Conventional and high-resolution heavy mineral analyses applied to flysch deposits: comparative provenance studies of the Ropianka (Upper Cretaceous–Paleocene) and Menilite (Oligocene) formations (Skole Nappe, Polish Carpathians)

Abstract

1 In sti tute of Geo log i cal Sci ences, Jagiellonian Uni ver sity, Oleandry 2a, 30-063 Kraków, Po land Salata D. and Uchman A. (2013) Con ven tional and high-res o lu tion heavy min eral anal y ses ap plied to flysch de pos its: compar a tive prov e nance stud ies of the Ropianka (Up per Cre ta ceous-Paleocene) and Menilite (Oligocene) for ma tions (Skole Nappe, Pol ish Carpathians). Geo log i cal Quar terly, 57 (4): 649-664, doi: 10.7306/gq.1119Con ven tional and high-res o lu tion anal y ses of heavy min er als from the grav ity flow-de pos ited sand stones of the Campanian-Maastrichtian in ter val of the Ropianka (Up per Cre ta ceous-Paleocene) and Menilite (Oligocene) for ma tions of the Pol ish Carpathians dis play sim i lar com po si tions in terms of min eral spe cies. Zir con, tour ma line, rutile, gar net, staurolite and kyan ite be long to the main con stit u ents in both for ma tions. Ap a tite is com mon in the Ropianka Fm., while the Menilite Fm. al most lacks this min eral. Fur ther more, in di vid ual hornblende grains were found in the Ropianka Fm., while an da lu site is pres ent only in the Menilite Fm. The Ropianka Fm. is rel a tively richer in zir con, tour ma line, gar net and ap a tite, while the Menilite Fm. con tains more staurolite and kyan ite. Zir con and tour ma line col our and mor pho log i cal va ri et ies are sim i lar in both for ma tions. The sim i lar i ties of the heavy min eral as sem blages stud ied sug gest or i gin of these min er als from lithologically sim i lar rocks. Neg a tive cor re la tions be tween the zir con + tour ma line + rutile (ZTR) val ues and the con tent of gar net and staurolite in the Ropianka Fm. may in di cate, to a large ex tent, first-cy cle de liv ery of gar net and staurolite to the forma tion. Neg a tive, but low, cor re la tion valid only for ZTR and gar net and pos i tive cor re la tions for ZTR and staurolite and kyanite in the Menilite Fm. sug gest de liv ery of these min er als from sed i men tary rocks or/and pa limp sest sed i ments. The data ob tained on min eral re la tion ships and their mor phol ogy sug gest mixed first-cy cle and re cy cled prov e nance of the heavy miner als stud ied. Ad di tion ally, the first-cy cle ma te rial in put seems to be larger dur ing the Ropianka Fm. sed i men ta tion, while dur ing the de po si tion of Menilite Fm. the con tri bu tion of ma te rial de liv ered from ero sion of re cy cled sed i ments ap pears more prom i nent. The heavy min eral ev i dence sug gests a change at the north ern mar gin of the Skole Ba sin from an im ma ture passive mar gin with a high re lief dur ing sed i men ta tion of the Campanian-Maastrichtian part of the Ropianka Fm. to a ma ture pas sive mar gin with a low re lief dur ing sed i men ta tion of the Menilite Fm.

Detrital tourmaline as an indicator of source rock lithology: an example from the Ropianka and Menilite formations (Skole Nappe, Polish Flysch Carpathians)

“…Con sid er ing the round ness de gree, three types of grains were dis tin guished in both for mations (Salata and Uchman, 2013): -euhedral crys tals or frag ments of them (Fig. 3A, B); -subrounded grains (Fig.…”

“…The sand stone-dom i nated sec tions rep re sent prox i mal parts of the depositional sys tem (the channel fa cies of a sub ma rine fan in the Manasterz, Husów -Pat ria, Husów -Biedroniówka, Niewa¿ka sec tions) and more dis tal parts of the sys tem (depositional lobes, interlobes or fan fringes in the Husów -Gaj, Husów -B¹kowiec, Husów -Bagnisty Stream, Rzeki -G¹szcz Stream, Tarnawka -leoeniczówka A, B, Tarnawka 1-5, Tarnawka Quarry sec tions; Fig. 1B; for de tails of sam pled sec tions see Salata and Uchman, 2013). The sandstones of the Ropianka For ma tion, in the area stud ied, are quartz-dom i nated but they con tain also feld spars, lithic fragments and subordinately mica, glauconite and coalified plant de bris.…”

“…Judg ing by the tour ma line com po si tion, the same rocks may have been a source for euhedral tour ma lines of the Menilite For ma tion either. How ever, de pos its of the Kliva and Boryslav sand stone mem bers may rep re sent, at least in part, pa limp sest sed i ments sensu McManus (1975) (Salata and Uchman, 2013).…”

Selective agglutination of tourmaline grains by foraminifera in a deep-water flysch environment (Eocene Hieroglyphic beds, Silesian Nappe, Polish Outer Carpathians)

“…It may be sig nif i cant that the gen eral out lines of short col umns of tour ma line are sim i lar to the ag glu ti nated quartz grains, how ever, the lat ter are rather irreg u lar in shape. In ter est ingly, the size and shape of zir con and ap a tite grains are sim i lar, and zir con is as com mon in the Carpathian Flysch as tour ma line (Salata and Uchman, 2013), but only the lat ter min eral is accreted in the foraminiferal tests.…”

Sedimentary processes and architecture of Upper Cretaceous deep-sea channel deposits: a case from the Skole Nappe, Polish Outer Carpathians

“…The Carpathians evolved from a rift basin (since the Late Jurassic) to a remnant foreland basin in the Oligocene Nemčok et al 2006;Ślączka et al 2006Gągała et al 2012) and ultimately during the Miocene the basin was folded and thrusted upon the Carpathians Foredeep. During the Turonian-Paleocene times, the sediments of the Skole Basin are thought to have been derived from the southern part of the Upper Silesia and Małopolska blocks to the north (Książkiewicz 1962;Bromowicz 1974;Salata & Uchman 2013) and from the side of the Subsilesian Ridge (Węglówka Ridge) to the south (Książkiewicz 1962). The petrographic variety of the source area was repeatedly mentioned in the literature (e.g., Salata & Uchman 2013;Salata 2014;Łapcik et al 2016 and references therein).…”