Spatial variation in provenance signal: identifying complex sand sourcing within a Carboniferous basin using multiproxy provenance analysis.

2021 ◽  
pp. jgs2021-045
Author(s):  
B. Anders ◽  
S. Tyrrell ◽  
D. Chew ◽  
C. Mark ◽  
G. O'Sullivan ◽  
...  

Multiple factors (e.g. source rock composition, climate, nature/scale of sedimentary system) influence the volume and composition of sediment delivered to basins. Fluctuations in these parameters produce cryptic source signals which can vary within the same sedimentary system. Bespoke multi-proxy provenance approaches, targeted at minerals of variable stability, allow for an assessment of natural biasing (recycling) and intra-basinal spatial variations.Provenance of fluvial/deltaic sandstones (Mullaghmore Sandstone Formation) in the NW Carboniferous Basin, Ireland, has been constrained using zircon and apatite U-Pb geochronology, trace elements in apatite and Pb-in-K-feldspar analysis. Zircon U-Pb grain populations are consistent with feldspar data, suggesting Proterozoic basement highs offshore Ireland and Scotland were the main contributor with minor supply from Archean-Palaeoproterozoic rocks of Greenland/NW Scotland and Caledonian-aged rocks. However, apatite data shows a much larger proportion of Caledonian-aged grains of metamorphic origin, suggesting significant sediment was recycled from Neopropterozoic metasedimentary rocks. The spatial variation in provenance indicates that, at onset of clastic input, sediment was being routed to the basin through a complex drainage system, comprising of several discrete hinterland catchments, rather than supply from a single, large interconnected sedimentary system. Such complexities can only be identified with the careful application of a bespoke multi-proxy provenance approach.Supplementary material:https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5536691

2020 ◽  
Vol 177 (6) ◽  
pp. 1107-1128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Ezpeleta ◽  
Juan José Rustán ◽  
Diego Balseiro ◽  
Federico Miguel Dávila ◽  
Juan Andrés Dahlquist ◽  
...  

The Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) has been well recorded in the uppermost Mississippian–Pennsylvanian of Gondwana. Nevertheless, little is known about the temporal and geographic dynamics, particularly during the early Mississippian. We report on exceptional Tournaisian glaciomarine stratigraphic sections from central Argentina (Río Blanco Basin). Encompassing c. 1400 m, these successions contain conspicuous glacigenic strata with age constraints provided by palaeontological data and U/Pb detrital zircon age spectra. A variety of marine, glaciomarine and fan-deltaic environments indicate relative sea-level variations mainly associated with tectonism and repetitive cycles of glacial activity. Provenance analysis indicates a source from the Sierras Pampeanas basement located to the east. Fifteen sequences were grouped into three depositional models: (1) Transgressive Systems Tracts (TST) to Highstand Systems Tracts (HST) sequences unaffected by glacial ice; (2) Lowstand Systems Tracts (LST) to TST and then to HST with glacial influence; and (3) non-glacial Falling-Stage Systems Tracts (FSST) to TST and HST. The glacial evidence indicates that the oldest Mississippian glacial stage of the LPIA in southwestern Gondwana is constrained to the middle Tournaisian. In contrast with previous descriptions of Gondwanan coeval glacial records, our sequence analysis confirms complex hierarchical climate variability, rather than a single episode of ice advance and retreat.Supplementary material: Detailed stratigraphic sections, palaeocurrents and compositional analysis and U/Pb detrital Zr methodology and data are available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5011424


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-460
Author(s):  
Keiko Hattori ◽  
Anna Fonseca ◽  
Tabetha Sheppard

Rhyolitic rocks hosting the El Zapote epithermal Ag deposit are pervasively altered and contain ammonium ranging from 290 to 1750 ppm. High ammonium values are found in samples containing abundant fine-grained illite. This fine-grained illite shows overall low ratios of K/(Al + Fe), likely due to ammonium substituting K+. Samples containing high ammonium, greater than 1000 ppm in the proximity of Ag-bearing veins, show distinct absorption features of ammonium in short-wave infrared (SWIR) absorption spectra. Samples containing ammonium ranging from 500 to 1000 ppm show mixed absorption signatures; some show prominent absorption features related to ammonium, whereas others have no recognizable features. There is no discernible absorption feature related to ammonium for samples containing less than 500 ppm NH4. The data suggest that SWIR spectroscopy is useful in locating the proximal areas to mineralization, but the extent of ammonium alteration is much larger than that identified by SWIR spectroscopy. Nitrogen isotope compositions of ammonium are similar to those of sedimentary rocks, suggesting that the source of ammonium in altered rhyolite is sedimentary basement rocks in the area.Supplementary material: bulk rock composition is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5015663


