Constraining the Provenance of Middle Cenozoic Fluvial Sandstone in the Central Rocky Mountains Using Detrital Zircon U-Pb Geochronology and Sandstone Petrography

Constraining the Provenance of Middle Cenozoic Fluvial Sandstone in the Central Rocky Mountains Using Detrital Zircon U-Pb Geochronology and Sandstone Petrography PDF Author: Alex L. Mankin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 89

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Book Description
Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology and sandstone petrography are studied to constrain the provenance of middle Cenozoic fluvial sandstone in the Central Rocky Mountains. Petrographic point counting of 12 sandstone samples show immature compositions, and combined recycled orogen provenance of the proximal Laramide uplifts and magmatic arc provenance of the distal middle Cenozoic magmatism in western and southwestern North America. A total of 670 detrital zircon U-Pb ages show a 17-44 Ma population, derived from the distal middle Cenozoic magmatism, and populations of 45-218 Ma, 220-708 Ma, 948-1326 Ma, 1332-1816 Ma, and 1825-3314 Ma, derived or recycled from the Precambrian basement cores and the Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks on the flanks of the local Laramide uplifts. Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology also yield maximum depositional ages between 37.8±1.1 Ma and 27.3±1.1 Ma for seven sandstone samples. These ages are generally consistent with the available radiometric ages of tuff beds and magnetostratigraphic ages.

Constraining the Provenance of Middle Cenozoic Fluvial Sandstone in the Central Rocky Mountains Using Detrital Zircon U-Pb Geochronology and Sandstone Petrography

Constraining the Provenance of Middle Cenozoic Fluvial Sandstone in the Central Rocky Mountains Using Detrital Zircon U-Pb Geochronology and Sandstone Petrography PDF Author: Alex L. Mankin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 89

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Book Description
Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology and sandstone petrography are studied to constrain the provenance of middle Cenozoic fluvial sandstone in the Central Rocky Mountains. Petrographic point counting of 12 sandstone samples show immature compositions, and combined recycled orogen provenance of the proximal Laramide uplifts and magmatic arc provenance of the distal middle Cenozoic magmatism in western and southwestern North America. A total of 670 detrital zircon U-Pb ages show a 17-44 Ma population, derived from the distal middle Cenozoic magmatism, and populations of 45-218 Ma, 220-708 Ma, 948-1326 Ma, 1332-1816 Ma, and 1825-3314 Ma, derived or recycled from the Precambrian basement cores and the Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks on the flanks of the local Laramide uplifts. Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology also yield maximum depositional ages between 37.8±1.1 Ma and 27.3±1.1 Ma for seven sandstone samples. These ages are generally consistent with the available radiometric ages of tuff beds and magnetostratigraphic ages.

The Ordos Basin

The Ordos Basin PDF Author: Renchao Yang
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0323852653
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 534

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Book Description
The Ordos Basin: Sedimentological Research for Hydrocarbons Exploration provides an overview of sedimentological approaches used in the lacustrine Ordos Basin (but also applicable in other marine and lacustrine basins) to make hydrocarbon exploration more efficient. Oil exploration is becoming increasingly focused on tight sandstone reservoirs and shales. The development of these reservoirs, particularly regarding the sedimentary processes and the resulting sediments, are still poorly understood. Exploration and exploitation of such reservoirs requires new insights into the lateral and vertical facies changes, and as already indicated above, the knowledge surrounding facies and how they change in deep-water environments is still relatively unclear. - Covers several geological aspects so the reader may well understand the context of the various chapters - Explores and explains the important relationship between sedimentology and hydrocarbon explorations - Highlights the significance of sedimentological aspects (facies, porosity, etc.) for basin analysis and the development of energy resources

Belt Basin: Window to Mesoproterozoic Earth

Belt Basin: Window to Mesoproterozoic Earth PDF Author: John S. MacLean
Publisher: Geological Society of America
ISBN: 0813725224
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
With its thickness of more than 15 km of strata, covering some 200,000 km2, the Belt basin displays one of the planet's largest, best-exposed, most accessible, and best-preserved sequences of Mesoproterozoic sedimentary and igneous rocks. This volume focuses on research into this world-class province; kindles ideas about this critical era of Earth evolution; and covers aspects of the basin from its paleontology, mineralogy, sedimentology, and stratigraphy to its magmatism, ore deposits, geophysics, and structural geology.

