APPLICATION OF ABYSSAL BENTHIC BARITE TO PALEOCEANOGRAPHIC STUDIES

Abyssal benthic barite, as a reliable proxy of paleoclimate, is widely used for reconstruction of Cenozoic marine chemistry properties and paleoproductivity. In recent years, some notable progress has been made in the reconstruction of paleoproductivity, strontium concentration and isotopic composition of ancient seawater. In the views of new approaches in this topic, two crucial problems are proposed to be emphasized on future researches:①the spatial-temporal distribution and physiochemical properties of the microenvironment where the marine barite precipitated is not fully verified; ②sampling and chemical analysis methods need to be improved. Both aspects are also the constraints for the application of barite to the paleoceanographic researches in the future.