Geochemistry of Altungol cap dolostones from the Tarim Basin, NW China

Abstract

The Snowball Earth hypothesis postulates that the whole earth was covered by ice sheets for millions of years in the Neoproterozoic. In Tarim Basin, there are four intervals of glacial deposits recorded in the Quruqtagh area during the Neoproterozoic. In chronological order, they are Bayisi, Altungol, Tereeken, and Hankalchough glaciations. In this study, we analyzed carbon, oxygen, and strontium isotopes; whole-rock geochemistry; and acid-insoluble residua of the ∼5-m-thick Altungol cap dolostone (ten samples) in Quruqtagh unit of the Tarim basin. The geochemical data of whole rock are used to explain the ocean environmental changes, while the geochemical data of acid-insoluble residua reflect the changes of the continental environment. The δ 13 C PDB of cap dolostone varies from −2.5 to −1 ‰, which is likely due to the influence of organics. From the bottom to the top of the Altungol cap dolostones, the chemical index of alteration of acid-insoluble residua rises from 72 to 77, but the index of chemical variation drops from ∼3 to ∼1. Ni, Zn, Cu, and Y contents of acid-insoluble residua are enriched in 2.5 m. The values of iron maintain at a high level in all of the wholerock samples (>5.15 %), but in the samples of acid-insoluble residua, the values of iron are higher than in the whole rock (19∼60 %) below 1.5 m. The variations in chemical composition were probably associated with the changes of continental weathering. The geochemistry suggests that ocean and continent environmental variations had taken place after the Altungol glaciation, including the destruction of ocean stratification and the changes of chemical weathering. During this period, the source of this area had changed. At first, the weathering residues of the parent rocks were exhausted by meltwater. Then, the vigorous weathering of freshly exposed continental crust provided a new source.