Sedimentological, modal analysis and geochemical studies of desert and coastal dunes, Altar Desert, NW Mexico

Abstract

Sedimentological, compositional and geochemical determinations were carried out on 54 desert and coastal dune sand samples to study the provenance of desert and coastal dunes of the Altar Desert, Sonora, Mexico. Grain size distributions of the desert dune sands are influenced by the Colorado River Delta sediment supply and wind selectiveness. The desert dune sands are derived mainly from the quartz-rich Colorado River Delta sediments and sedimentary lithics. The dune height does not exert a control over the grain size distributions of the desert dune sands. The quartz enrichment of the desert dune sands may be due to wind sorting, which concentrates more quartz grains, and to the aeolian activity, which has A cluster analysis shows that the El Pinacate group is significantly different from the rest of the dune sands in terms of the grain-size parameters due to longer transport of the sands and the long distance from the source sediment, whereas the Puerto Peñasco coastal dune

Fine dust emissions from active sands at coastal Oceano Dunes, California

“…Oceano sands contain as much as ~46% feldspar by mass (Table 2). This content is approximately twice the proportion of feldspar found in coastal dunes along Monterey Bay to the north (Combellick and Osborne, 1977) and more than three times as much as in coastal dunes in Baja California (Kasper-Zubillaga et al, 2007). This mineralogically immature sand suggests rapid erosion of a feldspar-rich source rock, potentially derived from the Santa Maria River drainage.…”

Geochemical and geomorphological evidence for the provenance of aeolian deposits in the Badain Jaran Desert, northwestern China

“…Geochemical fingerprinting has great potential for identifying the provenance of sediments and their transport pathways (Taylor and McLennan, 1985;McLennan, 1989;Muhs et al, 1996Muhs et al, , 2003Muhs et al, , 2013Cullers and Podkovyrov, 2002;Ferrat et al, 2011;Lancaster et al, 2015), particularly the trace and rare earth elements (REE), because they are less fractionated during the weathering, transport and sedimentation (Murray, 1994;L opez et al, 2005;Moreno et al, 2006;Kasper-Zubillaga et al, 2007;Castillo et al, 2008). In this paper, we present our new studies about major and trace elements and REE in the sediment samples collected from various parts of the Badain Jaran Desert and from a small dune field located in its northeast side.…”

Provenance and Geochemical Characteristics of the Silt and Clay Fraction in the Taklamakan Desert, Northwestern China

“…The application of such methods in sedimentary geochemistry is increasing (e.g., Basu & Molinaroli, 1989;Carranza-Edwards et al, 2001;Muhs & Holliday, 2001;García et al, 2004;Kasper-Zubillaga et al, 2006). These previous studies suggested that TiO 2 is a good reference oxide, because of its very slow dissolution rate and its resistance to chemical weathering in acidic solutions.…”

“…The scatter diagrams of Fe 2 O 3 , MgO, V, and Zr versus TiO 2 in the silt and clay fraction of surface sediments showed clear regional variations (Figure 5). The marked differences in the ratios and scatter diagrams for Fe 2 O 3 , MgO, V, and Zr versus TiO 2 among the three desert sub-regions indicate different provenances for the silt and clay and variations in heavy minerals, probably associated with plutonic magnetite in the sedimentary source material (Basu & Molinaroli, 1989;Muhs & Holliday, 2001;Carranza-Edwards et al, 2001;García et al, 2004;Kasper-Zubillaga et al, 2006). These results are consistent with research findings from extensive investigations conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences during the 1960s (Zhu et al, 1981), which indicated regional variations in the heavy mineral assemblages of the sands of the Taklamakan Desert.…”

“…Petrologic and geochemical investigations of Aeolian sediments have conventionally been used to examine their provenance and transport pathways in desert areas (Zhu et al, 1981;Basu & Molinaroli, 1989;Carranza-Edwards et al, 2001;Yang et al, 2002;Yang et al, 2007;Muhs et al, 2003;Muhs, 2004;Kasper-Zubillaga et al, 2006). Such studies have revealed that desert Aeolian sediments are subjected to diverse forms of hydraulic sorting processes, individually or mixed (e.g., glacial, Aeolian, abrasional, fluvial, and flood processes).…”