Abstract
Mukdadiya Formation (Late Miocene-Pliocene) exposed in the northeastern limb of Baba anticline fold in Kirkuk structure. The selected section was located in the Shoraw area, northeastern Kirkuk city, Iraq. Twenty sandstone samples were collected to study heavy minerals. The study indicates that opaque and epidote group minerals forming the main heavy minerals, followed by amphibole, pyroxene, garnet, and chlorite. According to heavy minerals assemblage, the source rocks are interpreted to be composed essentially of sedimentary followed by igneous and metamorphic rocks and the high contents of unstable and metastable minerals confirm their direct derivation from the adjacent primary source. Ultra-stable and metastable heavy minerals relationship indicated that the sandstone of the Mukdadiya Formation is immature and moderate stability and showed that these minerals couldn't be transported for very long distances close to the source area and not represents polycyclic grain. MF-MT-GM Ternary diagram showed that the studied samples fall within the field of active continental margins which is characterized by a relatively high percentage of minerals (MF˃GM) derived from mafic magmatic rocks.
Highlights
Minerals with a density greater than 2.86 g/cm3 in siliciclastic sediments are called heavy minerals (Mange and Maurer, 1992)
Heavy minerals are derived from a variety of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks, these minerals occur in sedimentary rocks, but are found in different types of unconsolidated sediments
The heavy mineral assemblages in sandstone sediments from the Mukdadiya Formation are mainly represented by opaque minerals, epidote, amphibole, pyroxene, garnet and chlorite
Summary
Minerals with a density greater than 2.86 g/cm in siliciclastic sediments are called heavy minerals (Mange and Maurer, 1992) They usually occur as accessory minerals in rocks. These minerals are useful indicators of sediment source rocks (provenance) because different types of source rocks yield different suites of heavy minerals (Van Andel, 1959; Hubert, 1962; Morton, 1985). Morton (2003) and Morton and Hallsworth (1994) illustrated that heavy mineral analysis is one of the most powerful and widely used methods in determining sediment provenance because of its sensitivity to source rock lithology They are deposited and sorted according to differences in size, shape and density (Haredy, 2008). The main objective of the current study is to shed light on the heavy mineral
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