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Detrital zircon geochronology and heavy mineral analysis as complementary provenance tools in the presence of extensive weathering, reworking and recycling: the Neogene of the southern North Sea Basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2021

Jasper Verhaegen Open the ORCID record for Jasper Verhaegen [Opens in a new window] ,
Hilmar von Eynatten ,
István Dunkl  and
Gert Jan Weltje
Jasper Verhaegen*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, 3001Leuven, Belgium Department of Environment of the Flemish Government, Planning Bureau for the Environment and Spatial Development (VPO), Koning Albert II-laan 20, 1000Brussels, Belgium
Hilmar von Eynatten
Affiliation:
Geowissenschaftliches Zentrum der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Abteilung Sedimentologie/Umweltgeologie, Goldschmidtstrasse 3, D-37077Göttingen, Germany
István Dunkl
Affiliation:
Geowissenschaftliches Zentrum der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Abteilung Sedimentologie/Umweltgeologie, Goldschmidtstrasse 3, D-37077Göttingen, Germany
Gert Jan Weltje
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, 3001Leuven, Belgium
*
Author for correspondence: Jasper Verhaegen, Email: jasper.verhaegen@vlaanderen.be
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Abstract

Heavy mineral analysis is a long-standing and valuable tool for sedimentary provenance analysis. Many studies have indicated that heavy mineral data can also be significantly affected by hydraulic sorting, weathering and reworking or recycling, leading to incomplete or erroneous provenance interpretations if they are used in isolation. By combining zircon U–Pb geochronology with heavy mineral data for the southern North Sea Basin, this study shows that the classic model of sediment mixing between a northern and a southern source throughout the Neogene is more complex. In contrast to the strongly variable heavy mineral composition, the zircon U–Pb age spectra are mostly constant for the studied samples. This provides a strong indication that most zircons had an initial similar northern source, yet the sediment has undergone intense chemical weathering on top of the Brabant Massif and Ardennes in the south. This weathered sediment was later recycled into the southern North Sea Basin through local rivers and the Meuse, leading to a weathered southern heavy mineral signature and a fresh northern heavy mineral signature, yet exhibiting a constant zircon U–Pb age signature. Thus, this study highlights the necessity of combining multiple provenance proxies to correctly account for weathering, reworking and recycling.

Keywords

MiocenePlioceneuranium–leadU–Pbpalaeogeographysediment
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 158 , Issue 9 , September 2021 , pp. 1572 - 1584
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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