Provenance Implications of Sandstone Petrology and Detrital-zircon Analysis of the Mid-Cenozoic Sespe Formation, Coastal Southern California

Provenance Implications of Sandstone Petrology and Detrital-zircon Analysis of the Mid-Cenozoic Sespe Formation, Coastal Southern California PDF Author: Claire D. Spafford
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Provenance of Cenozoic Continental Sandstones in Southwest Montana

Provenance of Cenozoic Continental Sandstones in Southwest Montana PDF Author: Caleb N. Stroup
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Detritus
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Multi-proxy Provenance Evaluation of the Stevens Sandstone, San Joaquin Basin, California

Multi-proxy Provenance Evaluation of the Stevens Sandstone, San Joaquin Basin, California PDF Author: Charles Adam Ball
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 632

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Book Description
The Stevens sandstone is a prolific hydrocarbon reservoir in the southern San Joaquin Basin that has produced greater than five billion barrels of oil equivalent and represents an important exploration target. The San Joaquin basin has a complex depositional and structural history related to the overprinting of a Mesozoic-Paleogene forearc basin by transtension and transpression along the San Andreas fault system that presently borders the southwestern side of the basin. The Stevens sandstone consists of quartzo-feldspathic, deep-water turbidite deposits and is primarily confined within the subsurface of the southern San Joaquin basin. Due to this mode of deposition and the changing paleogeography and paleobathymetry associated with active translation of the Salinian block along the San Andreas fault during deposition of the Stevens sandstone, the provenance could greatly vary across the basin which in turn can impact reservoir properties. Understanding the Stevens sandstone's provenance is thus critical for predicting mineralogic composition and subsequent controls on reservoir characteristics which in turn could affect the future exploration and exploitation of the Stevens sandstone. To address this, a multi-proxy provenance analysis of the Stevens sandstone was conducted to characterize sandstone mineralogy (thin section modal point-counts), geochemistry (handheld X-ray fluorescence), heavy mineral analysis, and detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology. In total, 36 original samples were analyzed that span both the basin margins (zones of sediment input and bypass) and basin center (zone of sediment mixing). The petrographic data revealed overall major framework mineralogy (42-54-4; Q-F-L) with slight variances across the basin, including quartz enriched sands on the northwestern side of the basin. The hXRF results reflect the major framework minerals and diagenetic factors such as cementation. hXRF data is thus influenced by both provenance and diagenetic factors, with carbonate cementation (calcite and/or ankerite) strongly influencing the abundance of Ca in four samples. The heavy mineral assemblages provide a robust data set that differentiate different sediment sources around the San Joaquin basin. The eastern Stevens sandstone has elevated concentrations of titanite, hornblende, and epidote. The western Stevens sandstone contains the highest proportions of apatite, zircon, and rutile. The southern Stevens has the highest abundance of monazite. The central basin represents a mixture of heavy minerals derived from around the basin periphery, with greater representation of minerals derived from the southern and western margins. Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology also differentiates the Stevens sandstone on the basis of varying abundances of late or mid-Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Eocene zircon grains. Jurassic zircon with elevated Th/U is present on the eastern and southern basin margins, whereas Th/U values are lower on the western basin margin. The use of multiple provenance proxies suggests that Stevens sandstone provenance varied around the basin margin, with sediment sourcing from the Sierra Nevada highlands to the east, the ancestral Tehachapi and San Emigdio Mountains to the south and southwest respectively, the translocating Salinian Block to the west, and possibly the ancestral Temblor Range in the northwest. Sediment within the basin center displays a more consistent provenance signature than on the basin margins, suggesting progressive mixing and provenance homogenization from source-to-sink. Sediment sources from the south and possibly western margin of the basin appear to outweigh sediment contributions from the eastern side of the basin.

The Sedimentary Basins of the United States and Canada

The Sedimentary Basins of the United States and Canada PDF Author: Andrew Miall
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0444638962
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 826

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Book Description
The Sedimentary Basins of the United States and Canada, Second Edition, focuses on the large, regional, sedimentary accumulations in Canada and the United States. Each chapter provides a succinct summary of the tectonic setting and structural and paleogeographic evolution of the basin it covers, with details on structure and stratigraphy. The book features four new chapters that cover the sedimentary basins of Alaska and the Canadian Arctic. In addition to sedimentary geologists, this updated reference is relevant for basin analysis, regional geology, stratigraphy, and for those working in the hydrocarbon exploration industry. - Features updates to existing chapters, along with new chapters on sedimentary basins in Alaska and Arctic Canada - Includes nearly 300 detailed, full-color paleogeographic maps - Written for general geological audiences and individuals working in the resources sector, particularly those in the fossil fuel industry

