Detrital Mineral U/Pb Age Dating and Geochemistry of Magmatic Products in Basin Sequences: State of the Art and Progress

Dear Colleagues,

The analysis of detrital zircons from sandstones has fundamentally expanded the provenance informations of siliciclastic formations and basins over the past 25 years. Siliciclastic basin research and palaeogeographic-palaeotectonic reconstructions are no longer imaginable today without the analysis of detritic zirconia for both scientific and economic purposes.

Cathodoluminescence supported laser ablation ICP-MS measurements for U-Pb geochronology and various trace elements (e.g. Th/U, eHf-ratios, REE) provide many valuable insights. First of all, the age of magnetic and metamorphic rocks in the basin hinterland will result, but not forgetting the recycling of the robust zircon grains from older sediments. The outcomes often show how complex the age patterns of supplying continental basement terranes may be, including older cores in single zircons. Tectonically driven changes in the sediment basin-source relationship due to strike-slip or basin inversion processes become visible in changing characteristics of the detrital zircons. In case of the presence of synsedimentary volcanic activity in the source areas, the maximum age of related (often) non-fossil-bearing sandstone series can be estimated. Wherefore, age correlations of Proterozoic glacial events are based on detrital zircon dating. The geochemical signatures of zircons, first and foremost the hafnium isotope ratios, provide further chief informations. Such mesurements allow to prove the formation of the original basement rocks or the syn-sedimentary melts from the Earth's mantle, crust and mixtures, which are correlated again with regional and plate tectonic processes. Published research not using both zircon geochronology and hafnium systematics appears sometimes deficient.

The proposed special issue is aimed at emphasizing the powerful role of sedimentary research in resolving geodynamic/orogenic and plate tectonic questions, and at developing further profitable methodological approaches as the use of other U-bearing detrital minerals.

Prof. Wilfried Winkler
Dr. Albrecht von Quadt
Guest Editors

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