TY - JOUR
T1 - Triassic river systems and the paleo-Pacific margin of northwestern Pangea
AU - Miller, Elizabeth L.
AU - Soloviev, Alexey V.
AU - Prokopiev, Andrei V.
AU - Toro, Jaime
AU - Harris, Dan
AU - Kuzmichev, Alexander B.
AU - Gehrels, George E.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Exxon-Mobil, Shell Development and British Petroleum whose interest in the Arctic over the years led to the collection and analysis of many of the samples described here. A part of the project resulted from a collaborative study and visit by Soloviev to Stanford University funded by the Blaustein visiting scholar program of the School of Earth Sciences . We thank Dr. J. Wooden for his guidance and help with the SHRIMP-RG analyses and A. Strickland for SHRIMP-RG analysis of detrital zircons from sample KUZ148-5. Acknowledgment is made to the donors of the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund for support of part of this research. PRF Award 45432-AC8 to Elizabeth Miller supported logistics and fieldwork on Wrangel Island and subsequent analytical work discussed in this paper. National Science Foundation Award EAR-0948673 to Miller and CRDF RUG1-2994-MA-11 to Akinin and Miller funded additional fieldwork and analyses presented here. Logistics and fieldwork to the Kular Region were partially supported by RFBR 07-05-00743 to Prokopiev. These latter awards have supported equal efforts towards dating magmatic rocks that served as source regions for Arctic sediments. NSF - EAR 0732436 supported the Arizona LaserChron Center. We thank William Nielsen for helping us draft the paleogeographic maps.
PY - 2013/5
Y1 - 2013/5
N2 - Detrital zircon U-Pb ages from Triassic strata exposed in the circum-Arctic, analyzed by LA-ICP-MS and SHRIMP-RG, are compared at the regional scale to better understand the paleogeography of northern Pangea and help restore rift opening of the Arctic. Data sets are compared based on their zircon age distributions, cumulative age probability plots, and the K-S test. Three major source regions are characterized. These fed clastic material to transcontinental river systems that transported material from the highlands of northwestern Pangea to its once continuous paleo-Pacific continental margin. The paleo-Lena River System was fed from sources in the Baikalian and Altay-Sayan mountainous regions of Siberia. Zircon populations are characterized by a limited number of Precambrian zircons (~ 1.8-2.0. Ga with fewer ~ 2.5-3.0. Ga), lack of 0.9-1.8. Ga zircons, and a dominant 480-500. Ma and 290-300. Ma age population. The paleo-Taimyr River System was sourced from the Uralian orogenic belt region and deposited along a rifted portion of the Siberia-Baltica margin beginning in the Permo-Triassic. Precambrian zircon populations are similar to those of the paleo-Lena system, and samples closest to Siberia have similar populations in the 480-500. Ma and 290-300. Ma age ranges. Chukotka, Wrangel Island and Lisburne Hills, Alaska, have sparse ages between 900 and 1800. Ma, Ordovician ages are younger (~ 440-450. Ma), and, along with abundant ~ 300. Ma ages, they contain ~ 250-260. Ma and lesser ~ 215-235. Ma zircons, interpreted as derived from silicic volcanic centers associated with Permo-Triassic to Triassic continental flood basalt provinces in Siberia, Taimyr and Kara Sea region. The trans-Laurentian River System was likely fed by rift-related uplift along the proto North Atlantic/Arctic margin and delivered sediment to the Cordilleran margin of Pangea. These samples have no significant upper Paleozoic zircons and have a much broader age range of Precambrian zircons.
AB - Detrital zircon U-Pb ages from Triassic strata exposed in the circum-Arctic, analyzed by LA-ICP-MS and SHRIMP-RG, are compared at the regional scale to better understand the paleogeography of northern Pangea and help restore rift opening of the Arctic. Data sets are compared based on their zircon age distributions, cumulative age probability plots, and the K-S test. Three major source regions are characterized. These fed clastic material to transcontinental river systems that transported material from the highlands of northwestern Pangea to its once continuous paleo-Pacific continental margin. The paleo-Lena River System was fed from sources in the Baikalian and Altay-Sayan mountainous regions of Siberia. Zircon populations are characterized by a limited number of Precambrian zircons (~ 1.8-2.0. Ga with fewer ~ 2.5-3.0. Ga), lack of 0.9-1.8. Ga zircons, and a dominant 480-500. Ma and 290-300. Ma age population. The paleo-Taimyr River System was sourced from the Uralian orogenic belt region and deposited along a rifted portion of the Siberia-Baltica margin beginning in the Permo-Triassic. Precambrian zircon populations are similar to those of the paleo-Lena system, and samples closest to Siberia have similar populations in the 480-500. Ma and 290-300. Ma age ranges. Chukotka, Wrangel Island and Lisburne Hills, Alaska, have sparse ages between 900 and 1800. Ma, Ordovician ages are younger (~ 440-450. Ma), and, along with abundant ~ 300. Ma ages, they contain ~ 250-260. Ma and lesser ~ 215-235. Ma zircons, interpreted as derived from silicic volcanic centers associated with Permo-Triassic to Triassic continental flood basalt provinces in Siberia, Taimyr and Kara Sea region. The trans-Laurentian River System was likely fed by rift-related uplift along the proto North Atlantic/Arctic margin and delivered sediment to the Cordilleran margin of Pangea. These samples have no significant upper Paleozoic zircons and have a much broader age range of Precambrian zircons.
KW - Alaska
KW - Arctic
KW - Detrital zircon geochronology
KW - Paleogeography
KW - Russia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84875381944&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84875381944&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.gr.2012.08.015
DO - 10.1016/j.gr.2012.08.015
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84875381944
SN - 1342-937X
VL - 23
SP - 1631
EP - 1645
JO - Gondwana Research
JF - Gondwana Research
IS - 4
ER -