Syn-rift Clayey Rocks: Bulk Chemical Composition and Position on Discriminant Paleogeodynamic Diagrams

Abstract

The paper analyzes the bulk chemical composition and distribution of the fields of syn-rift clayey rocks on a number of discriminant paleogeodynamic diagrams. It is shown that, in general, there are significant variations in the bulk chemical composition for syn-rift clayey rocks. Thus, for example, the average SiO 2 content varies from 44.74 to 66.42 wt. %, the average content of Al 2 O 3 varies from 16.62 to 29.92 wt. %, and the K 2 O aver are in the range 0.24 ... 5.77 wt. %. Based on the distribution of the figurative points of the syn-rift clayey rocks of various objects/riftogenous structures in the F1–F2 diagram, it can be assumed that the sources of fine aluminosilicoclastic were magmatic and sedimentary rocks of a wide range of compositions. The substantial overlap of the fields of various objects in the classification diagrams [(Na 2 O + K 2 O)/Al 2 O 3 ]–[(Fe 2 O 3tot + MgO)/SiO 2 ] and K/Al–Mg/Al indicates, in general, the similarity of the compositions of the syn-rift fine-grained clastic rocks of various types of riftogenic structures. The localization of the composition fields of the clayey rocks of different riftogenous structures on such discriminant paleogeodynamic diagrams as K 2 O/Na 2 O–SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 and SiO 2 –K 2 O/Na 2 O suggests that they do not allow correctly distinguishing between syn-rift clayey rocks and fine-grained rosks of other geodynamic environments. The position of the syn-rift clayey rocks fields presented in our database on the diagram DF1–DF2 has its own characteristics. In most cases, they occupy a particular position in the areas characterizing collision and rifting environments, and a number of fields are located in all three classification areas of this diagram. A significant part of the midpoints of the syn-rift clayey rocks is localized in the DF1–DF2 diagram in the collision field. It seems that all of the above indicates that the DF1–DF2 diagram also does not allow us to obtain a correct information about the geodynamic nature of terrigenous associations.