The effect of recycling on provenance determinations
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Sedimentary rocks and modern sediments sample large volumes of the Earth’s crust, and preserve units that vary greatly in age and composition. Determining the provenance of component minerals is complicated by the ability of some minerals to be recycled through multiple sedimentary cycles, so minerals from completely unrelated sources may end up in the same sedimentary basin. To untangle these multi-stage signals, two or more chemical signatures measured in minerals with different stability are required. For instance, labile minerals, such as feldspar, can break down rapidly during sedimentary transport, while refractory minerals, such as zircon, can be much more resilient and survive repeated recycling. One sedimentary succession suitable for testing this hypothesis is the Upper Carboniferous Millstone Grit Group, a fluvio-deltaic, upward-coarsening sequence of mudstones, sandstones and conglomerates deposited in the Pennine Basin of northern England over c. 14 myr. New isotopic data have been measured in detrital K-feldspar and zircon from five of the seven stages, complementing previous work in the area [1,2,3]. Two K-feldspar Pb isotope peaks at 206Pb/204Pb = 12.5–15.5 and c. 18.4 indicate derivation from Archaean–Proterozoic basement and Caledonian granites, respectively. Zircon U–Pb age peaks at c. 2700, 1000–2000 and 430 Ma reflect a mixture of Archaean basement, Proterozoic sediments and Caledonian granites, while Hf model ages form two broad peaks at c. 4500–3000 and 2300–1500 Ma, indicating contributions from both juvenile and reworked crust. Strong similarities between potential sources in this complicated region mean no one mineral or isotopic system can provide a unique provenance determination. Instead, comparing first-cycle and multi-cycle minerals with different hydrodynamic properties is necessary to untangle the full story. Combining these results with published garnet, monazite and muscovite data demonstrates the power of multi-proxy provenance work, indicating a primary source area in the Greenland Caledonides, with minor contributions from Norway and Scot-land. Comparisons between zircon U–Pb distributions in Palaeozoic sediments suggest long-lived sedimentary systems recycled material around the North Atlantic over c. 100 myr, much of it ultimately derived along the Grenvillian margin of Laurentia. This consistency is interrupted only by regular variations in palaeoflow direction, reflecting tectonic evolution in the region.Keywords:
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Abstract The Gardar Rift in southern Greenland developed within Palaeoproterozoic rocks of the Ketilidian orogen, near its boundary with the Archaean craton. The Eriksfjord Formation was deposited at c . 1.3 Ga on a basement of c . 1.8 Ga Julianehåb I-type granite. Detrital zircons from the lower sandstone units shows a range of ages and ε Hf compatible with proto sources within the Archaean craton and the Nagssugtoquidian mobile belt north and east of the craton; zircons that can be attributed to juvenile Ketilidian sources are less abundant. This suggests a predominance of distant sources, probably by recycling of older and no longer preserved cover strata. A significant fraction of c . 1300 Ma zircons have ε Hf between 0 and −38. Rather than originating from a hitherto unknown igneous body within the Gardar Rift, these are interpreted as Palaeoproterozoic to late Archaean zircons that have lost radiogenic lead during diagenesis and post-depositional thermal alteration related to Gardar magmatism. Although the sediments originate from sources within Greenland, the age and initial Hf isotope distribution of Palaeoproterozoic and Archaean zircons mimics that of granitoids from the Fennoscandian Shield. This may reflect parallel evolution and possible long-range exchange of detritus in Proterozoic supercontinent settings. The lesson to be learned is that detrital zircon age data should not be used to constrain the age of sedimentary deposition unless the post-depositional history is well understood, and that recycling of old sediments, long-range transport and parallel evolution of different continents make detrital zircons unreliable indicators of provenance.
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Establishing the source(s) of sedimentary material is critical to many geological applications, but is complicated by the ability of some minerals to be recycled. To test the relative utility of current proxies for determining a unique provenance, new samples have been collected from the Namurian Millstone Grit Group of Yorkshire, England. Two K-feldspar 206 Pb/ 204 Pb isotope populations between 12.5 and 15.5 and c. 18.4 are consistent with Archaean–Proterozoic basement and Caledonian granites, respectively. Zircon U–Pb age populations at c. 2700, 2000 – 1000 and 430 Ma reflect a mixture of Archaean basement, overlying Proterozoic sediments and intrusive Caledonian granites, and εHf values in zircons of all ages indicate crystallization from reworked crust. Garnet major element compositions are relatively rich in Fe and low in Ca, indicative of derivation from a granulitic or charnockitic source. Rutile Cr/Nb ratios indicate that source rocks were dominantly metapelitic, and Zr-in-rutile thermometry records two populations representing lower ( c. 650°C) and higher ( c. 800°C) metamorphic grade material. Combining these results with published monazite and muscovite data suggests overall derivation from the Greenland Caledonides, with additional contributions from NE Scotland and western Norway, highlighting the power of multi-proxy provenance work, especially in tectonically and geologically complicated regions. Supplementary material : Sample details, full analytical methods, data tables and references for compilation figures in the text are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3515457 .
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Sedimentary rocks and modern sediments sample large volumes of the Earth’s crust, and preserve units that vary greatly in age and composition. Determining the provenance of component minerals is complicated by the ability of some minerals to be recycled through multiple sedimentary cycles. To untangle these multi-stage signals, two or more chemical signatures measured in minerals with different stability are required, such as Pb in K-feldspar and U–Pb/Hf in zircon. One sedimentary succession suitable for testing this hypothesis is the Upper Carboniferous Millstone Grit Group, a fluvio-deltaic, upward-coarsening sequence of mudstones, sandstones and conglomerates deposited in the Pennine Basin of northern England. New K-feldspar data clearly indicate two dominant populations with 207Pb/204Pb ratios of c. 13.5 and 18.5, consistent with Archaean–Palaeoproterozoic and Caledonian material, respectively. Zircon U–Pb data from the same rocks record two peaks at c. 400 and 2700 Ma, most likely corresponding to the two K-feldspar peaks, while a broad spread of U–Pb ages between 900-2000 Ma have no direct corollary and are most likely recycled. Zircon Hf model ages form two broad peaks at c. 2000 and 3300 Ma, indicating the Caledonian granites are derived from reworked older crust and their common Pb ratios were reset during crystallisation. These distributions are consistent with a stable source area stretching from Labrador to Scandinavia, including younger material from Scottish Caledonian granites or their offshore correlatives. Hf model ages are the least useful for fingerprinting unique source rocks, but can discriminate between single and multiple sources for each U–Pb population. Changing proportions of both K-feldspar and zircon distributions within the Group may correspond to changes in environmental or storage conditions within the feeder river system. Further work is needed to quantify the processes controlling these fluctuations, and the possible biasing of effect of grain size on zircon age distributions.
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