Assessing controls on organic matter enrichments in hemipelagic homogenous marls of the Cretaceous Vocontian Basin (France): an unexpected variability observed from multiple organic-rich levels

The Marnes Bleues Formation from the Vocontian Basin (Southeastern France) shows many organic rich levels, some concomitant to oceanic anoxic events OAE1a and OAE1b. These organic-rich levels are scattered through a thick homogeneous succession of marls, poor in organic matter (OM). Through a multi-parameter approach, the organic-rich levels from the Aptian-Albian were characterized. Our results show that all OM-rich levels exhibit variable characteristics, such as OM nature (marine vs. continental), sedimentation and accumulation rates, redox conditions, surface-water productivity and relative sea level, but they all show low to modest enrichments in OM. Furthermore, all the levels share in common the fact that they formed under conditions of normal to low productivity and oxic to suboxic conditions. Thus, our results strongly suggest that, in the absence of high productivity and anoxic bottom conditions, the other factors reputed to favor OM accumulation only led to sporadic and low enrichments in organic contents. It is as if such factors could only enhance OM accumulation but could not induce it alone. What was true for the Vocontian Basin may be extended to other settings, regardless of their time of deposition or location.