Provenance shift in Cambrian mid-Baltica: detrital zircon chronology of Ediacaran–Cambrian sandstones in Estonia

Abstract

In order to clarify the tectono-sedimentary history of Paleozoic Baltica, age spectra of detrital zircon grains from the Ediacaran (Kotlin Regional Stage) and Lower Cambrian sandstones (lowermost Lontova and Lükati formations) in western Estonia in central Baltica were analyzed by LA-ICPMS. The abundant occurrence of Archean to Mesoproterozoic (2800–1000 Ma) zircon grains was confirmed in all samples. The new data provided the following information on the provenance of siliciclastic material as well as a major change in the sedimentary regime of the Paleo-Baltic basin during the Early Cambrian: (1) the Ediacaran–Lower Cambrian Paleo-Baltic basin received abundant terrigenous clastics from the core of Baltica underlain by the Archean–Mesoproterozoic crystalline crust, (2) the exposed surface area of the 1600 Ma Rapakivi granites apparently was more extensive during the Ediacaran–Early Cambrian than at present, (3) a major re-organization of the basin geometry occurred in the middle Early Cambrian (ca 530–515 Ma) in central Baltica, inducing a change in the sediment supply system, (4) in contrast to the total absence of Neoproterozoic detrital zircon grains before the middle Early Cambrian, their sudden appearance at this time, together with consistent occurrence at least until the mid-Devonian, suggests a significant uplift event located in southeast Baltica and/or in a more easterly land domain (e.g., in Sarmatia), (5) possible sources for the Neoproterozoic zircon grains include the peripheral mobile belts with pan-African signatures around Baltica, e.g., the so-called Gondwanan fragments along the Tornquist margin to the southwest and the Timanian belt along the northeastern margin.

Keywords

• Ediacaran
• Cambrian
• Baltica
• detrital zircon
• U–Pb age
• provenance
• Rapakivi.