Ferrimagnetic minerals as possible indicators of the sedimentation environments of the Eastern Paratethys Tarkhanian deposits (Kop-Takyl section)

Abstract

The paper presents the results of studies of ferromagnetic minerals and their distribution in the Tarkhanian and transition Tarkhanian-Chokrakian deposits of the Kop-Takyl section (Kerch Peninsula, Eastern Paratethys). Magnetic minerals were identified by petromagnetism and scanning electron microscopy. The main ferrimagnetic mineral in the rocks of the upper part of the Argunian strata of Tarkhanian deposits and the Tarkhanian-Chokrakian deposits, which correspond to the regressive stage of the paleobasin under consideration, is magnetite (maghemite). In addition to magnetite (maghemite), the sediments of most of the Tarkhanian deposits, which were formed mainly during marine transgression, contain magnetic iron sulfides: monoclinic pyrrhotite (greigite). These minerals of the detrital and early diagenetic origin may be indicators of sedimentation conditions. The obtained data on the distribution of ferromagnetic minerals in the studied Tarkhanian and Tarkhanian-Chokrakian deposits are generally consistent with the sequence of changes in the sedimentation modes that existed in the past.

Keywords

• miocene
• tarkhanian regional stage
• rock-magnetic characteristics
• sedimentation environments