Journal of the Geological Society, London, Vol. 161, 2004, pp. 729734. Printed in Great Britain.

The rheniumosmium isotope system: applications to geochronological and

palaeoenvironmental problems
ANTHONY S. COHEN
Department of Earth Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK (e-mail: a.s.cohen@open.ac.uk)
Abstract: The rheniumosmium (ReOs) isotope system occupies a unique position amongst commonly used
radiogenic parentdaughter isotope pairs on account of its siderophilic geochemical characteristics. Re and Os
are also concentrated from seawater in organic-rich sediments and have been used to obtain absolute ages for
the deposition of marine mudrock successions directly. Additionally, ReOs analyses of ancient mudrocks
have provided the best means so far of determining temporal changes in the Os-isotope composition of preCenozoic seawater. The seawater Os-isotope record has yielded valuable information about several major
episodes of past environmental change, and is particularly powerful when used in conjunction with other
marine isotopic tracers such as carbon and strontium. The present contribution reviews some recent
developments in the application of the ReOs isotope system to geochronological and palaeoenvironmental
problems in the Mesozoic and earlier. New results show that the Os-isotope composition of Callovian seawater
(c. 160 Ma ago) was very unradiogenic (187 Os/188 Os 0.26) at the same time that the seawater Sr-isotope
curve recorded its lowest value for the Phanerozoic, indicating that global continental weathering rates were
very low at c. 1015% of todays levels.
Keywords: ReOs, Mesozoic, mudrock, black shale, organic carbon.

tological, chronological and palaeoenvironmental conditions of

those times.
Although Re and Os are present at ultra-trace levels in the
Earths crust, their average crustal abundances being 350 ppt and
50 ppt (Esser & Turekian 1993), respectively, concentrations in
organic-rich mudrocks are often much higher, and can reach
500 ppb for Re and 4 ppb for Os (Ravizza & Turekian 1989;
Cohen et al. 1999). An important feature of these two elements
is that they form a radioactive parentdaughter pair, as one of
the two isotopes of Re (187 Re) decays by -emission to 187 Os
with a half-life of c. 44 Ga. This property invests the ReOs
isotope system with its usefulness as both a geochronometer and
an isotopic tracer. The variable isotopic composition of natural
Os is reported as its 187 Os/188 Os ratio. A further noteworthy
feature of the ReOs isotope system is that the mean 187 Os/
188
Os ratio of the Earths crust (c. 1.4) is much higher than that
of the mantle (c. 0.127, Esser & Turekian 1993). This is because
the average Re/Os ratio of the crust is much greater than that of
the mantle; thus over time, the Os-isotope composition of crustal
rocks has evolved to relatively radiogenic ratios (high 187 Os/
188
Os ratios) whereas the Os-isotope composition of the mantle
has remained relatively unradiogenic (Luck & Turekian 1983). In
appropriate lithologies, therefore, it is possible to use Os-isotope
compositions to distinguish mantle from crustal sources, to
recognize the contributions from old and young continental crust,
and sometimes to determine the relative proportions of the
different components.

