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Possible sources of clastic sediment in the Late Proterozoic Torridon Group, from geochemical mass balance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

A. D. Stewart
A. D. Stewart
Affiliation:
Postgraduate Research Institute for Sedimentology, University of Reading, Reading RG6 2AB
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Abstract

Equations are derived which link the content of relatively insoluble components Si, Al, Fe and K in source rock and derived alluvial sediment. The equations also involve the ratio of specific suspended load to dissolved load and specific bed load to suspended load (Tb/Ts) for the rivers which deposited the sediments. These ratios are generally unknown, but by analogy with modern rivers are taken to occupy the ranges and 0 ≦ Tb/Ts≦1. This is sufficient to put close limits on the possible composition of the source rock. The equations suggest that clastic sediment forming the Late Proterozoic Torridon Group of Scotland was derived from sediments or metasediments, rather than from average upper continental crust, granitoids or gneisses like those presently exposed nearby.

Keywords

alluvial geochemistryalluvial source rocksgeochemical mass balanceTorridon Groupnorthwest Scotland
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 85 , Issue 4 , 1994 , pp. 303 - 309
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1994

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