sediments (Fig. 4). The OC
The range and mean concentrations of major and trace elements in (data from Prajith et al., 2018) and CaCO3 values decreased during last
core sediments are given in Table 1. The metal ratio values of K/Rb, Zr/ ~11 cal kyr B.P. (0.5% and 10%, respectively) and high values were
Rb, and Ti/Al (avg: 0.26, 1.3 and 0.049, respectively) were consistent noticed during the ~24–18 cal kyr B.P. (~1% and 22%, respectively) and

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Fig. 2. Principal component analyses (PCA) of metals in the core ABP 24/05.
Each variable (metals) is represented by a vector, and the direction and length of
the vector indicates how each variable contributes to each other.
Younger Dryas event (YD) (~0.9% and 24%, respectively) periods
(Fig. 5).
The Mn and Mo concentrations show direct correlation (Fig. 2; Table 2)
and similar Al-normalized down-core variations with very high values to-
wards the core top (Fig. 5). The Mn/Al and Mo/Al values were higher than
the Continental Crust values since ~11 cal kyr B.P. to present (Wedepohl,
1995) (Fig. 5). High Mn and Mn/Al values were noticed during early Ho-
locene (~11 cal kyr B.P.) sediments (1% and 12  102, Fig. 5). The FESEM
images and EDS spectrum of sediment intervals at ~11 cal kyr B.P. confirm
the presence of manganese oxides during this period (Fig. 7). The
redox-sensitive metal ratios of V/Cr, U/Al and U/Th were observed to be
low in the Holocene sediments compared to the period from ~25 to 11.5 cal
kyr B.P. (Fig. 6). The productivity parameters CaCO3, Ba/Al, Cu/Al and
Sr/Al showed similar down-core variations in the core sediments (Fig. 5).
Fig. 3. Down-core variations of mean sediment grain size (lithogenic fraction of grain size data from Prajith et al., 2018), Al%, Mg/Al, K/Al and Linear Sedimentation
Rate (LSR) in the core ABP 24/05.
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Geoscience Frontiers 12 (2021) 495–504
Factor analysis and PCA revealed that 4 major factors accounted for
84% of total variance in the core sediments, with eigen value greater than
one (Table 2). The factor 1 explains 63% of the total variance and is
primarily loaded with elements such as Al, Ti, K, Mg, V, Cr, Zr, Th, Co, Fe,
Rb and Cs, and the negative relationship of these elements with CaCO3,
Ba, Sr and Cu indicate two groups of different sources. In factor 1, metals
are primarily loaded with Ti and Al indicating that the metals K, Mg, V,
Cr, Zr, Th, Co, Rb and Cs in the core sediments are mainly controlled by
terrigenous input (Shimmield et al., 1990; Murray and Leinen, 1996;
Pattan et al., 2003). The CaCO3, Ba, Cu and Sr showed strong loadings in
PCA and factor analysis and anti-correlation on terrigenous proxies
(Fig. 2, Table 2), indicating association of these metals and its indepen-
dent biogenic origin (Sirocko et al., 2000; Tribovillard et al., 2006).
Factor 4 is primarily loaded with Mn and Mo, and a negative relationship
with OC (Table 2).