One of the distinguishing geochemical characteristics of marine

organic-rich mudrocks (black shales) is their unusually high
concentration of particular trace elements (Mason 1982; Piper
1994). These elements include V, Ni, Mo, U, Re, Au and the
platinum group elements, including Os. The elements are
concentrated from seawater during or after sediment deposition
either because of the high accumulation rates of organic material,
or because of the highly reducing conditions. Thus an important
feature of organic-rich mudrock successions is that they contain
a suite of elements whose abundances and abundance ratios are
controlled by conditions of deposition (for example, V and Ni),
and whose isotopic ratios (for example, Os) can reflect changes
in the isotope composition of contemporaneous seawater. Analysis of mudrock samples from well-defined stratigraphical successions can therefore provide a temporal record of changes in the
Os-isotope composition of ancient seawater, and, by inference, in
the environmental conditions that gave rise to them. It is also
possible to correlate accurately the seawater Os-isotope records
from mudrock samples with the Sr-isotope composition of
contemporaneous seawater as determined by the analysis of
calcitic fossils from the mudrocks (Jones et al. 1994), and with
fluctuations in the 13 C of the marine C reservoir as inferred
from the analysis of calcitic fossils and organic matter.
Owing to their relatively high rates of accumulation (typically
10100 m Ma 1 after sediment compaction), the geochemical
and isotopic records within mudrock successions are available at
a resolution that is often far greater than in other marine deposits
that are used to investigate how the chemical and isotopic
compositions of the oceans have changed over time. For
example, the accumulation rate of ferromanganese crusts, from
which a wide range of Cenozoic seawater isotopic records have
been recovered, can be as low as a few mm Ma 1 (Chabaux
et al. 1997). Additionally, the widespread distribution of Mesozoic organic-rich mudrocks, both temporally and spatially,
ensures that these successions are also able to provide detailed
information about the stratigraphical, sedimentological, palaeon-

Analytical considerations
The isotopic composition of Os in geological samples is usually
measured by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS)
(Creaser et al. 1991; Volkenig et al. 1991), and sometimes by
multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
(MC-ICP-MS) (Schoenberg et al. 2000), with accurate determinations of Re and Os abundances being performed concurrently
729

730

A. S. COHEN

by isotope dilution analysis. Before isotopic analysis, Re and Os

are extracted and purified from samples of interest using a
complex set of chemical procedures that are designed to
maximize sample recovery and to minimize sample contamination (Shirey & Walker 1995; Cohen & Waters 1996; Birck et al.
1997). Details of these analytical and instrumental techniques are
beyond the scope of the present study, and may be found in the
published literature as outlined above.

Geochronological applications
The potential for dating ancient organic-rich sedimentary rocks
using the ReOs isotope system was first demonstrated by
Ravizza & Turekian (1989). Those workers obtained an age of
354  49 Ma for seven core samples from the Bakken Shale, a
formation that occurs in North Dakota and spans the Devonian
Carboniferous boundary. Advances in instrumental and chemical
methods (Creaser et al. 1991; Volkenig et al. 1991; Cohen &
Waters 1996), together with the use of carefully selected,
thermally immature outcrop samples, enabled Cohen et al.
(1999) to obtain greatly improved high-precision ReOs isochron ages from well-preserved Jurassic mudrock successions.
Uncertainties in the age estimate of 3% at the 95% confidence
interval resulted in the most precise direct determination so far
of the age of the type Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Tithonian,
upper Jurassic) in Dorset, UK, as described below. Two other
Jurassic mudrock successions, the Jet Rock (Toarcian) of Yorkshire and the Blue Lias (Hettangian) of Dorset, also yielded
direct ReOs ages of 181  13 and 207  12 Ma, respectively
(Cohen et al. 1999). These three results are indistinguishable
(within the analytical uncertainties) from the high-precision U
Pb and Ar/Ar ages derived from ash bands for the appropriate
Jurassic stages that have been compiled by Palfy et al. (2000).
ReOs geochronological data are conveniently displayed on
an isochron diagram. The Late Jurassic example, mentioned
above, is from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation of Dorset and is
shown in Figure 1. The measured present-day Os-isotope compositions (expressed as 187 Os/188 Os ratios) of the suite of samples
are displayed on the vertical axis, and their measured Re/Os
ratios (expressed as 187 Re/188 Os ratios) are on the horizontal axis.
The slope of the best-fit regression line through the data yields
the age of the samples, and the intercept of the regression line on
the vertical axis defines the initial ratio (187 Os/188 Os(i) ) of the
samples. For the samples to define a geologically meaningful
age, all the samples must be of the same (or very similar) age,
they all must have possessed the same initial Os-isotope
composition and they all must have remained isotopically
closed since the time defined by the isochron (in other words,
no Re or Os can have been gained or lost by any sample since
that time). The excellent fit to a straight line shown by the data
in Figure 1 demonstrates that these samples fulfil all three
criteria.
Geochronological dating using the ReOs isotope technique is
particularly valuable for sedimentary successions that are difficult to date using conventional techniques; for example, where
there is a lack of suitable volcanic material. The Kimmeridgian
result given above is one such instance. Additionally, Creaser
et al. (2002) obtained a precise age of 358  10 Ma for a suite
of samples from the Upper Devonian Exshaw Formation in
Alberta, Canada, which are from an interval that is similar in age
to the Bakken Shale samples studied by Ravizza & Turekian
(1989). An interesting first application of the technique to
Precambrian rocks was made by Schaefer & Burgess (2003).
Those workers analysed a set of Neo-Proterozoic shale samples

