Composition of sediment provenances and patterns in geological history of the Late Vendian Mezen Basin

Abstract

Formation conditions of sedimentary successions in the Mezen Basin are considered on the basis of Cr, Th, Sc, Ni, Hf, and REE distribution and model Nd age of the Upper Vendian fine-grained terrigenous rocks. Geochemistry of mudstones and shales of the Lyamitsa, Verkhovka, Zimnie Gory, and Erga formations in the Belomorian-Kuloi Plateau, as well as the Ust-Pinega and Mezen formations in the Vychegda Trough, does not allow us to consider these stratigraphic units as erosion products of the primitive Archean basement of the Baltic Shield or the central segment of the East European Craton (EEC) basement. Taking into account sedimentological data on the direction of paleoflows in the basin and the model Nd age of the fine-grained terrigenous rocks, we suggest that the Mezen Basin was filled in the Late Vendian mainly with erosion products of the Riphean igneous and metasedimentary complexes of the Timan-Pechora region. These conclusions are consistent with the sequence-stratigraphic architecture of sediments in the basin. According to the new model proposed, the Late Vendian Mezen Basin was a foredeep formed as a result of subsidence of the northeastern margin of the EEC under the load of overthrusted rock masses of the Timan-Pechora Foldbelt. The clastic material was derived from the emerging orogen.