An integrated study of geochemistry and mineralogy of the Upper Tukau Formation, Borneo Island (East Malaysia): Sediment provenance, depositional setting and tectonic implications

Abstract

An integrated study using bulk chemical composition, mineralogy and mineral chemistry of sedimentary rocks from the Tukau Formation of Borneo Island (Sarawak, Malaysia) is presented in order to understand the depositional and tectonic settings during the Neogene. Sedimentary rocks are chemically classified as shale, wacke, arkose, litharenite and quartz arenite and consist of quartz, illite, feldspar, rutile and anatase, zircon, tourmaline, chromite and monazite. All of them are highly matured and were derived from a moderate to intensively weathered source.Bulk and mineral chemistries suggest that these rocks were recycled from sedimentary to metasedimentary source regions with some input from granitoids and mafic-ultramafic rocks.The chondrite normalized REE signature indicates the presence of felsic rocks in the source region. Zircon geochronology shows that the samples were of Cretaceous and Triassic age.Comparable ages of zircon from the Tukau Formation sedimentary rocks, granitoids of the Schwaner Mountains (southern Borneo) and Tin Belt of the Malaysia Peninsular suggest that the principal provenance for the Rajang Group were further uplifted and eroded during the Neogene.Additionally, presence of chromian spinels and their chemistry indicate a minor influence of mafic and ultramafic rocks present in the Rajang Group. From a tectonic standpoint, the Tukau Formation sedimentary rocks were deposited in a passive margin with passive collisional and rift settings. Our key geochemical observation on tectonic setting is comparable to the regional geological setting of northwestern Borneo as described in the literature.

Geochemistry of the Palaeocene‐Eocene Upper Kelalan Formation, NW Borneo: Implications on palaeoweathering, tectonic setting, and provenance

“…and the Eastern Granite Beltin Peninsular Malaysia (Permian-Triassic), as the age of the zircons (Galin et al, 2017;Nagarajan, Roy, et al, 2017;van Hattum et al, 2013) zircons within the granite found to show that the granitic source could have originated from the Malay Tin Belt during Permian-Triassic (Galin et al, 2017). This inferenceis further strengthened by the geochronology study by Yokoyama, Tsutsumi, and Bong (2015) that dated monazites from the river sands originated turbidites from NW Borneoto be Late Cretaceous to Late Eocene.…”

“…Owing to their lower mobility in a variety of environments and lesser residence times in seawater (Cox, Lowe, & Cullers, 1995;Taylor & McLennan, 1985), the trace elements and rare earth elements (REEs) are useful in determining the provenance and tectonic settings. Certain immobile trace elements (e.g., V, La, Th, Zr, Hf, Sc, Co, Ni, Cr, and REEs) are used to identify the most likely provenance of a clastic sedimentary rock (Asiedu, Agoe, Amponsah, Nude, & Anani, 2019;Bhatia, 1985;Bhatia & Crook, 1986;Chen et al, 2019;Cullers, 1995;Cullers & Berendsen, 1998;Cullers & Podkovyrov, 2002;Garver & Scott, 1995;Khan, Sarma, Somasekhar, Ramanaiah, & Ramakrishna Reddy, 2019;Ma et al, 2019;Madhavaraju et al, 2020,b;McLennan, 1989;Nagarajan et al, 2014Nagarajan et al, , 2015Nagarajan et al, , 2019Nagarajan, Armstrong-Altrin, et al, 2017;Nagarajan, Roy, et al, 2017).…”

A tuffaceous volcaniclastic turbidite bed of Early Miocene age in the Temburong Formation of Labuan, North‐West Borneo and its implications for the Proto‐South China Sea subduction in the Burdigalian

“…The overlying Belait Formation and younger sediments of the Miri Zone (e.g. Tukau Formation) also have similar detrital zircon age populations (Hennig‐Breitfeld et al, 2019; Nagarajan et al, 2017).…”

Major, trace and rare earth elemental geochemistry of Santonian–Campanian onland‐offshore transition in a Gilbert‐type deltaic setting, Cauvery Basin, southern India

“…The CIA values can be also plotted in ternary diagrams (Nesbitt & Young, 1982) such as A‐CN‐K (Al 2 O 3 ‐CaO* + Na 2 O‐K 2 O (Figure 9a) and A‐CNK‐FM (Al 2 O 3 ‐CaO* + Na 2 O + K 2 O‐Fe 2 O + MgO) (Figure 9b) that help interpret the intensity of weathering and provenance. CIA points out the weathering trends of feldspar to clay (Armstrong‐Altrin, Lee, Verma, & Ramasamy, 2004; Fedo et al, 1995; Nagarajan et al, 2017; Nagarajan et al, 2021; Nesbitt & Young, 1982). The CIA values in the range of 80–100 indicate intensive weathering, 60–80 indicate moderate weathering, and <60–50 is considered as the lower intensity of weathering respectively.…”

“…Geochemistry of the recent‐ancient clastic sediments/rocks plays an important role in documenting/interpreting the depositional setting, provenance (Bhatia, 1985; Cullers, 1995; Feng & Kerrich, 1990; Nath, Kunzendorf, & Pluger, 2000; Wronkiewicz & Condie, 1990), transport, sorting (McLennan, Hemming, Mcdaniel, & Hanson, 1993; Nesbitt, Young, McLennan, & Keays, 1996), depositional environment (Yan et al, 2007), tectonics (Bhatia & Crook, 1986; McLennan, Taylor, McCulloch, & Maynard, 1990), climate (Ramkumar & Berner, 2015), and weathering (Bhatia & Crook, 1986; Cullers, 1995, Cullers & Podkovyrov, 2000; Mongelli, Cullers, & Muelheisen, 1996; Nesbitt, 2003; Nesbitt & Young, 1982, 1984, 1989;Roser & Korsch, 1986; Taylor & McLennan, 1985) and composition (Condie, 1993; Petersen, Hertle, & Sulsbrück, 2017) of rocks in the source areas and diagenesis (Meng, Wei, Qu, & Ma, 2011; Nagarajan et al, 2017; Pettijohn, Potter, & Siever, 1972; Ramkumar et al, 2018; Roser & Korsch, 1986, 1988).…”