Heavy minerals from Oligocene sandstones of the Menilite Formation of the Skole Nappe, SE Poland: a tool for provenance specification

Alfred Uchman,Dorota Salata

doi:10.7306/gq.1056

Abstract

Heavy minerals from sandstones belonging mostly to the Boryslav Sandstone and Kliva Sandstone members of the lower part of the Menilite Formation (Oligocene) in the northern part of the Skole Nappe, Polish Carpathians are characterized. In the study area, the sediments were deposited in the Rzeszów and Łańcut channel zones running from the northern margin of the basin. The most frequent heavy minerals in the sandstones examined include zircon, tourmaline, rutile, staurolite, kyanite and garnet. Single grains of andalusite, sillimanite, apatite, epidote, brookite and chrome spinel occur in some samples. The very small content of apatite is related to long, continental weathering in the source area, which is referred to the Paleozoic sedimentary cover of the Małopolska Block and the easternmost part of the Upper Silesian Block. Different preservation states, morphology, degree of roundness and colour varieties suggest that the heavy minerals studied derive from various petrographic types including metamorphic, igneous and sedimentary rocks. However, the Carboniferous and Permian conglomerates and sandstones seem to be the most probable source rocks. &nbsp

Highlights

Analysis of heavy minerals is a powerful tool in characterizing the provenance of sedimentary material, which is an important part of facies, basin and palaeogeographic analyses
We present the results of investigation of heavy minerals occurring in sandstones of the lower part of the Menilite Formation (Oligocene) in the northern part of the Skole Nappe, Polish Carpathians (Figs. 1 and 2)
Judging from the subsurface maps, the northern margin of the Skole Basin in the study region can be formed by extension of the Małopolska Block and the Upper Silesian Block, which are separated by the NW–SE trending suture zone of the Kraków–Lubliniec Fault Zone (Fig. 11; Buła and Habryn, 2011)

Summary

Introduction

Analysis of heavy minerals is a powerful tool in characterizing the provenance of sedimentary material, which is an important part of facies, basin and palaeogeographic analyses. In the Polish Flysch Carpathians, this method has long been applied (e.g., Jaskólski 1931, 1939; Tokarski, 1947; Nowak and Szczurowska, 1964; Kotlarczyk, 1966; Krysowska-Iwaszkiewicz and Unrug, 1967; Wdowiarz et al, 1974; Żytko et al, 1975 see Wieser and Żytko, 2006; Szczurowska, 1980, 1985, 2006a, b; Leszczyński, 1981; Winkler and Slaczka, 1992, 1994; Cieszkowski et al, 1998; Salata, 2004; Żytko, 2004; Oszczypko and Salata, 2005; Grzebyk and Leszczyński, 2006; and references therein), but some regions such as the northern and northeastern parts of the Skole Nappe, have been less thoroughly studied. We present the results of investigation of heavy minerals occurring in sandstones of the lower part of the Menilite Formation (Oligocene) in the northern part of the Skole Nappe, Polish Carpathians The channel zones were path ways for transport of sediment from the European Platform foreland

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion