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Minerals
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Tectonic Setting and Provenance of Sedimentary Rocks
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Tectonic Setting and Provenance of Sedimentary Rocks

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Geochemistry and Geochronology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 967

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jayagopal Madhavaraju

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Estación Regional del Noroeste, Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico
Interests: sedimentary geochemistry; clay mineralogy; stable isotopes; U-Pb geochronology; oceanic anoxic enviroments (OAEs); paleogeography; paleoceanography; provenance and paleoclimatic studies
Dr. John S. Armstrong-Altrin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, Mexico
Interests: mineralogy; sedimentology; marine sediments; geochemistry; mineral chemistry; tectonics; surface features; and granulometry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Clastic sedimentary rocks are produced through the physical disintegration of pre-excisting rocks during weathering and mechanical erosion. Clastic sedimentary rocks are significant because they are considerably useful for understanding Earth's evolution, paleogeography, and depositional environments. Clastic rocks mainly contain silicate minerals like quartz but also contain non-silicate minerals, including carbonates, sulfates, sulfides, oxides, and halides. Metalliferous deposits hosted by sedimentary rocks are typically associated with rift-related thick basinal volcano-sedimentary or sedimentary sequences.

Various methods are utilized to understand the sequence stratigraphy, biostratigraphy, paleoclimate, source rock characteristics, tectonic setting, and depositional environment of a sedimentary basin. In particular, petrography, geochemistry, and geochronology play a vital role in inferring the source rock characteristics and tectonic settings of sedimentary basins.

The geochemical composition of sedimentary rocks is widely used as a proxy to portray the nature of source rocks, as well as the tectonic setting and evolution of continental crust. Furthermore, the composition of sedimentary rocks enables us to better understand the processes that produce economic concentrations of minerals, whether formed via hydrothermal, magmatic, or metamorphic processes, or even a combination of these processes. Geochemical studies significantly contribute to mineral exploration programs at the regional reconnaissance scale.

In addition, chemostratigraphic techniques that utilize geochemical variations for stratigraphic correlation allow for better discrimination of rock species. In previous studies the utilization of chemostratigraphic concepts to understand the provenance signatures  of clastic sediments are not often used. This Special Issue will bring together new studies focusing on chemostratigraphy to correlate sedimentary sequences at the regional scale.

The purpose of this special issue on “Tectonic Setting and Provenance of Sedimentary Rocks” therefore is to better understand basin architecture and the depositional environment of sedimentary basins based on the geochemical and mineralogical composition of clastic sedimentary rocks.

This Special Issue addresses the following themes:

  1. Application of geochemistry in minerals and sedimentary ore deposits.
  2. Composition of sedimentary rocks, provenance, and tectonic setting.
  3. Geochemistry and geochronology of sedimentary rocks.
  4. Cheomostratigraphy and chronostratigraphy.
  5. Paleoweathering and paleoclimate.
  6. Usefulness of geochemistry in understanding depositional environments.
  7. Petrography and mineralogy of sedimentary rocks.

Dr. Jayagopal Madhavaraju
Dr. John S. Armstrong-Altrin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • tectonic setting
  • provenance
  • chemostratigraphy
  • geochemistry
  • geochronology
  • sedimentary rocks