Fig. 1. ReOs isochron based on analyses of 11 samples of organic-rich

mudrocks from the wheatleyensis Subzone of the Kimmeridge Clay
Formation, Dorset, UK (after Cohen et al. 1999). The isochron age of
155  4.3 Ma (2 errors) represents the depositional age of the
sediments, and the intercept on the vertical axis, denoted by 187 Os/
188
Os(i) , is the initial Os-isotope composition at the time of sample
deposition. As most of the Os in these samples was derived from
seawater, the 187 Os/188 Os(i) reflects the Os-isotope composition of
contemporaneous seawater. The isochronous relationship demonstrated by
these samples indicates that the Re and Os must have been immobile
since the time at which the samples were deposited.

from the Aralka Formation in Australia, which just predate the

Snowball II or Marinoan glaciation, to estimate directly the
timing of this important event. The calculated ReOs age of
592  14 Ma, interpreted as the depositional age of the sediments, is substantially younger than the age of glaciated NeoProterozoic sediments that is inferred from correlations using
seawater Sr- and C-isotope compositions. These varied examples
demonstrate the considerable value of the ReOs isochron
system for obtaining absolute ages from well-preserved and wellcharacterized samples of organic-rich marine mudrocks.

The Os-isotope composition of seawater

There is a general consensus that the Os-isotope composition of
oxic seawater at the present day is relatively uniform, its 187 Os/
188
Os ratio being c. 1.06 (Levasseur et al. 1998; Burton et al.
1999; Woodhouse et al. 1999; Peucker-Ehrenbrink & Ravizza
2000), although it remains unclear whether there are significant
spatial variations in Os abundance. Thus Levasseur et al. (1998)
found no variation in the concentration of Os in two depth
profiles from the South West Indian Ridge, whereas Woodhouse
et al. (1999) reported a 30% change in abundance in a depth
profile from the East Pacific Rise. Although the origin of these
differing results has yet to be resolved, these observations
nevertheless suggest two things: first, that Os exists in (oxic)
seawater in a relatively stable form (or forms); second, that
present-day seawater is well mixed with respect to Os. Both these
inferences are in accord with a seawater residence time for Os
that is estimated at 1040 ka (see summary by Peucker-Ehrenbrink & Ravizza 2000), which is appreciably longer than the
current mixing time of the oceans of 23 ka.

T H E R H E N I U M O S M I U M I S OTO P E S Y S T E M

In contrast to the uniformity of the Os-isotope composition of

seawater at the present day, and to its likely uniformity at any
given instant in the past, the seawater 187 Os/188 Os ratio has
varied significantly over time (Fig. 2). For example, the 187 Os/
188
Os ratio of seawater was c. 0.2 immediately after the KT
boundary c. 65 Ma ago whereas it is c. 1.06 at the present day
(Peucker-Ehrenbrink et al. 1995; Pegram & Turekian 1999). In
addition to the long-term (Ma) changes that are apparent in
Figure 2, the seawater Os-isotope composition has changed
relatively rapidly at particular times in the past. There was an
excursion to relatively unradiogenic Os-isotope ratios just before
the KT boundary (Ravizza & Peucker-Ehrenbrink 2003) and to
highly unradiogenic ratios immediately afterwards (Pegram &
Turekian 1999), and sudden changes also occurred on at least
two occasions in the Early Jurassic (Cohen & Coe 2002; Cohen
et al. 2004) and across the PalaeoceneEocene boundary