Understanding Provenance Signatures in Active Margin Settings

Understanding Provenance Signatures in Active Margin Settings PDF Author: Zachary Thomas Sickmann
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
From plate tectonics that act over thousands of kilometers and millions of years to sedimentary processes that operate over sub meter and sub annual timescales, provenance data integrates many types of information. The research in this dissertation attempts to advance the understanding of tectonic and sedimentological controls on provenance analysis by examining one modern and one ancient example. The modern example, coastal central California provides the advantage of being a well-studied modern setting for which boundary conditions of source region geology and sediment dispersal patterns are constrained. In the ancient example, the Magallanes-Austral retroarc foreland basin in southern Patagonia, considerable initial work was required to constrain the stratigraphic framework of the basin before provenance patterns and sediment dispersal could be examined in detail. Chapter 1 explores sediment dispersal off the modern coast of central California in an attempt to determine how sediment pathway partitioning and sediment mixing control the expression of provenance signatures. This chapter demonstrates that sediment mixing in the marine realm is an important control on provenance signatures and that submarine canyons and coastal geometries dictate the way sediment dispersal systems are partitioned along narrow-shelf margins. Chapter 2 provides a stratigraphic framework for the Magallanes-Austral foreland basin through field mapping and detrital zircon maximum depositional age calculations. This framework provides the first radiometrically-age-controlled, unified, framework for the basin between 49.5°S and 52°S. The focus of the chapter is constraining the age of the Cerro Fortaleza Formation. This unit had previously been assigned ages ranging from Cenomanian to Maastrichtian. Using detrital zircon maximum depositional ages we constrain the age of the unit to Campanian to Maastrichtian. Refining the age of this unit allows the rest of the stratigraphic framework of the basin to be defined. Chapter 3 is a provenance analysis of the Magallanes-Austral retroarc foreland basin that incorporates previously published provenance data from the basin along with 28 new detrital zircon and 34 new sandstone petrography samples. This analysis is informed by the systematic incorporation of geologic background information with an attempt made to describe sediment dispersal patterns from the whole-basin scale down to individual sediment dispersal systems.

A Provenance Study of Upper Jurassic Hydrocarbon Source Rocks of the Flemish Pass Basin and Central Ridge, Offshore Newfoundland, Canada

A Provenance Study of Upper Jurassic Hydrocarbon Source Rocks of the Flemish Pass Basin and Central Ridge, Offshore Newfoundland, Canada PDF Author: Matthew William Scott
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
This project is a provenance study of Upper Jurassic source and reservoir rocks from the Flemish Pass Basin and Central Ridge, offshore Newfoundland, Canada. It is aimed at adding a new dataset to contribute to our understanding of the geology of this area, where a number of recent hydrocarbon discoveries have been made, but limited geological information is available. A primary goal of the project is to determine the provenance and paleodrainage patterns of the Upper and Lower Kimmeridgian Source Rock and Upper and Lower Tempest Sandstone of the Flemish Pass Basin and the Central Ridge. It is likely that the source rock and reservoir units increase in thickness toward their source terranes and this provenance study would thus help define where thicker sequences of hydrocarbon source rocks and reservoir units are located in the region. In total, sixty samples of both mudstones and sandstones were acquired, processed and analyzed from four wells (Baccalieu I-78, Panther P-52, South Tempest G-88 and Lancaster G-70) to determine provenance. A combination of detrital zircon geochronology, whole rock geochemistry, and heavy mineral proxies were used to decipher provenance. In addition, core logging and thin section descriptions were completed to gain an understanding of the depositional environment. This analysis indicates a basinal setting with sediment being delivered by turbidity currents. The Upper Kimmeridgian Source Rock, Lower Kimmeridgian Source Rock and the Rankin Formation are interpreted to be composed of detritus from the Avalon Zone, Central Mobile Belt, and underlying basement. Detritus would have been derived from the northeast, and thicker sequences of these units would be expected in the northeastern portions of the Flemish Pass Basin and Central Ridge. The Upper Tempest and Lower Tempest Sandstone are also characterized by material from the Avalon Zone. However, some of the detritus from these units is also interpreted to be derived from Iberia to the east. In addition, the Upper Tempest Sandstone contains Mesozoic zircons, which helped constrain the depositional age of this unit. Mesozoic zircons were not found in samples from the other units. The Tempest Sandstone units are interpreted to be derived from the east, which means thicker sequences of this unit would be expected towards the eastern edges of the Central Ridge and Flemish Pass Basin. Knowledge of where the thickest packages of these units exist may be an important consideration for petroleum exploration in the region. In addition to these provenance findings, another important conclusion is that although provenance analysis methods such as detrital zircon geochronology are more common in sandstones, it is evident that using these techniques to analyze fine-grained sedimentary rocks is indeed feasible and useful. Additionally, the detrital zircon distributions in interbedded sandstone and mudstone beds were compared. These distributions suggested provenance of these pairs is very similar, an important implication for future use of this method in mudstones.

