LITHOLOGICAL AND FACIAL FEATURES, COMPOSITION, AND SEDIMENTATION CONDITIONS OF TERRIGENOUS-CARBONATE ROCKS OF THE MOTY GROUP (SHAMAN CLIFF, IRKUTSK REGION)

Abstract

We have studied terrigenous-carbonate rocks in the area near the Sayan mountains in the Irkutsk Region (Russia), specifically at the Shaman Cliff, being the stratotype area of rocks that belong to the Moty group. The cliff’s lower part is composed of sandstones, which fragments gradually decrease in size upward the cross-section. The middle and upper parts are composed of sandy dolomites and dolomites, respectively. In terms of material characteristics, the terrigenous rocks correspond to arkoses. According to the genetic typification, the arkoses are composed of destructed primary igneous rocks. The terrigenous-carbonate rocks contain a carbonate component that gradually increases in the upper part of the cross-section. In the Shaman Cliff cross-section, we distinguish 32 lithological units and eight lithologicalgenetic types of deposits. Paleogeodynamic conditions are reconstructed for the formation of the sedimentation basin. Our study of the Shaman formation reveals specific features of the lithological facies, which suggest that these rocks accumulated in a coastal environment affected by tides. In the study area, clastic materials were mainly removed from an orogen that formed due to the Vendian accretion-collision events in the southern folded frame of the Siberian platform. Dolomites composing the upper part of the cliff are attributed to the Irkutsk formation of the Moty group. Their lithological features give evidence of shallow-marine conditions of their formation, without any supply of clastic material, which contributed to mass dispersal of the Cambrian biota described in [Marusin et al., 2021]. It is our first initiative to draw a boundary between the Shaman and Irkutsk formations of the Moty Group along the base of the carbonate eluvial breccia unit that marks the stratigraphic break. In the cross-section, this boundary represents the border between the Upper Vendian and Lower Cambrian.Our conclusions are generally consistent with the ideas of most researchers about the Late Vendian evolution of the southern margin of the Siberian platform. The results of our study can be used in further investigation of this area and provide a basis for correlating the studied strata with the same-age reference cross-sections of other regions in Siberia.