4. Discussions
4.1. Inference on chemical weathering
The clay mineral assemblage in the core sediments indicates high
percentage of illite (23%–36%) and chlorite (18%–37%), and low
kaolinite content (7%–16%), which signify the dominance of weathering
products from the Himalayan and Indo-Burman ranges (Prajith et al.,
2018). The high K content (2.14%  0.45%) and K/Al ratio (range: 0.24%–
0.32%; avg: 0.28%  0.02%) in the present study also support the domi-
nance of sediment influx from the Irrawaddy and Ganga-Brahmaputra
(G-B) Rivers into the study area (Table 1, Fig. 3) (Colin et al., 2006; Tri-
pathy et al., 2014; Li et al., 2017). The Irrawaddy and G-B River sediments
are enriched by the K-bearing minerals, which may be produced due to the
intense physical/mechanical and chemical weathering in the Himalayan
and Indo-Burman regions (Rao et al., 1988; Segall and Kuehl, 1992; Colin
et al., 1999; Garzanti et al., 2011, 2016). The reported average values of K
and K/Al in the Irrawaddy River is 1.9%  0.47% and 0.36  0.1; Ganga
River is 2.3%  0.5% and 0.29; Brahmaputra River is 2.6%  0.3% and
0.33 (Garzanti et al., 2011, 2016); Godavari-Krishna River system is
1.67%  0.01% and 0.21 (Pattan et al., 2008); Andaman continental shelf
area is 1.3%  0.4% and 0.21 (Damodararao et al., 2016). The element
concentration of La and Th in sediments is widely used to identify the
potential sediment sources in the marine sediments (Liu et al., 2019;
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Fig. 4. Down-core variations of K/Rb, Zr/Rb, Ti/Al, SiO2/TiO2 (SiO2 ¼ SiO2total  SiO2excess, the excess silica calculated using the formula SiO2excess ¼ SiO2  3.38 
Al2O3, see Nath et al., 1989), Rb/Al, Cs/Al, atmospheric CO2 concentration (Barnola et al., 2003) and solar insolation. Vertical dotted line is the metals ratio of the
Continental Crust (Wedepohl, 1995).

Fig. 5. Down-core variations of CaCO3, organic carbon (OC data from Prajith et al., 2018), Ba/Al, Sr/Al, Cu/Al Fe/Al, Mn/Al, Mo/Al and Ce-anomaly (Ce-anomaly
calculated following equation of Bau and Dulski (1996), Ce/Ce* ¼ CeN/(0.5LaN þ 0.5PrN) in the core ABP 24/05 (this study)). Mn/Ti from a sediment core collected
from the equatorial Indian Ocean (SK 304A-05, Chandana et al., 2017) and Mn/Al from a sediment core collected from the western BoB (SK 218–1, Pattan et al.,
2013). Vertical dotted line is the Al-normalized ratio of the Continental Crust (Wedepohl, 1995).

Sebastian et al., 2019). The discrimination plot of La and Th concentra-
tions in the core sediments may indicate that the dominant source is from
the Irrawaddy River (Fig. S2) (Liu et al., 2019, and reference therein).
From the rock magnetic study of the core sediments, the magnetic grain
size distributions are noticed to be mainly controlled by the chemical
weathering caused by the changing intensity of summer monsoon rather
than dissolution/authigenic/biogenic processes (Prajith et al., 2018). In
this study, metal ratios of K/Rb, Zr/Rb, Ti/Al, SiO2/TiO2, Rb/Al and Cs/Al
are used to determine the time of intensification of chemical weathering
during the last glacial to deglacial periods (Fig. 4). The PCA and factor
analysis indicates that these metals in the core sediments are mainly
controlled by the terrigenous supply (Fig. 2, Table 2).
The intensity of chemical weathering usually changes the bulk
geochemistry of marine sediments (Clift et al., 2014). The widely used
chemical weathering proxies in the marine sediments are chemical index
of alteration (CIA), Si/Al, K/Al, K/Rb, Ti/Al and Zr/Rb (Hu et al., 2012,
2016; Clift et al., 2014; Phillips et al., 2014). The CIA and Si/Al in sed-
iments are usually controlled by the provenance and texture of the
sediments (Lo et al., 2017, and reference therein). The K/Rb is a reliable
indicator of changing chemical weathering intensity over short time
scales rather than CIA and K/Al (Hu et al., 2012, 2016; Lo et al., 2017).
Hu et al. (2016) suggested that K/Rb represents leaching of K, because
isomorphous Rb is retained in the lattices so that K/Rb is a more sensitive
chemical weathering proxy. The K/Rb values in the ABP24/05 core
sediments were high and consistent during the period from ~45 to ~18
cal kyr B.P. and low values noticed during later period, indicating that
the increased rate of chemical weathering started from ~18 cal kyr B.P.