Fig. 2. Variations in the Os- and Sr-isotope compositions of seawater

since the early Jurassic. Sr-isotope curve (continuous grey line) is based
on the best-fit LOWESS compilation of McArthur et al. (2001). Osisotope curve for seawater from the late Cretaceous to the present day
(dashed line) is based on data from Peucker-Ehrenbrink et al. (1995) and
Pegram & Turekian (1999). Late Triassic datum (point 1a) is from Cohen
& Coe (2002); Jurassic data (points 1b4c and 6) are from Cohen et al.
(1999, 2004); point 5 is the Callovian result of this study. Late
Cretaceous point M is from Ravizza et al. (1999).

731

(Ravizza et al. 2001). These temporal variations indicate that

large changes in the balance between the three major inputs to
the oceans have occurred in the past, sometimes very suddenly.
The major inputs include an unradiogenic contribution from the
hydrothermal alteration of juvenile oceanic crust, an unradiogenic contribution from meteorites, and a radiogenic contribution
from the weathering of ancient continental crust; these sources
are shown in Figure 3. Although the overall form of the seawater
Os-isotope curve for the Cenozoic is known with reasonable
resolution from the analysis of metalliferous deep-sea sediments
(Peucker-Ehrenbrink et al. 1995; Pegram & Turekian 1999) and
ferromanganese crusts (Gannoun et al. 2000), only limited data
are available for the Mesozoic and earlier; the majority of these
has been obtained from the analysis of marine organic-rich
mudrocks (Ravizza & Turekian 1989; Cohen et al. 1999; Cohen
& Coe 2002; Creaser et al. 2002; Schaefer & Burgess 2003).
Because most of the Os in marine organic-rich mudrocks is
hydrogenous, the 187 Os/188 Os(i) ratio defined by a mudrock
isochron represents that of contemporaneous seawater (Ravizza
& Turekian 1989; Cohen et al. 1999). Regression analysis of
ReOs isochron data from organic-rich mudrocks thus provides
a means of determining the Os-isotope composition of ancient
seawater. A less labour-intensive variation on the isochron technique involves the calculation of the initial Os-isotope composition of individual samples, or groups of samples, using an
independently assumed sample age. Data obtained in this manner
need to be assessed critically by comparison with other data from
the same or closely related samples and with an understanding of
the contemporaneous sedimentary environment, to ensure that
the results reflect a global seawater signature. Care must also be
exercised to ensure that records of the Os-isotope composition of
seawater have not been influenced appreciably by the weathering
of rocks that are unusually rich in Os, such as organic-rich
sediments or ultramafic rocks (Peucker-Ehrenbrink & Hannigan
2000; Martin et al. 2001).

Palaeoenvironmental applications
Two of the three major contributions to the seawater Os-isotope
composition (the continental weathering flux, and the flux from
the hydrothermal alteration of juvenile oceanic crust) also
dominate the flux of Sr to the oceans. The seawater Sr-isotope
curve from the late Triassic to the present day, based on the

Fig. 3. The three major fluxes of Os to

seawater: an unradiogenic flux from the
hydrothermal alteration of juvenile ocean
crust at or close to spreading ridges (MOR,
mid-ocean ridge); an unradiogenic flux
from meteorites; and a radiogenic flux from
the riverine input derived from the chemical
weathering of continental crust. The
relatively rapid mixing time of the oceans
ensures that the Os-isotope composition of
seawater is constant at the present day.
Records of the Os-isotope composition of
seawater in the past have been recovered
from metalliferous deep-sea sediments,
ferromanganese precipitates and organicrich mudrocks.

