10.6084/m9.figshare.3453668.v1
Hasley Vincent
Hasley
Vincent
Grant Wach
Grant
Wach
Yawooz Ketannah
Yawooz
Ketannah
Heavy mineral record of Andean uplift and changing sediment sources across the NE margin of South America: a case study from
Trinidad and Barbados
Geological Society of London
2016
Barbados support craton derivation
Caribbean Mountain belt
sediment
Andean orogeny
Andean mountain belt
Trinidad
Scotland Formation delivery systems
provenance
uplift
Oligocene Nariva Formation
sandstone
Eocene Scotland Formation samples
NE South America
Heavy mineral record
Geology
2016-06-21 11:35:54
Dataset
https://geolsoc.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Heavy_mineral_record_of_Andean_uplift_and_changing_sediment_sources_across_the_NE_margin_of_South_America_a_case_study_from___Trinidad_and_Barbados/3453668
<p>The heavy mineral compositions of sandstones in Trinidad and Barbados record the onset of Andean-related erosion and a reduction
of craton-derived sediments into NE South America. The changing provenance was deduced by comparing heavy mineral assemblages
interpreted from ancient sandstones with associations recognized in modern sands that can be reasonably correlated to existing
tectonic domains. The impact of the Andean orogeny across the margin was to introduce a suite of minerals characteristic of
low-temperature metamorphism that today is prevalent adjacent to the Caribbean Mountain belt and differs from the zircon-rich
assemblage produced within cratonic plains. Twenty-one Paleocene–Late Pliocene sandstone samples from Trinidad revealed systematic
changes in mineral diversity and maturity that recorded this provenance transition, and suggests Andean erosion during deposition
of the Late Oligocene Nariva Formation. Similar to Palaeogene sandstones of Trinidad, four Eocene Scotland Formation samples
from Barbados support craton derivation, but with additional evidence of minor Andean input probably due to the proximity
of the Scotland Formation delivery systems to an earlier uplift episode. By the Late Miocene, most of the sediments delivered
into Trinidad basins were supplied from the Andean orogeny as suggested by the relative abundance of minerals of this affinity.
The heavy mineral records of Trinidad and Barbados are similar to that described across northern South America from both modern
and ancient environments that collectively mark the uplift of the Andean mountain belt, with its strong influence on drainage
patterns and reservoir provenance along this sector of the continental margin.
</p>