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Geoscience ›› 2011, Vol. 25 ›› Issue (3): 464-475.

• Water Resource and Environment • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Analysis of Sediment Provenance and Sedimentary Control Factors in Yaoshang Formation, Weining County in Guizhou Province

 KONG  Fan-Cui, YANG  Rui-Dong, HAN  Xiao-Tong, WEI  Fu-Rui, CHENG  Ma-Li, GAO  Jun-Bei, LIN  Hai-Li, LONG  Jie   

  • Online:2011-06-22 Published:2011-06-23

Abstract:

The feature of major elements and REEs composition of lake sediments of Yaoshang Formation in Guizhou, Weining County, are analyzed. The provenance features, climatic evolution and control factors of sediment accumulation have been discussed. The results show that: The change of abundance of Al, Mg, Ca, K, Na and Ti is consistent in the section. Their correlations between 0522 and 0985 are very high. Fe and Mn form a positive correlation, while they negatively correlate with Al, Mg, Ca, K, Na and Ti. The abundance of Fe2O3 in the yellow clay of iron layer is very high. The chondritenormalized REE distribution patterns of samples are similar with that of soil and red clay of karst areas in Guizhou, almost similar with that of weathering crust of carbonate rocks in Guizhou, and are inconsistent with Emeishan basalt. The abundance of REEs is slightly lower than that of the weathering crust of carbonate rocks. The provenance mainly comes from carbonatites of which the strong weathering results in the abnormal enrichment of REEs in this section (ΣREE average 21938 μg/g). The climatic indicators of Mg/Ca, MgO/Al2O3, (CaO+K2O+Na2O)/Al2O3, (Fe2O3+Al2O3)/(MgO+CaO) and (K+Na+Ca+Mg)/(Fe+Mn) show that the climate has experienced the conversion from warm and humid to cold and dry.  (Al+Fe+Mn)/(K+Ca+Mg) and (MgO+Na2O+CaO)/Al2O3  can also be used as the climatic indicators of lake sediments. The formation of deposits is controlled by provenance properties, iron rocks,tectonic movements and climate.

Key words: terrestrial provenance, lake sediment, Yaoshang Formation, Caohai Lake, Guizhou