2021 ◽  
pp. jgs2021-079
Author(s):  
Xin Qian ◽  
Shen Ma ◽  
Xianghong Lu ◽  
Sainan Wu ◽  
Mongkol Udchachon ◽  
...  

Volcanic rocks in the Chanthaburi zone are rarely reported and important for investigating the tectonic evolution of Paleotethyan Ocean in SE Thailand. Four rhyolitic samples from the Ko Chang Island yield zircon ages of 254–258 Ma, confirming the presence of Late Permian volcanic rocks in SE Thailand. These rocks consist of Group 1 rhyolites and Group 2 rhyolitic ignimbrites and have high K2O contents of 4.92–7.10 wt.% and A/CNK values of 1.10–1.69. They are enriched in LREEs, Rb, Th, U, Zr and Y, and show negative anomalies of Ba, Sr, Nb, Ta and Ti with obvious Eu anomalies. Their whole-rock εNd (t) values range from −1.7 to −3.1. Zircon in-situ εHf (t) and δ18O values range from 0.0 to +5.6 and 8.2‰ to 9.6‰, respectively. They belong to peraluminous, ultrapotassic A-type rhyolites, and were derived from partial melting of a mixed source of Mesoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks with a component of juvenile mafic crust. These ultrapotassic rhyolites formed in a continental rift setting in response to the rollback of subducted Paleotethyan oceanic slab beneath the Indochina Block. Combining previous geological observations, we propose that there are some sporadically distributed continental rift basins along the Eastern Paleotethyan domain during the Permian.Supplementary material:https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5635390


2021 ◽  
pp. jgs2020-061
Author(s):  
Melina C. B. Esteves ◽  
Frederico M. Faleiros

The western margin of the São Francisco Craton, central Brazil presents a 1300 km long foreland fold–thrust belt where Ediacaran-Cambrian (560–520 Ma) metasedimentary rocks from the Bambuí Group were subsequently deformed during post-collisional stages (520–495 Ma) related to Gondwana assembly. This scenario provides an opportunity to quantify fluid flow regimes and fault-related processes that were active in exhumed foreland fold–thrust zones, which were estimated based on structural, microstructural and fluid inclusion studies of syntectonic veins and host rocks. Kaolinite-bearing synkinematic mineral assemblages from metasedimentary rocks, thermodynamic models and grain-scale deformation accommodated by dissolution–precipitation creep and intracrystalline deformation indicate metamorphic and deformational conditions of 250–270°C. Subhorizontal extensional veins formed under subhorizontal shortening and subvertical extension, supporting vein development under a fold–thrust regime that formed regional NW–SE-trending thrust fault zones and megafolds with NW–SE-trending axes. Orientation and growth microstructures indicate that NW–SE-trending subvertical cleavage-parallel veins formed under subhorizontal NE–SW extension, compatible with those inferred to produce mapped kilometre-scale gentle folds with NE–SW-trending traces. Two primary aqueous fluid inclusion assemblages (FIA) are distinguished by salinity variation: 2–21 wt% NaCleq. in subhorizontal veins and 6–0 wt% NaCleq. in cleavage-parallel subvertical veins. Fluid inclusion thermometry and microstructural analysis suggest that veins crystallized between 250 and 270°C under fluid pressure fluctuating within a range of 50–500 MPa (subhorizontal veins) and 80–320 MPa (cleavage-parallel subvertical veins), evidencing fault-valve behaviour. Trends of coupled decreases in salinity and homogenization temperatures in both FIA indicate downward mixing of meteoric fluids, which was more effective in subvertical veins and was in both cases enhanced by fault-valve behaviour. Dominance of moderate salinity and absence of CO2 and CH4 indicate that the fluids are dominated by formation waters. The salinity signature is similar to those of formation waters and metamorphic fluids derived from rocks of shallow marine environments worldwide.Supplementary material: Details of samples and analytical data are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5275031


2021 ◽  
pp. jgs2021-083
Author(s):  
Louis P. Howell ◽  
Charlotte Priddy ◽  
Andrew J. Mitten ◽  
Adam J. Jeffery ◽  
Stuart S. Egan ◽  
...  

