Cretaceous Rocks of the Penzhina Bay: Mineralogy, Petrography, and Geodynamic Sedimentation Conditions

Abstract

Cretaceous sedimentary and volcanosedimentary rocks from northwestern Kamchatka are considered. The stadial analysis has revealed variable impacts of three major provenances upon the Cretaceous Penzhina sedimentary basin. The provenances were composed of volcanic and volcanosedimentary rocks (Uda–Murgal island arc and Okhotsk–Chukotka volcanic belt) and granitic–metamorphic rocks (the mature Asian continental margin). Sediments were largely accumulated owing to the erosion of island-arc volcanics during reactivation of the Uda–Murgal island arc (Hauterivian–Barremian) or the Okhotsk–Chukotka volcanic belt (middle Albian–Cenomanian). Eroded granitic–metamorphic rocks of the mature Asian continental margin (Berriasian–Valanginian) or Asian metamorphic–volcanic rocks (Santonian–Campanian) were supplied to the basin during tectonically quiet periods (Berriasian–Valanginian and late Cenomanian–Campanian). Compositional changes in provenances were related to active tectonic processes at the continental margin, including evolution and closure of the Uda–Murgal island-arc system and origin of the Okhotsk–Chukotka volcanic belt. The postsedimentary modification of Cretaceous rocks deposited in forearc trough beyond the tectonically active accretionary prism is characterized by a low degree of clastic component alteration.