Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Science & Research Branch Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

2 School of Earth Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Ferdowsi University, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

The Givetian-Frasnian sandstones in the Kuh-e-Tizi section (25 km NE Kerman), unconformably overlie the Upper Cambrian Kuhbanan and underlie the Lower Carboniferous Hutk Formations respectively, in southeastern Central Iran. Petrographical data show that these sandstones are well-sorted, sub-angular to rounded quartzarenite. Diagenetic features include physical and chemical compactions (straight, concavo-convex, sutured grain contacts and pressure solution of quartz grain), reduction of the pore space through rearrangements and cementation (mostly silica, as quartz overgrowth). The provenance and tectonic setting of these sandstones have been interpreted using integrated petrographic and geochemical data. Petrographic analysis using standard methods revealed that mono and poly-crystalline quartz grains have been derived from plutonic rocks of an interior cratonic setting. Trace element analyses and their ratios used for provenance studies (Th/Sc and La/Sc) are similar to sediments derived from weathering of mostly felsic rocks. Values representing chemical index of alteration (CIA) and the plagioclase index of alteration (PIA) range from 44.24 to 83.43, with an average of 69.96, and from 42.98 to 92.56, with an average of 75.8, respectively. However, most samples have values greater than 60, suggesting moderate to high weathering in the source area or during transportation prior to find deposition. Major and trace element concentrations indicated a depositional setting in a passive continental margin.