732

A. S. COHEN

compilation of McArthur et al. (2001), is shown for reference in

Figure 2. In principle, therefore, the changing Os-isotope composition of ancient seawater can, like the seawater Sr-isotope
record, provide a record of the changing weathering flux to the
oceans over time. However, there are two important differences
between the characteristics of the seawater Os- and Sr-isotope
systems that impart unique advantages to the Os-isotope system.
First, because the residence time of Os in seawater at the present
day (c. 1040 ka) is much shorter than the c. 3 Ma residence
time of Sr, the seawater Os-isotope composition is able to
respond much more rapidly to sudden changes in the composition or flux of the inputs. For example, the variable weathering
input to the oceans between recent glacial and interglacial
periods has resulted in measurable short-term changes in the
seawater Os-isotope composition (Oxburgh 1998) whereas the
seawater Sr-isotope system is too heavily buffered to give a
detectable response (Henderson et al. 1994). Second, the seawater Os-isotope composition is sensitive to the input of
extraterrestrial impacts from large chondrite or iron meteorites
because of the very high Os abundances in these materials. An
excellent example is the very sudden excursion to highly
unradiogenic Os-isotope ratios just after the KT boundary (Fig.
2). High-resolution analyses indicate that the duration of the
unradiogenic Os-isotope excursion caused by the KT impactor
was appreciably less than c. 0.25 Ma (Pegram & Turekian 1999),
a result that is to be expected from the relatively short seawater
residence time of Os.

Os-isotope fluctuations across the TriassicJurassic

boundary
Despite the numerous lithological, floral and faunal changes that
reflect the major environmental perturbation that occurred in the
vicinity of the TriassicJurassic (TrJ) boundary, many of which
have been well documented (e.g. Arkell 1933; Hallam & Wignall
1997), the driving mechanism that produced the perturbation has
remained much more elusive. The two main contenders to have
emerged over the last decade or so are large-scale continental
volcanism, and a large meteorite impact.
There is now overwhelming evidence that the first stages of
rifting in the central Atlantic involved the emplacement of very
large volumes (.2 3 106 km3 ) of continental flood basalts,
forming the so-called Central Atlantic Magmatic Province
(Marzoli et al. 1999). This huge province covered at least
7 3 106 km2 of pre-rifted Pangaea and extended from Brazil to
Nova Scotia, and from Western Africa to Western Europe
(Hames et al. 2000; McHone 2000). The Central Atlantic
Magmatic Province was erupted over a relatively short interval,
as almost all high-precision ages for volcanic rocks of the
province are within 2 Ma of 199 Ma (Dunning & Hodych
1990; Marzoli et al. 1999; Hames et al. 2000). Additionally,
some observations suggest that a meteorite impact might have
occurred close to the TrJ boundary. Shocked quartz has been
reported from a TrJ boundary section in Italy (Bice et al.
1992), although the significance of these findings has been
disputed (Hallam & Wignall 1997), and a low-level iridium
signal of 141 ppt, which is claimed to be an extraterrestrially
derived anomaly, has been found in organic-rich layers near the
TrJ boundary as defined in the Newark Basin in the eastern
USA (Olsen et al. 2002). A widespread 13 C isotope excursion
of up to 5 in the latest Triassic has been reported from a
number of localities worldwide (Palfy et al. 2001; Ward et al.
2001; Hesselbo et al. 2002), indicating that there was a major