The block and basin tectono-stratigraphic framework for the northern Pennine (rift) Basin, within which buoyant granite intrusions core intra-basin fault-bound blocks, has long held traction. However, many of the elements of this framework are rooted in primitive tectonic models and, perhaps unsurprisingly, corresponding depositional models often reflect this. Using sedimentological and sedimentary provenance approaches, the syn-rift (Mississippian) fluvio-deltaic Fell Sandstone Formation and age-equivalent strata within the northern Pennine Basin are examined. Highlighted divergences from classically depicted models relate to occurrences of pre-Carboniferous basement domes or monoclines, which are unbound by major vertically displacing (>100 m) fault systems. Such structures in the northern Pennine Basin are all granite-cored and their origins are associated with their buoyancy and flexural isostatic processes. One such basement dome, the Cheviot Block, confined and deflected the Fell Sandstone fluvio-deltaic system from the west, causing locally elevated net sand content and variations in dominant palaeodrainage direction. Central parts of the Alston Block, which forms a regional monocline along an E-W axis, were comparatively uplifted because of flexural isostatic responses to granite intrusions. The findings presented are not just at variance with classically depicted depositional models for the region, but also with more general depictions of dominantly normal fault-driven rift basin systems.Supplementary material: [table of data locations with derivation, trace element data, and major element (oxide) data] is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5733257


2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-62
Author(s):  
Emily Keeble ◽  
Michael J. Benton

The aetosaur Stagonolepis robertsoni was the first reptile to be named from the Late Triassic Lossiemouth Sandstone Formation of Morayshire. Its characteristic rectangular armour plates have been reported in isolation and in association with skeletal remains. Here we present for the first time a three-dimensional reconstruction of the armour plates around the tail in association with caudal vertebrae and a chevron, to give direct evidence of the body outline. The caudal vertebral column was surrounded by eight bony osteoderms, paired paramedian dorsal and ventral plates, and a pair of lateral osteoderms on right and left. The tail shape was subcircular, broader than high. The osteoderms overlap like roofing tiles, the posterior margin of each overlapping the osteoderm following behind. The success of these scans suggests that computed tomography scanning could reveal excellent detail of all the Elgin reptiles in the future.Supplementary material: Three-dimensional models of the two fossil specimens are available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4824183


2021 ◽  
pp. SP520-2021-144
Author(s):  
Marie-Noëlle Guilbaud ◽  
Corentin Chédeville ◽  
Ángel Nahir Molina-Guadarrama ◽  
Julio Cesar Pineda-Serrano ◽  
Claus Siebe

AbstractThe eruption of the ∼10 km3 rhyolitic Las Derrumbadas twin domes about 2000 yrs ago has generated a wide range of volcano-sedimentary deposits in the Serdán-Oriental lacustrine basin, Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Some of these deposits have been quarried, creating excellent exposures. In this paper we describe the domes and related products and interpret their mode of formation, reconstructing the main phases of the eruption as well as syn-and-post eruptive erosional processes. After an initial phreatomagmatic phase that built a tuff ring, the domes grew as an upheaved plug lifting a thick sedimentary pile from the basin floor. During uplift, the domes collapsed repeatedly to form a first-generation of hetero-lithologic hummocky debris avalanche deposits. Subsequent dome growth produced a thick talus and pyroclastic density currents. Later, the hydrothermally-altered over-steepened dome peaks fell to generate 2nd generation, mono-lithologic avalanches. Subsequently, small domes grew in the collapse scars. From the end of the main eruptive episode onwards, heavy rains remobilized parts of the dome carapaces and talus, depositing lahar aprons. Las Derrumbadas domes are still an important source of sediments in the basin, and ongoing mass-wasting processes are associated with hazards that should be assessed, given their potential impact on nearby populations.Supplementary material at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5752296


