Tectonics and sedimentation of the Upper Triassic Minjur and Miocene Burqan Formations, Saudi Arabia - A geochemical approach involving trace and rare earth elements chemistry

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Sedimentological, petrographic, major, trace, and rare earth elements compositions of sandstones from the Miocene Burqan Formation exposed along the Gulf of Aqaba coast and Upper-Triassic Minjur Formation exposed as a curve-linear belt in central Saudi Arabia, have been investigated to determine their sedimentology, provenance and tectonic settings. The Burqan Formation is a classical turbidite with monotonous, graded alternation of sharp-based sandstones and interbedded mudstones/shale; mainly massive and horizontally bedded conglomeratic sandstone, laminated siltstone and mudstone with occasional laminated shale facies at the top. Minjur Formation is a braided river deposit, composed of stacked fining upward sequence of light colored, fine to coarse grained horizontal, planner and trough cross-bedded sandstone facies. Paleocurrent analysis indicates that flow was from N to S for Burqan Formation and W to E in the case of Minjur Formation, suggesting Late Proterozoic basement on the northeastern margin of the Ifal plain and the Arabian Shield as the sediment source for Burqan and Minjur Formations respectively. Sedimentological, Petrographic and geochemical analyses indicate that Minjur Formation sandstones are quartz arenite type, highly enriched in quartz, but poor in feldspar and lithic fragments while Burqan Formation sandstones are arkosic and lithicarenite type, dominated by quartz with significant amount of feldspars and lithic fragments. Petrographic analysis reveals that the dominant sources for Burqan Formation is probably igneous rocks from recycled orogeny setting, while mono-crystalline quartz grains from igneous rocks of a craton interior setting were the dominant sources of the Minjur Formation. Chemically, major and trace elements concentrations in the rocks of the Burqan and Minjur Formations suggest a deposition in an active and passive continental margin setting respectively.

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