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

29 pages, 30657 KB  
Article
Provenance of Middle-Upper Permian Sandstones in Lintan and Jiangligou Areas, West Qinling, China: Insights from Geochemistry, Detrital Zircon Chronology, and Hf Isotopes
by Ziwen Jiang, Lamao Meiduo, Zhichao Li, Zhengtao Zhang, Xiangjun Li, Xiwei Qin, Shangwei Ma, Jinhai Ma, Jie Li, Wenzhi Ma, Weiran Zhao, Wenqi Pan and Ziqiang Tian
Minerals 2025, 15(10), 1024; https://doi.org/10.3390/min15101024 - 27 Sep 2025
Viewed by 200
Abstract
The provenance of the Middle-Upper Permian in the Lintan and Jiangligou areas, remnants of rift basin sedimentation within the West Qinling, remains controversial, hindering understanding of the basin-range coupling evolution of the Qinling Orogenic Belt and its periphery. Heavy minerals, major and trace [...] Read more.
The provenance of the Middle-Upper Permian in the Lintan and Jiangligou areas, remnants of rift basin sedimentation within the West Qinling, remains controversial, hindering understanding of the basin-range coupling evolution of the Qinling Orogenic Belt and its periphery. Heavy minerals, major and trace elements, rare earth elements, detrital zircon U-Pb dating, and in situ Lu-Hf isotopes were analyzed to determine the provenance of the Middle-Upper Permian sandstones. Results were integrated with previous studies to investigate basin-range coupling processes. The results reveal the following: (1) The Upper Member of the Shilidun Formation in the Lintan area was deposited during the Late Permian. Heavy minerals are dominated by moderately to highly stable species. Source rocks were derived from intermediate-acidic magmatic rocks and low- to medium-grade metamorphic terrains. The provenance was primarily situated in a continental island arc tectonic setting. Diverse source rock types were identified, including materials from felsic igneous, quartzose recycled, and mafic igneous provenances. Detrital zircon U–Pb age spectra display two major peak ages at 285 Ma and 442 Ma, along with five subordinate peaks at 818 Ma, 970 Ma, 1734 Ma, 1956 Ma, and 2500 Ma. The εHf(t) values range from –44.95 to 42.67, and TDM2 ages vary from 367 Ma to 4106 Ma. It is concluded that the sedimentary materials were mainly derived from the North Qinling Orogenic Belt, with minor contributions from the basement of the North China Craton. (2) In the Jiangligou area, the Shiguan Formation is characterized by highly and stable heavy minerals. The provenance is dominated by intermediate-acidic magmatic rocks, within an oceanic island arc tectonic setting. Detrital zircon U–Pb age spectrum displays a prominent peak at 442 Ma. The εHf(t) values range from –0.5 to 10.55, with TDM2 ages ranging from 744 Ma to 897 Ma. These results indicate that the sedimentary materials were derived from the North Qilian Orogenic Belt. (3) The Permian in the Western Qinling exhibit multi-provenance supply, dominated by the North Qinling Orogenic Belt and the North China Craton basement, with local contributions from the North Qilian Orogenic Belt. Significant regional variations in provenance contributions were identified. This study further constrains the closure of the Shangdan Ocean to pre-Late Permian. It reveals that the Western Qinling was situated in a back-arc rift basin setting during the Late Paleozoic. Key sedimentary evidence is provided for understanding the tectonic evolution of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean and the collision between the North China and Yangtze cratons. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tectonic Setting and Provenance of Sedimentary Rocks)
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19 pages, 10464 KB  
Article
Callovian-Oxfordian Ironstones at the Northwestern Margin of the Neo-Tethys Ocean, with Mineralogically Diverse Iron Ooids: Example from Kutch Basin, India
by Arpita Chakraborty, Santanu Banerjee, Suraj Arjun Bhosale and Sabyasachi Mandal
Minerals 2025, 15(9), 990; https://doi.org/10.3390/min15090990 - 18 Sep 2025
Viewed by 429
Abstract
Multiple ironstone beds formed during the Callovian-Oxfordian times as a consequence of intense continental weathering, upwelling, and hydrothermal activity. This study examines the compositional differences between core and rim, and the origin of iron ooids along the northwestern margin of the Neo-Tethys Ocean [...] Read more.
Multiple ironstone beds formed during the Callovian-Oxfordian times as a consequence of intense continental weathering, upwelling, and hydrothermal activity. This study examines the compositional differences between core and rim, and the origin of iron ooids along the northwestern margin of the Neo-Tethys Ocean to highlight sea-level fluctuations, redox conditions, and elemental influx. An integrated sedimentological study, including petrography, mineralogy, micro-texture, and mineral chemistry, was carried out to explain the origin and implications of ironstones. The ~14 m thick Callovian-Oxfordian, marginal marine deposits in the Kutch Basin, in western India, exhibit iron ooids, predominantly formed in oolitic shoals during transgression, associated with lagoonal siliciclastics. Callovian shoals interbedded with lagoonal facies record minor sea-level fluctuations, whereas the Oxfordian deposit records a major transgression and condensation, resulting in extensive ironstone deposits. The ooid cortices and nuclei exhibit distinctive mineralogy and micro-textures: glauconitic smectite exhibits poorly-developed rosettes, chamosite displays flower-like, and goethite shows rod-like features. Three types of ooids are formed: (i) monomineralic ooids are entirely of chamosite or goethite, (ii) quartz-nucleated ooids, and (iii) composite ooids with either chamosite core and goethite rim, or chamosite core and glauconitic smectite rim. The assemblages within iron ooids reflect variation in depositional redox conditions: glauconitic smectite develops under suboxic lagoonal flank, chamosite forms in anoxic central lagoon, and goethite precipitates on oxic shoals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tectonic Setting and Provenance of Sedimentary Rocks)
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