Keywords

References
Amireh, B. S., 1991- Mineral composition of the Cambrian–Cretaceous Nubian Series of Jordan: provenance, tectonic setting and climatological implication, Sedimentary Geology, 71: 99–119.
Armstrong-Altrin, J. S., Lee, Y., Verma, S. & Ramasamy, S., 2004- Geochemistry of sandstones from the Upper Miocene Kudanul Formation, southern India: Implications for provenance, weathering and tectonic setting, Journal of Sedimentary Research, 74 (2):167–179.
Asiedu, D. K., Suzui, S. & Shibata, T., 2000- Provenance of sandstones from the Lower Cretaceous Sasayama Group, inner zone of southwest Japan, Sedimentary Geology, 131: 9–24.
Basu, A., Young, S., Suttner, L., James, W. & Mack, G., 1975- Re-evaluation of the use of undulatory extinction and crystallinity in detrital quartz for provenance interpretation. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 45: 873–882.
Bhatia, M. R., 1983- Plate tectonics and geochemical composition of sandstones, Journal of Geology, 91:611–627.
Bhatia, M. R. & Crook, K. W., 1986- Trace element characteristics of greywackes and tectonic setting discrimination of sedimentary basins, Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 92:181–193.
Blatt, H., Middleton, G. & Murray, R., 1980- Origin of Sedimentary Rocks, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 782p.
Burnett, D. J. & Quirk, D. G., 2001- Turbidite provenance in the Lower Paleozoic Manx Group, Isle of man; implications for the tectonic setting of Eastern Avalonia, Journal of Geological Society of London, 158: 913–924.
Chittleborough, D. J., 1991- Indices of weathering for soils and palaeosols formed on silicate rocks, Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 38:115–120.
Cingolani, C. A., Manassero, M. & Abre, P., 2003- Composition, provenance, and tectonic setting of Ordovician siliciclastic rocks in the San Rafael block: Southern extension of the Precordillera crustal fragment, Argentina, Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 16(1):91-106.
Crook, K. W., 1974- Lithogenesis and tectonics: the significance of compositional variation in flysch arenites (greywackes), In: Dott, R. H., Shaver, R. H. (Eds.), Modern and Ancient, Geosynclinal Sedimentation, Society for Sedimentary Geology Special Publication 19:304-310.
Cullers, R. L., 2000- The geochemistry of shale, siltstoe and sandstone of Pennsylvanian-Permian age, Colorado, USA: implication for provenance and metamorphic studies, Lithos, 51:181–203.
Das, B. K., AL-Mikhlafi, A. S. & Kaur, P., 2006- Geochemistry of Mansar Lake sediments, Jammu, India: Implication for source-area weathering, provenance, and tectonic setting, Journal of Asian Earth Science, 26:649-668.
Dastanpour, M., 1990- The Devonian stratigraphy of Kerman, southeast central Iran, Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Bristol, 234 p.
Dastanpour, M., 1996- Late Devonian reef in north Kerman province, Journal of Science, University of Tehran, 22:1-11.
Dickinson, W. R. & Suczek, C., 1979- Plate tectonics and sandstone composition, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 63:2164–2182.
Dickinson, W. R., Beard, L. S., Brakenridge, G. R., Erjavec, J. L., Ferguson, R. C., Inman, K. F., Knepp, R. A., Lindberg, F. A. & Ryberg, P. T., 1983- Provenance of North American Phanerozoic sandstones in relation to tectonic setting, Geological Society of American Bulletin, 94:222–235.
Emilia, L. & Arribas, J., 2004 - Sand composition in an Iberian passive-margin fluvial course: the TajoRiver. Sedimentary Geology 171, 261–281.
Fedo, C. M., Nesbitt, H. W. & Young, G. M., 1995- Unraveling the effects of potassium metasomatism in sedimentary rocksand paleosols, with implications for paleoweathering conditions and provenance, Geology, 23:921–924.
Folk, R. L., 1980- Petrology of Sedimentary Rocks, Austin, Texas, Hemphill Press, 182 p.
Huckriede, R., KـRsten, M. & Venzlaff, H., 1962- Zur Geologie des Gebietes zwischen Kerman und Sagand (Iran), Beihefte zum Geologischen Jahrbuch, Hannover, 51:197 p.
Ingersoll, R. V., Bullard, T., Ford, R., Grimm, J., Pickle, J. & Sares, S., 1984- The effect of grain size on detrital modes: a test of the Gazzi Dickinson point-counting method, Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 54:103–116.
Kroonenberg, S. B., 1994- Effects of provenance, sorting and weathering on the geochemistry of fluvial sands from different tectonic and climatic environments, Proceedings of the 29th International Geological Congress, Part A: 69–81.
Matter, A. & Ramseyer, K., 1985- Cathodoluminescence microscopy as a tool for provenance studies of sandstones, In: Zuffa, G.G. (Ed.), Provenance of Arenite. Reidel, Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
McBride, E. F., 1985- Diagenetic processes that affect provenance determinations in sandstone, In: Zuffa, G.G. (Ed.), Provenance of Arenite. Reidel, Dordrecht, the Netherlands, 95-113.
McLennan, S. M., 1993- Weathering and global denudation, Journal of Geology, 101:295-303.
McLennan, S. M., 2001- Relationships between the trace element composition of sedimentary rocks and upper continental crust, Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 2(4), 1021, doi:10.1029/2000GC000109.
McLennan, S. M., Hemming, S., McDaniel, D. K. & Hanson, G. N., 1993- Geochemical approaches to sedimentation, provenance and tectonics. In: Johnsson, J.M., Basu, A. (Eds.), Processes Controlling the Composition of Clastic Sediments, Geological Society of America, Special Paper, 284:21-40
Morton, A. C., 1985- Heavy minerals in provenance studies, In: Zuffa, G. G. (Ed.), Provenance of Arenite, Reidel, Dordrecht, 249-277.
Morton, A. C., Davies, J. R. & Waters, R. A., 1992- Heavy minerals as a guide to turbidite provenance in the Lower Paleozoic Southern Welsh Basin: a pilot study, Geological Magazine, 129:573–580.
Nath, B. N., Kunzendorf, H. & Pluger, W. L., 2000- Influence of provenance, weathering and sedimentary processes on the elemental ratio of the fine-grained fraction of the bed load sediments from the Vembanad Lake and the adjoining continental shelf, southwest Coast of India, Journal of Sedimentary Research, 70:1081–1094.
Nesbitt, H. W. & Young, Y. M., 1982- Early Paleozoic climates and platemotions inferred from major element chemistry of lutites, Nature, 299:715–717.
Osae, S., Asiedu, D. K., Banoeng-Yakubo, B., Koeberl, C. & Dampare , S. B., 2006- Provenance and tectonic setting of Late Proterozoic Buem sandstones of southeastern Ghana: Evidence from geochemistry and detrital modes, Journal of African Earth Science, 44:85-96.
Pettijohn, F. J., Potter, P. E. & Siever, R., 1987- Sand and Sandstone, Springer-Verlag, New York, 553 p.
Pittman, E. D., 1970- Plagioclase as an indicator of provenance in sedimentary rocks, Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 40:591–598.
Rieser, A, B., Neubauer, F., Liu, Y. & Ge, X., 2005- Sandstone provenance of north-western sectors of the intracontinental Cenozoic Qaidam basin, wstern china: Tectonic vs. climate control, Sedimentary Geology, 177:1-18.
Roser, B. P. & Korsch, R. J., 1986- Determination of tectonic setting of sandstone– mudstone suites using SiO2 content and K2O/Na2O ratio, Journal of Geology, 94:635–650.
Roser, B. P. & Korsch, R. J., 1988- Provenance signatures of sandstone–mudstone suites determined using discriminant function analysis of major-element data, Chemical Geology, 67:119–139.
Tucker, M. E., 2001- Sedimentary Petrology: an introduction to the origin of sedimentary rocks, Blackwell, Scientific Publication, London, 260 p.
Valloni, R. & Maynard, B., 1981- Detrital modes of recent deep-sea sands and their relation to tectonic setting: a first approximation, Sedimentology, 28:75–83.
Wanas, H. A. & Abdel-Maguid N. M., 2006- Petrography and geochemistry of the Cambro-Ordovician Wajid Sandstone, southwest Saudi Arabia: Implications for provenance and tectonic setting, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 27:416–429.
Weltje, G. J. & Von Eynatten, H., 2004- Quantitative provenance analysis of sediments: review and outlook, Sedimentary Geology, 171:1-11.
Wendt, J., Hayer, J. & Karimi Bavandpur, A., 1997- Stratigraphy and depositional environment of Devonian sediments in northeast and east-central Iran, Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Palaontologie, Abhandlungen,206:277-322.
Wendt, J., Kaufmann, B., Belka, Z. W., Farsan, N. & Karimi Bavandpur, A., 2002- Devonian/ Lower Carboniferous stratigraphy, facies patterns and palaeogeography of Iran. PartI.Southeastern Iran, Acta Geologica Polonica, 52, No. 2:129-168.
Zimmermann, U. & Bahlburg, H., 2003- Provenance analysis and tectonic setting of the Ordovician clastic deposits in the southern Puna Basin, NW Argentina, Sedimentology, 50:1079–1104.