Question

How do oozes differ from abyssal clay? Discuss how productivity, destruction, and dilution combine to determine whether an ooze or abyssal clay will form on the deep-ocean floor

Answer 1

How do oozes differ from abyssal clay?

Oozes contain at least 30% biogenous particles (by weight); in contrast to abyssal clay which contains less than 30% biogenous material.

The bulk of the remaining percentage (up to 70%) of abyssal clay deposits  comprised of lithogenous clays

How productivity, destruction, and dilution combine to determine whether an ooze or abyssal clay will form on the deep-ocean floor

Whether or not an ooze forms depends on the relative rates of biogenous and lithogenous particle deposition in an area.

The deposition rate of biogenous particles is a function of the rate at which they are produced (productivity) versus the dissolution rate (destruction) in ocean water. The seawater dissolution rate for silica is slow and steady at all ocean depths, but increases significantly with increasing water depth for calcium carbonate.

Finally, if the deposition rate for lithogenous particles is greater than the deposition rate for biogenous particles, the lithogenous particles will dilute the concentration of biogenous particles and biogenous ooze will never form as a result of this dilution