(Fig. 4). The trend to the lowest values of K/Rb observed during ~11.5 to
~8.5 cal kyr B.P., may be due to the faster erosion in the land by the
strengthening of summer monsoon during this period. Such similar trend
of K/Rb during ~11.5 to ~8.5 cal kyr B.P. period is also reported in
sediments from South China Sea (Hu et al., 2012; Clift et al., 2014).
Various paleoclimatic records indicated the intensification of summer
monsoon during this early Holocene period (Overpeck et al., 1996;
Kudrass et al., 2001; Bookhagen et al., 2005; Rashid et al., 2007; Kes-
sarkar et al., 2013; Sijin Kumar et al., 2016; Prajith et al., 2018). Lupker

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Fig. 6. Down-core variations of redox-sensitive parameters (V/Cr, U/Al and U/
Th) in the core sediments. Vertical dotted line is the metals ratio of the Conti-
nental Crust (Wedepohl, 1995).
et al. (2013) reported a decrease in K content along with an increase in
the intensity of weathering over the last 21 cal kyr B.P. without any
changes in the sedimentary sources. They suggested that change in the
degree of weathering is attributed to the variation in climate forcing in
the Indo-Gangetic floodplain because of the increased precipitation and
temperature after the deglaciation.
The metal Ti is abundant in heavy minerals and is usually concen-
trated in the coarse-grained heavy fraction of the sediments (Reichart
et al., 2002). Phillips et al. (2014) noticed total Ti increase in the glacial
BoB sediments and suggested that it is due to the presence of heavy
minerals such as ilmenite, rutile, sphene and titanomagnetite which are
formed by the physical fragmentation during glacial stages. The high
Ti/Al in core sediments up to ~18 cal kyr B.P might be formed by the
stronger physical erosion in the Himalaya and Indo-Burman ranges. The
stronger physical erosion and low sea level with high water turbidity
during glacial periods induced a higher quantity of unaltered minerals in
the BoB and Andaman Sea (Colin et al., 1999, 2006). The low values of
Ti/Al ratio since ~18 cal kyr B.P. reflect a high rate of chemical
weathering during de-glacial period suggesting an increased input of
secondary minerals. The rapid rise of SiO2/TiO2 from ~18 cal kyr B.P. in
core sediments is similar to observed fall of Ti/Al and K/Rb changes
which may be due to the increased chemical weathering after ~18 cal kyr
B.P. (Fig. 4). Tripathy et al. (2014) noticed change in Ti/Al ratio in a
sediment core from the western BoB during glacial to de-glacial periods
and observed the high values of Ti/Al in glacial sediments. This was
explained by the weakening of summer monsoon and large extent of
glaciation over the Himalaya which reduced the exposed area of
weathering during the LGM.
The immobile element Zr enriches heavy stable mineral zircon, which
undergoes less chemical weathering and is thus used to calculate the
depletion rate of other elements (Fralick and Kronberg, 1997; Mason and
Jacobs, 1998). On the contrary, Rb and Cs are closely linked to the
products of chemical weathering such as fine-grained clay minerals and
mica, and usually adsorb onto them in the weathering zone (Nesbitt
et al., 1980; Chen et al., 1999). The Zr/Rb ratio in the core sediments
(range: 0.67–1.5; avg: 1.15  0.23) are lower than the ratio in the Irra-
waddy River (2.7), Ganga River (2.6), Brahmaputra River (2.5) (Garzanti
et al., 2011, 2016) and Godavari-Krishna River system (2.6) (Pattan
et al., 2008). The higher values of Zr/Rb during ~45 to ~18 cal kyr B.P.
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in core sediments may be attributed to the stronger physical erosion and
activity of turbidity currents during this period which might have
brought in a higher quantity of unaltered minerals to the BoB and
Andaman Sea. The low values of Zr/Rb in the sediments since ~18 cal
kyr B.P. may be reflecting an intensification of chemical weathering
during this period (increase of secondary minerals). Phillips et al. (2014)
observed a similar Zr/Rb trend in the western BoB, the Zr/Rb ratio was
high in glacial sediments and values decreased in the interglacial sedi-
ments due to reduced rate of chemical weathering which was related to
the changing intensity of southwest monsoon in the south Asian region.
