Reconstructing drainage pathways in the North Atlantic during the Triassic utilizing heavy minerals, mineral chemistry, and detrital zircon geochronology
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Geological Society of America
Abstract
In this study, single-grain mineral geochemistry, detrital zircon geochronology, and conventional heavy-mineral analysis are used to elucidate sediment
transport pathways that existed in the North Atlantic region during the Triassic. The presence of lateral and axial drainage systems is identified and their
source regions are constrained.
Axial systems are suggested to have likely delivered sediment sourced
in East Greenland (Milne Land–Renland) as far south as the south Viking
Graben (>800 km). Furthermore, the data highlight the existence of lateral
systems issuing from Western Norway and the Shetland Platform as well as
a major east-west–aligned drainage divide positioned adjacent to the Milne
Land–Renland region. This divide separated the catchments that flowed north
to the Boreal Ocean from those that flowed south into a series of endoreic
basins and, ultimately, the Tethys Sea. A further potential drainage divide is
identified to the west of Shetland.
The data presented and the conclusions reached have major implications
for reservoir prediction, as well as correlation, throughout the region. Furthermore, understanding the drainage networks that existed during the Triassic
can help constrain paleogeographic reconstructions and provides an important
framework for the construction of facies models in the region.
Description
Keywords
Mineral chemistry, North Atlantic, Detrital zircon geochronology, Geochemistry, Axial drainage systems
Citation
Andrews, S. D. et al. (2021). Reconstructing drainage pathways in the North Atlantic during the Triassic utilizing heavy minerals, mineral chemistry, and detrital zircon geochronology. Geosphere,17 (2) , pp.479-500. https://doi.org/10.1130/GES02277.1