High-resolution sand petrography and heavy mineral analyses help to frame U-Pb age and Hf isotope data from zircon grains, integrated in turn with geochemical data from detrital apatite, rutile, garnet, and monazite, and with Raman spectroscopy data from detrital amphibole, pyroxene, and epidote-group minerals. This multitechnique approach, including stream-profile analysis, was used to characterize components of the sediment flux and define erosion patterns across the Lhasa block, a complex continental-arc terrane caught in the Himalayan collision. Litho-feldspatho-quartzose detrital modes and hornblende-dominated heavy mineral assemblages suggest that the majority (four fifths) of the sand bed load in the Lhasa River catchment is derived from erosion of granitoid batholiths. Gravel composition, however, is markedly different and dominated by volcanic pebbles in the trunk river, as in all of its four major tributaries, testifying to an order-of-magnitude difference in apparent erosion rates between granitoid batholiths and arc lavas. This marked contrast, partly explained by wide exposures of granitoid rocks in the rugged Nyainqêntanglha Range characterized by active incision, is notably amplified by the high sand-generation potential of granitoid rocks, which, in contrast to dense joint blocks of andesitic lavas, tend to disintegrate to sandy grus upon weathering. Sedimentary strata, making up a good half of exposed rocks, are also underrepresented in sand bed load, suggesting selective mechanical breakdown of nondurable shale/slate grains. This exposes a serious bias affecting estimates based on sand only, and it highlights the necessity for taking into account the entire size spectrum from mud to gravel in order to improve the accuracy of sediment budgets. Provenance analysis should involve multiple methods applied to multiple minerals, rather than be based solely on a single rare mineral, even if it is exceptionally laden with potential provenance information, such as zircon.

Garzanti, E., Limonta, M., Vezzoli, G., An, W., Wang, J., Hu, X. (2018). Petrology and multimineral fingerprinting of modern sand generated from a dissected magmatic arc (Lhasa River, Tibet). In Special Paper of the Geological Society of America (pp. 197-221). Geological Society of America [10.1130/2018.2540(09)].

Petrology and multimineral fingerprinting of modern sand generated from a dissected magmatic arc (Lhasa River, Tibet)

Garzanti E.
Primo
;
Vezzoli G.;
2018

Abstract

High-resolution sand petrography and heavy mineral analyses help to frame U-Pb age and Hf isotope data from zircon grains, integrated in turn with geochemical data from detrital apatite, rutile, garnet, and monazite, and with Raman spectroscopy data from detrital amphibole, pyroxene, and epidote-group minerals. This multitechnique approach, including stream-profile analysis, was used to characterize components of the sediment flux and define erosion patterns across the Lhasa block, a complex continental-arc terrane caught in the Himalayan collision. Litho-feldspatho-quartzose detrital modes and hornblende-dominated heavy mineral assemblages suggest that the majority (four fifths) of the sand bed load in the Lhasa River catchment is derived from erosion of granitoid batholiths. Gravel composition, however, is markedly different and dominated by volcanic pebbles in the trunk river, as in all of its four major tributaries, testifying to an order-of-magnitude difference in apparent erosion rates between granitoid batholiths and arc lavas. This marked contrast, partly explained by wide exposures of granitoid rocks in the rugged Nyainqêntanglha Range characterized by active incision, is notably amplified by the high sand-generation potential of granitoid rocks, which, in contrast to dense joint blocks of andesitic lavas, tend to disintegrate to sandy grus upon weathering. Sedimentary strata, making up a good half of exposed rocks, are also underrepresented in sand bed load, suggesting selective mechanical breakdown of nondurable shale/slate grains. This exposes a serious bias affecting estimates based on sand only, and it highlights the necessity for taking into account the entire size spectrum from mud to gravel in order to improve the accuracy of sediment budgets. Provenance analysis should involve multiple methods applied to multiple minerals, rather than be based solely on a single rare mineral, even if it is exceptionally laden with potential provenance information, such as zircon.
Capitolo o saggio
Lhasa River; Tibetan Plateau; Dissected continental arc; Tectonics and sedimentation; Magmatic arc provenance
English
Special Paper of the Geological Society of America
2018
9780813795409
540
Geological Society of America
197
221
Garzanti, E., Limonta, M., Vezzoli, G., An, W., Wang, J., Hu, X. (2018). Petrology and multimineral fingerprinting of modern sand generated from a dissected magmatic arc (Lhasa River, Tibet). In Special Paper of the Geological Society of America (pp. 197-221). Geological Society of America [10.1130/2018.2540(09)].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/292582
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