Liu et al. (2004) suggested that the ratio of Zr/Rb in loess deposits is
closely linked with the chemical weathering. They observed relatively
high values of Zr/Rb during cold and dry periods were associated with
stronger winter monsoon and low values during interglacial periods. Liu
et al. (2004) and Chen et al. (2006) noticed Zr/Rb has a good relation to
the mean grain size of bulk samples in loess deposits. They reported that a
positive correlation between Zr/Rb and grain size is due to the increased
abundance of heavy minerals in coarser sediments. The distribution of
the mean grain size in the core sediments shows that the coarser material
accumulating during ~25–18 cal kyr B.P. and finer from ~18 cal kyr B.P.
to ~14 cal kyr B.P. (Fig. 3). The mean grain size of core sediments
increased from ~14 cal kyr B.P., which is correlated with the moving of
high energy turbidites from the Himalayan Rivers to the BoB due to the
strengthening of the summer monsoon and ice-melting in the Himalaya
(Prajith et al., 2018).
The decrease of K/Rb, Zr/Rb, and Ti/Al and increase of SiO2/TiO2,
Rb/Al and Cs/Al at ~18 cal kyr B.P. in the core sediments may be
indicating an enhancement of chemical weathering during this period.
Physical weathering was stronger during the period of glacial conditions
because of the weakening of summer monsoon, and chemical weathering
was intensified along with the intensification of the summer monsoon
and increased solar insolation during the Late Quaternary de-glacial
period (Colin et al., 2006). The time of the increase in the rate of
chemical weathering in the study area is consistent with deglaciation
warming in the tropical Indian Ocean (Naidu and Govil, 2010) and
strengthening of river runoff into the Andaman Sea (Gebregiorgis et al.,
2016) (Fig. 8). Miriyala et al. (2017) reported an increase in the rate of
chemical weathering at ~17.7 cal kyr B.P. in core sediments from the
Andaman Sea (Fig. 8). Gebregiorgis et al. (2016) reported summer
monsoon over Irrawaddy started strengthening gradually after the last
glacial period during ~18 cal kyr B.P. Studies in the northern Indian
Ocean suggest deglacial warming started at 18–19 cal kyr B.P., which is
contemporary with deglaciation warming in the Antarctic and the
Southern Ocean and is either concurrent with or up to 1 kyr before the
atmospheric CO2 rise (Naidu and Govil, 2010; Saraswat et al., 2013). The
de-glacial rise in atmospheric CO2 concentration reported at 17.5 kyrs
(Barnola et al., 2003; Shakun et al., 2012), is consistent with the noticed
intensified rate of chemical weathering in the core sediments (Fig. 4). In
conclusion, the combined influence of increased precipitation thereby
strengthened river runoff and increased temperature directly controlled
weathering rate of minerals after ~18 cal kyr B.P. and the conditions
during the glacial periods (low precipitation thereby weakened river
runoff and decreased temperature) were less favorable for the intense
weathering in the land (Lupker et al., 2013).
4.2. Prevailing of oxic conditions in the bottom water in the southeastern
part of the Bay of Bengal at Early Holocene and factors controlling the
enrichment of manganese and/or OC in the core sediments
Manganese oxides may be precipitated in the deep-sea sediments via
diagenetic, hydrogenous and hydrothermal processes. The diagenetic Mn
is usually formed within the sediments by early diagenesis. In oxygenated
waters, soluble Mn2þ converts to insoluble Mn4þ and this leads to pre-
cipitation from overlying water to sediments (Canfield, 1989; Schnetger
et al., 2000). The surface enrichment of diagenetic Mn is also caused by
the upward migration of Mn2þ ions through the sediment column due to
A. Prajith et al.
Fig. 7. The FESEM-EDS analysis of manganese precipitates from the depth of 11 cal kyr B.P.
