| dc.description.abstract | A study of Triassic sandstones in the central North Sea, UK, has shown that combined
detrital zircon and apatite geochronology and apatite trace element analysis is a powerful tool for
reconstructing provenance for sandstones with diagenetically impoverished heavy mineral suites.
Sandstones in the earlier part of the succession (Bunter Sandstone Member and Judy Sandstone
Member) have characteristics that indicate derivation from Moinian–Dalradian metasediments affected by Caledonian tectonothermal events, in conjunction with a Palaeoproterozoic-Archaean
source unaffected by Caledonian metamorphism. Palaeogeographic reconstructions indicate that the
sediment cannot have been input directly from either of these cratonic areas. This, in conjunction with
the presence of common rounded apatite, indicates that recycling is the most likely possibility. The
zircon-apatite association in the younger Joanne Sandstone Member sandstones indicates derivation
from lithologies with mid-Proterozoic zircons (either crystalline basement or metasediments in the
Caledonian Nappes), subjected to Caledonian metamorphism to generate early Palaeozoic apatites.
This combination is compatible with a source region in southern and western Norway. The low degree
of textural maturity associated with the detrital apatite, together with the unimodal Caledonian age
grouping, indicates the Joanne sandstones have a strong first-cycle component. | en_US |