From Subduction to Collision

From Subduction to Collision PDF Author: Megan Anne Mueller
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
The Tethyan orogenic belt extends from the western Mediterranean to southeast Asia and the exposed rocks and landscapes present today are records of multiple orogenic events. The most recent, the Alpine-Himalayan orogeny, evolved during the Mesozoic-Cenozoic closure of the Neotethys Ocean during the convergence of Gondwana with Laurasia. Over the last few decades, significant advances in geochemical and geochronological methods and their widespread application have created a high-resolution temporal framework that reveals that various proxy records of intercontinental collisions across the Alpine-Himalayan belt differ by tens of millions of years. Consequently, new questions have arisen, including how to unite these seemingly disparate records of subduction and collision into a temporally and spatially credible reconstruction.The work set forth in this dissertation situates the Anatolian segment of the Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt in the broader discussion on the timescales and drivers of intercontinental collisions and their effect on biogeography. The various suture zones in Anatolia that delineate former branches of the Neotethys Ocean have complex and unresolved geodynamic reconstructions, including single and double subduction systems, pre-collisional subduction of lower plate terranes, forearc and backarc extension, ophiolite obduction, and protracted collisional deformation. Resolving these competing geodynamic scenarios is essential for paleogeographic reconstructions for refining the mechanistic links between subduction, accretion, and collision processes. Furthermore, the role of collisions in the early Cenozoic Anatolian archipelago in facilitating mammalian faunal exchange, including anthropoid primates, between Europe, Asia and Africa relies on accurate paleogeographic and topographic reconstructions. Near-continuous deposition in western Anatolian sedimentary basins preserves an unbroken record of subduction through collision that is unparalleled across the Tethyan realm. This dissertation utilizes this sedimentary record by providing new stratigraphic, sedimentologic, petro- and geochronologic, and sedimentary provenance constraints on the chronology of collision along the İzmir-Ankara-Erzincansuture zone and the Intra-Pontide suture zone in western Anatolia. The sedimentary basin reconstructions presented in this dissertation, synthesized with existing datasets, provide a model for multi-stage continental collision that is applicable across the Tethyan realm. Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology and sandstone petrography data from the forearc-foreland Central Sakarya Basin in western Anatolia indicate that collision along the İzmir-Ankara-Erzincan suture zone began at 76 Ma, recorded as a major shift in provenance and the onset of exhumation, sediment recycling, and suture zone uplift. Furthermore, new stratigraphy, sedimentology and sedimentary provenance studies from the foreland Sarıcakaya Basin in western Anatolia reveal that significant upper plate deformation was delayed by 20 Myr. By 54 Ma, the Central Sakarya Basin was partitioned by a basement-involved thrust fault, and flexural loading from the thrust created the Sarıcakaya Basin. This 20 Myr protracted collision along the İzmir-Ankara-Erzincan suture zone can be explained by three Tethyan models for multi-stage collision: slab breakoff, relict basin closure, or subduction of thinned passive margin lithosphere. The validity of relict basin closure is evaluated using detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology, detrital rutile U-Pb and trace element geochemistry, and sandstone petrography from sedimentary units across the Intra-Pontide suture. A major shift in provenance in the Paleocene-early Eocene caused by accretionary prism exhumation demonstrates that collisional stress from incipient İzmir-Ankara-Erzincan suturing could have been taken up by the Intra-Pontide suture. Furthermore, the sedimentary evolution of both suture zones reveals that the uplift and exhumation of the accretionary prism is an important signal of collisional geodynamics. Even though continental collisions assembled a larger landmass that favored trans-Tethyan mammalian dispersals, for 30 Myr after initial collision, collisional deformation did not form significant topography; marine barriers and endemism persisted until the late Eocene. Accretionary orogenies, like those in Anatolia, likely have an important control on biogeography. The findings presented in this dissertation bear on fundamental questions regarding the interconnectedness of Earth systems, including the effects of plate tectonics, the causes of topographic change, and the geologic drivers of biodiversity.