a diffusive gradient into the oxic zone where precipitation occurs (Calvert
and Prince, 1972; Ergin, 1994). Kurian et al. (2008) reported a high Mn
content of hydrothermal origin in the upper sediment zone in the
Andaman backarc basin. They observed a strong correlation of Mn with
Ba and Cu in the sediments mainly due to hydrothermal activity and also
noticed Ba and Cu showed a lack of correlation with the bioproductivity
parameter (CaCO3). The PCA and factor analysis from the present study
indicated a lack of correlation between Mn and Ba, while the biological
parameters (CaCO3, Sr and Cu) showed a good correlation with Ba
(Fig. 2, Table 2). A sharp peak of Mn is observed during last ~11 cal kyr
B.P. in the core sediments indicating the formation of diagenetic
Mn-oxides, which is similar to the diagenetic Mn-oxides observed in the
deep-sea BoB sediments (Chauhan et al., 1994; Chauhan and Rao, 1999;
Li et al., 2017; Prakashbabu and Ramaswamy, 2018). High peaks of
Mn/Al, Fe/Al and Ce-anomaly, suggest prevailing of oxic conditions in
the bottom waters during ~11 cal kyr B.P. (Calvert and Prince, 1972;
Tribovillard et al., 2006) (Fig. 5). The abundance of Mn-oxides minerals
in this sediment layer supports the assumption that the formation of
manganese minerals occur under oxic conditions (Fig. 7).
The rate of sedimentation in the ocean bottom usually controls the
preservation of OC and formation of Mn-oxides in marine sediments
(Muller and Suess, 1979; Pedersen and Calvert, 1990; Sarkar et al., 1993;
Chauhan and Rao, 1999). The sedimentation rate in the sediments was
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Geoscience Frontiers 12 (2021) 495–504
low at ~11 cal kyr B.P. to present (4 cm/kyr) and relatively high during
~24 to ~11 cal kyr B.P. (9–11.5 cm/kyr) (Fig. 3). The negative
Ce-anomaly (<1) towards the core top may also be indicating a decrease
in terrigenous sediments (low sediments influx) and the presence of more
calcareous sediments during the Holocene (Nath et al., 1992; Pattan
et al., 2005) (Fig. 5). In the western, eastern and mid-BoB regions vari-
ations in sedimentation rates during the last glacial to Holocene periods
were observed (Pattan et al., 2013; Joussain et al., 2016; Liu et al., 2019).
Similar variations in the study area might be attributed to the changes in
climate, sea level and circulation pattern in the BoB and the Andaman Sea
during the Late Quaternary. The stronger physical erosion and low sea
level during glacial periods brought a higher quantity of detrital material
into the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea (Colin et al., 2006). At present,
the current in the northern Indian Ocean during summer monsoon is
generally towards the east, called southwest monsoon current (SMC)
(Fig. 1c; Vinayachandran et al., 1999). The SMC occurring at summer
monsoon might have intensified at Holocene (trend to the lowest values
of K/Rb observed), and sea level have been stabilized at a certain height
during this period, this may carry less sediment to the study area. Liu
et al. (2019) reported low sediment supply through submarine channels
into the deep-water environments in the BoB during Holocene when the
sea level reached a certain depth. The low sedimentation since ~11 cal
kyr B.P. to present might have enhanced the formation of Mn-oxides in
A. Prajith et al.
Fig. 8. Comparison of K/Rb (ABP 24/05, this study), chemical index of alter-
ation in a sediment core from the Andaman Sea (SK 168, Miriyala et al., 2017),
Ba/Ca in G. Sacculifer tests (a proxy for riverine runoff and sea surface salinity
changes related to monsoon precipitation on land) in a sediment core from
Andaman (SK 168, Gebregiorgis et al., 2016) and record of sea surface tem-
perature in the BoB (SK 218/01, Naidu and Govil, 2010).
the sediments. The high bottom water oxygenation at ~11 cal kyr B.P.
