Detrital zircon provenance of north Gondwana Palaeozoic sandstones from Saudi Arabia

Abstract

We present the first comprehensive detrital zircon U–Pb age dataset from Palaeozoic sandstones of Saudi Arabia, which provides new insights into the erosion history of the East African Orogen and sediment recycling in northern Gondwana. Five main age populations are present in varying amounts in the zircon age spectra, with age peaks at ~625 Ma, ~775 Ma, ~980 Ma, ~1840 Ma and ~2480 Ma. Mainly igneous rocks of the Arabian–Nubian Shield are suggested to be the most prominent sources for the Ediacaran to middle Tonian zircon grains. Palaeoproterozoic and Archaean grains may be xenocrystic zircons or they have been recycled from older terrigenous sediment. A primary derivation from Palaeoproterozoic and Archaean basement is also possible, as rocks of such age occur in the vicinity. Approximately 4 % of the detrital zircons show Palaeozoic (340–541 Ma) ages. These grains are likely derived from Palaeozoic post-orogenic and anorogenic igneous rocks of NE Africa and Arabia. A few single grains gave up to Eoarchaean (3.6–4.0 Ga) ages, which are the oldest zircons yet described from Arabia and its vicinity. Their origin, however, is yet unknown. Detrital zircons with U–Pb ages of ~1.0 Ga are present in varying amounts in all of the samples and are a feature of terrigenous sediment belonging to the Gondwana super-fan system with an East African – Arabian zircon province.

Detrital zircon and rutile U–Pb, Hf isotopes and heavy mineral assemblages of Israeli Miocene sands: Fingerprinting the Arabian provenance of the Levant

“…A more plausible source for 750-850 Ma U-Pb age zircons is the Paleozoic siliciclastic section of northern Saudi Arabia (Figure 1). Detrital zircons from the Saudi Paleozoic section in Al Jauf area show a significant age population at 750-850 Ma (Garzanti et al, 2013;Meinhold et al, 2020), as found here in the Hordos and Ein Gev Sands formations (Figure 7). This may suggest that parts of the Paleozoic sequence of northern Saudi Arabia, particularly its upper Devonian section, were recycled into the fluvial system that transported siliciclastic material onto the northern Miocene strata of Israel.…”

“…Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) plots for detrital zircon (teal/gray) and rutile (orange/tan) in the northern and southern Miocene sedimentary provinces (combined) and possible provenance units (data from Avigad et al., 2017; Garzanti et al., 2013; Kolodner et al., 2006, 2009; Meinhold et al., 2020), focused on the early Paleozoic – late Mesoproterozoic time interval (400–1,400 Ma). KDE bandwidth is 20 Ma.…”

“…Sample ablation was performed using a 30-μm spot size for zircon and a 43-μm spot size for rutile. Time-resolved raw data were corrected offline for background signal, common Pb, laser induced elemental fractionation, instrumental mass discrimination, and time-dependent elemental fractionation of Pb/U using an in-house, Isoplot (Ludwig, 2005) -supported, Microsoft Excel ® spreadsheet program, following the methods described by Zeh (2006, 2009). Common Pb correction was applied based on the interference-and background corrected 204 Pb signal and the Pb composition model of Stacey and Kramers (1975).…”

“…assemblages, reveal that the two Miocene provinces representing the eastern, Arabian transport system were sourced in different areas along the eastern flank of the uplifted Red Sea Rift. The southern Miocene sedimentary province was fed via a NW-directed transport system that drained the northernmost tip of the uplifted region along the Red Sea -Suez F I G U R E 7 Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) plots for detrital zircon (teal/gray) and rutile (orange/tan) in the northern and southern Miocene sedimentary provinces (combined) and possible provenance units (data from Avigad et al, 2017;Garzanti et al, 2013;Kolodner et al, 2006Kolodner et al, , 2009Meinhold et al, 2020), focused on the early Paleozoic -late Mesoproterozoic time interval (400-1,400 Ma). KDE bandwidth is 20 Ma.…”

New detrital zircon U–Pb insights on the palaeogeographic origin of the central Sanandaj–Sirjan zone, Iran

“…Based on ion-microprobe U-Pb analyses of detrital zircon grains from various Neoproterozoic to Cambrian sandstones of the Alborz and Zagros mountains and from the basement of the Central Iranian plateau, Horton et al (2008) proposed that a basal clastic succession representing the earliest sedimentary record in Iran displays a provenance age signature dominated by Pan-African (0.9-0.6 Ga) rocks, which are similar to detrital zircon age spectra for age-equivalent units of the west and south in Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in northern Gondwana (e.g. Avigad et al 2003Avigad et al , 2015Avigad et al , 2017Kolodner et al 2006;Meinhold et al 2021). Because of the lack of significant pre-600 Ma detrital zircon ages, these authors have therefore concluded that the main sources were likely located in Pan-African basement provinces of Arabia and Africa, particularly in the Arabian-Nubian shield, although the Iranian basement may have contributed some sediment.…”