Using the U-Pb system of calcretes to date the time of sedimentation of clastic sedimentary rocks
- State Univ. of New York, Stony Brook, NY (United States). Dept. of Geosciences
The time of sedimentation of rapidly deposited clastic sedimentary rocks in fluvial environments may be directly dated with an uncertainty of less than three million years using U-Pb dating of pure micritic calcite from calcretes developed in overbank deposits. This conclusion is based on results obtained for calcretes (soil calcite, caliche) formed in the late Triassic New Haven Arkose, Hartford Basin, Connecticut, USA. The paragenesis of calcrete samples from the New Haven Arkose was determined using plane-polarized light and cathodoluminescence petrography, uranium fission track analysis, as well as trace element and stable isotope geochemistry. These calcretes contain an abundance of paleosol microfabrics and diagenetic calcite. The first-generation micritic calcite and second-generation blocky calcite have characteristics consistent with soil calcite. The third generation blocky calcite is a later diagenetic calcite (post-soil calcite). The U-Pb data for pure micritic calcite (first generation) in a horizontal sheet calcrete in sedimentary rocks of Norian age gives a {sup 238}U/{sup 207}Pb-{sup 206}Pb/{sub 207}Pb isochron age of 211.9 {+-} 2.1 Ma (2-sigma, and used hereafter for all ages). The U-Pb data for two samples of first generation micrite in rhizoliths with about 15% insoluble residues give ages of 7 {+-} 66 Ma and 20 {+-} 36 Ma. These results suggest that relatively recent events disturbed the U-Pb system of these detrital rich samples, perhaps due to redistribution of U during weathering or during chemical dissolution for analysis. The U-Pb data for a sample of pure third generation blocky calcite cement in a rhizolith yields a {sup 206}Pb/{sup 238}U-{sup 207}Pb/{sup 235}U isochron age of 81 {+-} 11 Ma. This age suggests that this sample of third generation blocky calcite precipitated during the late Cretaceous perhaps over an extended period.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-94ER14449
- OSTI ID:
- 316234
- Journal Information:
- Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 62, Issue 16; Other Information: PBD: Aug 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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