recognized in the study area is incompatible to suboxic conditions re-
ported in the western BoB and in equatorial Indian Ocean (Pattan et al.,
2013; Chandana et al., 2017) (Figs. 1 and 5). Pattan et al. (2013) reported
suboxic conditions existed during the early Holocene in the western BoB
deep ocean sediment (3307 m). They suggested the enormous terrestrial
material supply (sedimentation rate: 15.13 cm/kyr), caused by the
intensified summer monsoon. The high amount of labile organic matter,
sinking rapidly to the seafloor began to decompose and consumed dis-
solved oxygen, that lead to the development of suboxic condition in the
bottom waters during this period. In the equatorial Indian Ocean, the
enhanced preservation of OC and the low Mn content in the sediment
were observed and explained by the high sedimentation rate (13.8
cm/kyr) in the early Holocene (Chandana et al., 2017). The Mn-oxides
precipitation observed in the present study is consistent with the
enhanced growth of manganese micronodules within the core-top sedi-
ments from the eastern BoB where the sedimentation was low (Chauhan
et al., 1994). In conclusion, the enormous supply of terrestrial material
with labile organic matter in the western BoB created suboxic conditions
in the bottom water during last ~11 cal kyr B.P (Pattan et al., 2013).
whereas low sedimentation in the southeastern BoB created a favorable
condition for the formation of Mn-oxides in the sediments.
The other reason for the formation of abundant Mn-oxides minerals in
the early Holocene sediments may be due to the export of less marine OC
in the bottom sediments. Phillips et al. (2014) observed a decrease in
bioproductivity and denitrification of sediments in the western BoB
during the period of intensified summer monsoon in the Holocene. The
OC content in the sediments at ~11 cal kyr B.P. is ~0.5%, which is
comparable with the OC content in the manganese nodules bearing
sediments in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (Nath and Mudholkar,
1989). The low OC content during last ~11 cal kyr B.P. may be influ-
enced by the negative change in bioproductivity, terrestrial organic
fluxes and the rates of the organic matter decomposition. Low OC values
and productivity parameters (CaCO3, Ba/Al, Sr/Al and Cu/Al) during the
~11 cal kyr B.P. rather suggest a decrease in bioproductivity (Fig. 5),
which may be correlated to low productivity reported in the western BoB
(Phillips et al., 2014). The summer monsoon was intensified at early
Holocene (Overpeck et al., 1996; Kessarkar et al., 2013; Prajith et al.,
2018). This led to more freshwater influx into the BoB, resulting in strong
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Geoscience Frontiers 12 (2021) 495–504
salinity stratification. This may have diminished mixing of water column
and less nutrient availability causing less productivity during the early
Holocene. The low productivity during this period exported less OC to
the bottom sediments. When organic matter accumulation and degrad-
ability rates are low, Mn oxides can be preserved till considerable burial
depths (Finney et al., 1998; Schenau et al., 2002).
The similar down-core variations of Mn/Al and Mo/Al (higher peaks
towards the core top) (Fig. 3), positive loadings in factor analysis
(Table 2, Factor 4) and direct correlation (r ¼ 0.69, p < 0.001) indicated
the association of these elements in the BoB sediments. Molybdenum is
usually linked to Mn-oxyhydroxides in the oxic sediments and it is
preferentially adsorbed onto the MnO2 phase (Shimmield and Prince,
1986; Calvert and Pedersen, 1993; Morford and Emerson, 1999). Mo-
lybdenum is a redox-sensitive trace metal that tends to be more soluble
under oxidizing conditions and precipitate during reducing conditions
and it usually enriches in the oxygen-depleted marine sediments (Calvert
and Pedersen, 1993; Tribovillard et al., 2006; Pattan et al., 2013). In the
studied core sediments, redox-sensitive parameters such as V/Cr, U/Al,
U/Th, OC and Fe/Al (Figs. 5 and 6) do not show any signals of reducing
conditions during Holocene, supporting adsorption of Mo to
Mn-oxyhydroxides rather than the anoxic precipitation of Mo from the
water column. Contrarily, the simultaneous enrichment of Mo/Al and
CaCO3 towards the core top can be attributed to the affinity of Mo to
CaCO3 in marine sediments (Tribovillard et al., 2006).
