Trace elements and characteristics of the sources of clastic material in the Devonian and Carboniferous sedimentary formations of the eastern zones of the Southern Urals

Abstract

This paper focuses on the characteristics of possible provenances for the Devonian and Carboniferous clastic complexes of the eastern zones of the Southern and, in part, Central Urals on the basis of the investigation of trace- and rare-earth element geochemistry, accounting for petrographic evidence. It was found that the material of basic and silicic volcanics, ultrabasic rocks, and metamorphic complexes influenced the geochemical characteristics of the clastic rocks. It was shown that the main sources of the Devonian clastic material were probably subalkaline volcanic rocks from an ensialic oceanic island arc similar to the Silurian arc of the Central Urals, including displaced ones, and the main sources of the Carboniferous sediments were Devonian island-arc complexes and, in part, continental margin volcanics. An eastern source of material existed probably in the Carboniferous in the southern part of the Eastern Ural megazone. The geochemical features of the sedimentary rocks of the Irendyk Formation (upper Emsian-Eifelian) indicate a differentiated source of clastic material.