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Can palaeosols reveal palaeoenvironmental variability of fluvial systems? An example from the upper portion of the Bauru Group (Upper Cretaceous, SE Brazil).

Authors :
Basilici, Giorgio
Lorenzoni, Paolo
Mesquita, Áquila Ferreira
Janočko, Juraj
Colombera, Luca
Cosgrove, Grace I.E.
Mountney, Nigel Philip
Filho, Carlos Roberto Souza
Cardoso, Alexandre Ribeiro
Martinelli, Agustín Guillermo
Fiorelli, Lucas Ernesto
Garcia, Richard Guillermo Vasconez
da Silva Marinho, Thiago
Marconato, André
Source :
Sedimentary Geology. Apr2024, Vol. 464, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p.
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

Palaeosols are common in sedimentary successions of continental origin, and notably they comprise the majority of the thickness of some accumulated successions of fluvial origin. Yet, detailed investigation of palaeosols and evaluation of their palaeoenvironmental significance are not routinely undertaken in detail in many sedimentological studies. A careful analysis of palaeosols may, however, reveal that sedimentary units, which appear similar if based solely on the facies analysis, indeed show strongly distinct palaeoenvironmental and depositional characteristics. This is the case of the upper portion of the Bauru Group, a 100–190 m-thick Maastrichtian red sandstone unit of fluvial origin, present over an area of c. 180,000 km2 in south-eastern Brazil. In this study, the palaeosols of this unit, which constitute 25–92 % of the succession by thickness, are used to decipher palaeoenvironmental climate conditions, sediment source areas, and relationships between pedogenic and depositional processes. Through the combined study of macroscopic, micromorphological, and geochemical aspects of the palaeosols and of facies analysis of the deposits, the upper portion of the Bauru Group succession is separated into three sectors: north-western, north-eastern, and south-eastern. Although these three areas are all characterised by similar lithology types and lithofacies, indicative of deposition in alluvial systems, the palaeosol analysis highlights that they were each characterised by different climate, different clastic source areas and different dynamics and interaction of the pedogenic and sedimentary processes. This research reveals the critical significance of the palaeosols for discriminating otherwise apparently similar depositional units. [Display omitted] • Palaeosols are significant proxies for stratigraphy and palaeoenvironmental studies. • The upper Bauru Group was considered a homogenous depositional system. • Palaeosols demonstrate the upper Bauru Group comprises three depositional systems. • Studies involving continental deposits cannot ignore the analysis of palaeosols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00370738
Volume :
464
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Sedimentary Geology
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
176587522
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2024.106604