The diagenetic modification in the marine sediments due to change in
deep water circulation in the past has been recorded in various paleo-
climatic events (Sarkar et al., 1993; Schulte et al., 1999; Pattan et al.,
2013; Chandana et al., 2017). The low Mn content (avg: 990 μg/g) and
Mn/Al ratio (Fig. 5) in the deeper subsurface sediments may be indi-
cating the diagenetic dissolution of Mn under suboxic conditions. Sarkar
et al. (1993) noticed high content of OC and low Mn during LGM where
low content of OC and high Mn in Holocene sediments in the south-
eastern part of the Arabian Sea, which is similar to the results of present
study. Chandana et al. (2017) also reported similar conditions during
LGM. They observed high content of OC during LGM is related to the
preservation of OC under suboxic conditions due to the change in deep
water circulation. During LGM, the contribution from North Atlantic
Deep-water circulation (NADW) was reduced and an increased influx
from Southern Ocean deep waters which is poor in O2 and rich in CO2
was noticed (Sarkar et al., 1993; Chandana et al., 2017). In addition,
relatively high OC and high peaks of productivity parameter may be
suggesting high productivity during LGM and YD periods (YD event was
recognized in the core sediments from the BoB and the Andaman Sea on
the base of climate proxy changes, reported by Prajith et al., 2018).
Several studies reported that the intensity of summer monsoon was
weaker in LGM and YD colder periods, and river water influx to the BoB
was consequently decreased during these periods (Kudrass et al., 2001;
Rashid et al., 2011). The decreased freshwater influx during these cold
events (YD and LGM) might have diminished the stratification in the BoB,
which may have facilitated increased mixing and nutrient availability
(Da Silva et al., 2018). Phillips et al. (2014), Da Silva et al. (2018) and
Panmei et al. (2018) also reported higher bioproductivity in the BoB
during the weak summer monsoon cold periods.
5. Conclusions
The temporal variations of mobile and immobile metal ratio proxies
in the sediment core recovered from the southeastern BoB provide a good
record of chemical weathering intensity during the Late Quaternary
glacial to deglacial periods. High ratios of K/Rb, Zr/Rb, and Ti/Al and
low ratios of Rb/Al and Cs/Al might be formed by the stronger physical
erosion in the Himalaya and Indo-Burman ranges during ~45 to 18 cal
kyr B.P. whereas the low ratios of K/Rb, Zr/Rb and Ti/Al and high ratios
of SiO2/TiO2, Rb/Al and Cs/Al suggest an increase in the rate of chemical
weathering from ~18 cal kyr B.P. to present. This variation is closely
related with the Late Quaternary glacial to de-glacial climate change in
A. Prajith et al.
South Asia. The formation of Mn-oxides observed during last ~11 cal kyr
B.P. in the southeastern BoB (present study) is contradictory to suboxic
conditions reported in the deep-sea sediments from western BoB and the
equatorial Indian Ocean. The low terrigenous influx and export of less OC
to the bottom sediments might have created a favorable condition for the
formation of Mn-oxides in the study area during the Holocene.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge Director, NCPOR for the encouragement
and support provided in undertaking this work. We thank Dr. M. Tiwari
and Mr. Vikash Kumar for their help with ICP-OES facility, Dr. W. Rah-
man for ICP-MS facility, Ms. Sahina Gazi for FESEM-EDS analyses, Mr.
Ashish for TIC analyses, Mr. Deepak Kumar Agarwal and Mr. Chan-
drakant Rathore for XRF analyses, Mr. Bijesh and Dr. Vidya for support in
preparation of sediment core location and circulation map. This work
was undertaken as part of the EEZ mapping program funded by MoES
(Grant No. MoES/EC/EEZ/32/2012-PCII). This is NCPOR contribution J-
59/2020-21#.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.gsf.2020.08.011.
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