Provenance in clastic sedimentary rocks in the Northern Apennines is determined by integrated petrographic and geochemical criteria. Thus, mafic-poor arkoses in the Gottero Formation (Senonian-Paleocene) deposited prior to the Alpine orogeny were derived from granitic ;provenance in the Sardinian-Corsican Massif. In the Gottero Formation, chemical criteria distinguish between very low input of detrital mafic material, and Co, C and Ni added entirely by adsorption on clay minerals. Post-Alpine orogeny feldspathic sandstones in the Macigno Formation (mid-Oligocene-lower Miocene) and Cervarola Formation (lower Miocene) reflect a more diverse provenance of granitic, metamorphic, ophiolitic and sedimentary rocks in the Apennines and Alps. The Macigno and Cervarola rocks are distinguished by serpentine, gabbro and diabase fragments and higher chlorite contents than in the Gottero rocks. Chemically, the Macigno and Cervarola rocks contain distinctive signatures expressed in higher MgO, Co, Cr and Ni contents of the mafic-ultramafic detritus, a wider range and more scattered Cr and Ni variation and higher Niggli ti for a given Niggli al-alk content. The MgO, Co, Cr and Ni abundances indicate up to 10% ultramafic ophiolitic detritus in the Macigno and Cervarola sandstones and up to 17% ophiolitic detritus in associated shales estimated by comparison of mixtures of feldspathic sands with Ligurian peridotites. Up to 10% basaltic ophiolitic detritus in these sediments is suggested by CaO and Fe 2O 3 (total) abundances. Petrographic data indicate that a major part of the detritus in the Macigno and Cervarola Formations is from Alpine “granitic basement” of calc-alkaline granite to tonalite plutons and gneisses but apart from higher Ba in Macigno and Cervarola sandstones than in the Gottero sandstones, this is difficult to identify chemically. The trace elements Cr, Ni, Ba, Rb, Ce, La, Y, Co Cu, Ga, Pb and Zn generally have positive correlations with Niggli al-alk, a chemical surrogate measure of sheet mineral (clays, micas and chlorites) content, whereas Sr, which is associated with carbonate and feldspar, shows negative correlation with al-alk. An olistostrome unit contains the most weathered detritus but otherwise shows similar chemical variation to the other formations. Methods to (1) identify separately mafic and ultramafic inputs; (2) recognize in shales Co, Cr and Ni derived from ophiolitic sources and non-ophiolitic sources; (3) estimate the minimum mafic-ultramafic proportion in a sediment may have general application elsewhere in sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks.