Provenance of Late Paleozoic-Mesozoic Sandstones, Taimyr Peninsula, the Arctic

Abstract

The sedimentary and provenance characteristics of seven Permo-Carboniferous and two early Cretaceous samples from the Taimyr Peninsula provide information about the latest evolution of Uralian orogeny and the opening of the Amerasian Basin. The Permo-Carboniferous samples have a mixed provenance of recycled and first cycle sediment, sourced from metamorphic and igneous terranes. U-Pb detrital zircon ages represent a mixture of Precambrian-Paleozoic grains with euhedral, penecontemporaneous late Carboniferous and Permian grains consistent with derivation from the Uralian Orogen, plus additional Timanian and Caledonian material presumably derived from Baltica. Differences between the late Permian sample and the other Carboniferous and early Permian samples are interpreted to reflect the final collisional stage of Uralian orogeny. Early Cretaceous sediments deposited at the time of the Amerasian Basin opening preserve a mixed provenance of mainly first cycle metamorphic and igneous source material, as well as an unstable heavy mineral assemblage dominated by staurolite, suggesting local derivation. Detrital zircon ages fall almost exclusively into one late Permian-early Triassic cluster, indicating a Siberia Trap-related magmatic source. The detrital zircon age spectra support a passive margin setting for Taimyr during the opening of the Amerasian Basin in the early Cretaceous.

Keywords

• provenance
• heavy minerals
• detrital zircons
• Uralian Orogen
• Amerasian Basin