perturbation in the global C cycle at that time, although its cause

remains contentious.
ReOs isotopic data can help to resolve this issue. Results for
marine TrJ boundary sections in the UK were reported by
Cohen & Coe (2002), who found that a pronounced decrease in
the 187 Os/188 Os ratio of seawater to highly unradiogenic values
(as recorded in well-preserved organic-rich mudrock samples)
had occurred just before the TrJ boundary (Fig. 2). The
unradiogenic Os-isotope composition of seawater in the Early
Jurassic is highly unusual in that it persisted for the entire
Hettangian, the duration of which was up to c. 4 Ma (Weedon
et al. 1999). Moreover, the Os and Re abundances of the
Hettangian mudrock samples are relatively very high, their
values reaching 3.2 and 456 ppb, respectively (Cohen et al.
1999). These singular geochemical characteristics were interpreted by Cohen & Coe (2002) as being a consequence of the
emplacement, alteration and weathering of recently erupted
Central Atlantic Magmatic Province basaltic lavas, as only
crustal lithologies that are recently derived from the mantle
would weather and release unradiogenic Os to the oceans
together with abundant Re. The relatively rapid release of Os and
Re from Central Atlantic Magmatic Province lavas would be an
expected consequence of the extremely high chemical weathering
rates that are known for juvenile basaltic lavas in comparison
with those of other crustal lithologies (Louvat & Alle`gre 1997;
Taylor & Lasaga 1999). Although the high Re concentrations of
Early Jurassic seawater, together with the long persistence of the
unradiogenic Os-isotope signature, could not have been caused
by an impact, the data do not rule out the possibility that an
impact from something other than a large iron or chondrite
meteorite might have occurred. However, all the known geochemical and environmental changes could have been caused by
major terrestrial processes that were the likely consequences of
the eruption and erosion of the Central Atlantic Magmatic
Province lavas (Cohen & Coe 2002). None of these changes
required the influence of an extraterrestrial impact.
The suggestion that the rapid weathering of Central Atlantic
Magmatic Province lavas, soon after their eruption close to the
TrJ boundary, was responsible for the unusually radiogenic Osisotope composition of seawater in the Early Jurassic is strongly
supported by the observation of very similar effects for late
Mesozoic seawater (Ravizza & Peucker-Ehrenbrink 2003). This
recent study has documented a significant decrease in the 187 Os/
188
Os ratio of seawater that took place at least 0.5 Ma before the
KT boundary as defined by the sharp Ir spike and the
associated Os-isotope excursion. Because the decrease to unradiogenic 187 Os/188 Os ratios started appreciably before the
arrival of the KT impactor, and because the unradiogenic
seawater Os-isotope composition persisted for the first few
million years of the Palaeocene, the KT impactor cannot have
caused these effects; instead, the weathering of recently erupted,
highly reactive Deccan lavas is thought to have been responsible
(Ravizza & Peucker-Ehrenbrink 2003). Taken together, the
fluctuations in the Os-isotope compositions of seawater across
the TrJ and KT boundaries provide compelling evidence that
the rapid eruption and weathering of large quantities of young
basaltic lava have exerted profound environmental effects in the
vicinity of at least two of the major geological boundaries of the
Phanerozoic.

The Toarcian environmental crisis

The global distribution of organic-rich mudrocks within the
falciferum Zone of the Toarcian is one of the primary features of

T H E R H E N I U M O S M I U M I S OTO P E S Y S T E M

the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event (OAE) (Jenkyns 1988). A wide

range of evidence (floral, faunal and geochemical) indicates that
there was a major environmental perturbation at that time,
representing the culmination of a series of changes that started in
the late Pliensbachian. For example, a mass extinction saw the
demise of a high proportion of marine fauna (Little 1996; Hori
1997); the C values of marine organic material and marine
carbonate show an exceptionally large excursion of 6 worldwide (Kuspert 1982; Grocke et al. 2003), reflecting a major
disruption in the global carbon cycle, and the 13 C of terrestrial
carbon also registers a similar shift (Hesselbo et al. 2000); and a
large and rapid rise in 18 O ratios and Mg/Ca ratios of
belemnites (McArthur et al. 2000) is interpreted to indicate a
sudden rise in mean global temperature (Bailey et al. 2003;
Cohen et al. 2004).
Although a number of explanations have been proposed for these
observations, the one that most readily explains them all centres on
the methane hydrate destabilization hypothesis of Hesselbo et al.
(2000); those workers were the first to note the clear similarities
between the negative C-isotope excursion in the Toarcian and that
at the PalaeoceneEocene boundary c. 55 Ma ago (Dickens et al.
1995). Beerling et al. (2002) quantified the size of the negative
Toarcian 13 C excursion, suggesting that it was likely to have
involved the destabilization of c. 5000 Gt of methane hydrate.
Recently, a major positive excursion in the 187 Os/188 Os ratio of
seawater (from c. 0.4 to c. 1.0) has been documented across the
exaratum Subzone of the falciferum Zone (Cohen et al. 2004),
based on the analysis of mudrock samples from sections in
Yorkshire, UK. The onset and duration of this excursion
coincides closely with the global 13 C shift of 6, and also
with an unusually steep increase in the 87 Sr/86 Sr ratio of seawater
(Jones et al. 1994; McArthur et al. 2000). Cohen et al. (2004)
attributed the seawater Os- and Sr-isotope excursions to a sudden
increase in continental weathering rates of at least c. 400%,
which was caused by elevated global temperatures brought on by
high levels of atmospheric CO2 derived from the destabilized
methane hydrate. The observation that weathering rates increased
in response to high levels of atmospheric CO2, as indicated by
the synchronous Os- and C-isotope excursions, was interpreted
by Cohen et al. (2004) as evidence for weathering acting as the
negative feedback that helps to regulate atmospheric CO2.