2021 ◽  
pp. jgs2021-035
Author(s):  
Wanchese M. Saktura ◽  
Solomon Buckman ◽  
Allen P. Nutman ◽  
Renjie Zhou

The Jurassic–Cretaceous Tsoltak Formation from the eastern borderlands of Ladakh Himalaya consists of conglomerates, sandstones and shales, and is intruded by norite sills. It is the oldest sequence of continent-derived sedimentary rocks within the Shyok Suture. It also represents a rare outcrop of the basement rocks to the voluminous Late Cretaceous–Eocene Ladakh Batholith. The Shyok Formation is a younger sequence of volcaniclastic rocks that overlie the Tsoltak Formation and record the Late Cretaceous closure of the Mesotethys Ocean. The petrogenesis of these formations, ophiolite-related harzburgites and norite sill is investigated through petrography, whole-rock geochemistry and U–Pb zircon geochronology. The youngest detrital zircon grains from the Tsoltak Formation indicate Early Cretaceous maximum depositional age and distinctly Gondwanan, Lhasa microcontinent-related provenance with no Eurasian input. The Shyok Formation has Late Cretaceous maximum depositional age and displays a distinct change in provenance to igneous detritus characteristic of the Jurassic–Cretaceous magmatic arc along the southern margin of Eurasia. This is interpreted as a sign of collision of the Lhasa microcontinent and the Shyok ophiolite with Eurasia along the once continuous Shyok–Bangong Suture. The accreted terranes became the new southernmost margin of Eurasia and the basement to the Trans-Himalayan Batholith associated with the India-Eurasia convergence.Supplementary material:https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5633162


2021 ◽  
pp. geochem2021-074
Author(s):  
Godson Godfray

Successful gold exploration projects depend on a piece of clear information on the association between gold, trace elements, and mineralization controlling factors. The use of soil geochemistry has been an important tool in pinpointing exploration targets during the early stage of exploration. This study aimed to establish the gold distribution, the elemental association between gold and its pathfinder elements such as Cu, Zn, Ag, Ni, Co, Mn, Fe, Cd, V, Cr, Ti, Sc, In, and Se and identify lithologies contributing to the overlying residual soils. From cluster analysis, a high similarity level of 53.93% has been shown with Ag, Cd, and Se at a distance level of 0.92. Au and Se have a similarity level of 65.87% and a distance level of 0.68, hence is proposed to be the most promising pathfinder element. PCA, FA, and the Pearson's correlation matrix of transformed data of V, Cu, Ni, Fe, Mn, Cr, and Co and a stronger correlation between Pb and U, Th, Na, K, Sn, Y, Ta and Be shows that source gold mineralization might be associated with both hornblende gneisses interlayered with quartzite, tonalite, and tonalitic orthogneiss. From the contour map and gridded map of Au and its pathfinder elements, it has been noted that their anomalies and target generated are localized in the Northern part of the area. The targets trend ESE to WNW nearly parallel to the shear zones as a controlling factor of Au mineralization emplacement.Supplementary material:https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5721965


2021 ◽  
pp. SP521-2021-141
Author(s):  
Chang-Fu Zhou ◽  
Xinyue Wang ◽  
Jiahao Wang

AbstractCtenochasmatid pterosaurs flourished and diversified in the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota. Here, a partial mandible of Forfexopterus is described based on a three-dimensional reconstruction using high-resolution X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) data. The first nine pairs of functional teeth of the rostral dentition revealed along with their replacements. The functional teeth are evenly arranged with a tooth density of 2.2 teeth/cm. The tooth crown is distinctly reduced from its base to the tip, and framed by two weak ridges, possibly as a pair of vestigial carinae. The replacement teeth are sharp and pointed, and have erupted slightly against the medial surface of the functional teeth. Surprisingly, tooth wear is observed in this specimen, the first record of tooth-tooth occlusion in ctenochasmatids. The wear facets exhibit high-angled lingual and lower-angled labial facets, implying a tooth-tooth occlusion in pterosaur clade. This discovery indicates that the Jehol ctenochasmatids possibly employed a more active feeding strategy than other filter-feeding pterosaurs (e.g. Ctenochasma, Pterodaustro, Gnathosaurus).Supplementary material at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5722060


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