Provenance Analysis of Carboniferous Sandstone Units in the Black Warrior and Southern Appalachian Foreland Basins, USA

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dc.contributorWielicki, Matthew
dc.contributorMinzoni, Marcello
dc.contributorJackson, William T
dc.contributor.advisorRobinson, Delores M.
dc.contributor.authorYates, Zachary T
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa
dc.date.accessioned2021-11-23T14:34:40Z
dc.date.available2021-11-23T14:34:40Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.descriptionElectronic Thesis or Dissertationen_US
dc.description.abstractThe Ouachita and Alleghanian orogenies occurred simultaneously as the collision of Laurentia and Gondwana progressed from Mississippian to Permian time. Juxtaposition of the two orogenic fronts in Alabama has led to differing interpretations of sediment provenance of the Carboniferous sedimentary rocks in the adjacent Black Warrior basin and Alleghanian fold-thrust belt. These rocks have been interpreted to be sourced from three disparate regions: 1) the Ouachita Orogen, 2) southern Appalachian Orogen, and 3) via a southward flowing fluvial system that delivered sediment from the mid-continent and northern Appalachians. The purpose of this study is to investigate the provenance of Carboniferous sandstone units in Mississippi and Alabama by quantifying the differences between their detrital zircon age distributions and that of potential sources.In this study, I examine the detrital zircon age distributions of 15 samples from the Mississippian aged Hartselle Sandstone, Pennington, and Parkwood Formations, and the Pennsylvanian Pottsville Formation. I use DZstats to quantify the differences between these formations as well as potential source rocks. Cross-correlation coefficient values for all Pottsville, Pennington, and Parkwood samples in Alabama indicate that they are within the range of expected variation for the same detrital zircon population. These samples are most similar to source rocks in the central and southern Appalachian, and Ouachita Mountains; however, these sources are highly similar to each other. The Parkwood Formation of Mississippi shows little similarity when compared to other Carboniferous samples in Alabama. The Mississippi Parkwood is most like northern Appalachian source rock distributions and is certainly not directly derived from the mid-continent. I interpret these data to suggest that the Parkwood Formation of Mississippi received sediment contributions from different sources than the Hartselle Sandstone, Parkwood, Pennington, and Pottsville Formations of Alabama, indicating two separate fluvial systems.en_US
dc.format.mediumelectronic
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.otherhttp://purl.lib.ua.edu/181530
dc.identifier.otheru0015_0000001_0003969
dc.identifier.otherYates_alatus_0004M_14552
dc.identifier.urihttp://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/8201
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Alabama Libraries
dc.relation.hasversionborn digital
dc.relation.ispartofThe University of Alabama Electronic Theses and Dissertations
dc.relation.ispartofThe University of Alabama Libraries Digital Collections
dc.rightsAll rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated.en_US
dc.subjectAppalachian
dc.subjectDetrital Zircon
dc.subjectProvenance
dc.titleProvenance Analysis of Carboniferous Sandstone Units in the Black Warrior and Southern Appalachian Foreland Basins, USAen_US
dc.typethesis
dc.typetext
etdms.degree.departmentUniversity of Alabama. Department of Geological Sciences
etdms.degree.disciplineSedimentary geology
etdms.degree.grantorThe University of Alabama
etdms.degree.levelmaster's
etdms.degree.nameM.S.

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