OsSr isotope characteristics of Callovian seawater

The 87 Sr/86 Sr ratio of seawater had decreased to c. 0.706725
during the CallovianKimmeridgian some 155160 Ma ago
(Jones et al. 1994; Podlaha et al. 1999), the lowest value that
was attained within the entire Phanerozoic (Fig. 3). New Osisotope data (Table 1 and Fig. 3) from two samples of mudrock
from the Callovian-age Oxford Clay Formation near Peterborough, UK, suggest that the Os-isotope composition of seawater
Table 1. Re and Os abundances, and Os isotope data, for mudrock
samples from the Callovian of England
Sample
C1
C2

Re (ppb) Os (ppb)
66.30
66.07

0.5127
0.5022

192

Os
(ppb)

187

188

188

188

0.1599
0.1562

814.3
830.4

2.4730
2.4985

0.2722
0.2543

Re/
Os

187

Os/
Os

187

Os/
Os(i)

Samples are from the Kosmoceras (Gulielmites) jason Subzone of the Kosmoceras
(Gulielmites) jason Zone, Bed 10, Peterborough Member (Callovian) of the Oxford
Clay Formation, Peterborough, UK. Location details have been given by Hudson &
Martill (1994). Analyses followed procedures described by Cohen & Waters (1996)
and Cohen et al. (1999).

733

at that time was also exceptionally unradiogenic, with a calculated 187 Os/188 Os(i) ratio of c. 0.26. Because estimates of the
production rates of oceanic crust in the late Mid-Jurassic are not
unusually high and are unlikely to have changed significantly
over short periods (Larson 1991; Rowley 2002), it follows that
the relatively unradiogenic Os- and Sr-isotope compositions of
Callovian seawater probably reflect exceptionally low fluxes of
both radiogenic Os and Sr to the oceans resulting from low levels
of global continental weathering. A simple mass-balance using
present-day end-member Os-isotope compositions (Peucker-Ehrenbrink & Ravizza 2000) suggests that the continental weathering flux was as little as c. 10% of its present-day level. This
observation agrees directly with the inference made independently from the massage distribution of the surviving sedimentary mass, which is that the rate of sediment flux to the oceans in
the late Mid-Jurassic was very low, being c. 1220% of the
present-day level (Floegel et al. 2000).

Concluding remarks
ReOs isotope analyses of well-preserved mudrock samples from
the Mesozoic and earlier have yielded new and significant
information about the nature and timing of past episodes of
environmental change. This method is the only means of determining directly the absolute age of organic-rich mudrocks, and
the Os-isotope composition of ancient seawater as estimated from
mudrock samples provides a highly sensitive proxy for short-term
changes in continental weathering rates. New Os-isotope data for
Callovian seawater have confirmed that the global continental
weathering flux was extremely low at that time.
I am grateful to A. L. Coe for leading the fieldwork, for assistance with
the diagrams and for helpful discussions. J. D. Hudson and B. F. Schaefer
are thanked for their helpful reviews. I would like to thank the Open
University and the NERC for providing financial support.

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Received 23 May 2003; revised typescript accepted 7 February 2004.

Scientific editing by Helen Morgans-Bell and Nick Rogers