Thermochronology and U‐Pb dating of detrital zircons from the Demerara Plateau (French Guiana‐Suriname ): implications for the provenance of the Early Cretaceous syn‐rift sedimentation

Type Article
Date 2023-08
Language English
Author(s) Girault IgorORCID1, Basile Christophe1, Bernet MatthiasORCID1, Paquette Jean‐louis2, Heuret ArnauldORCID3, Loncke Lies4, Poetisi Ewald5, Balvay Mélanie1
Affiliation(s) 1 : Université Grenoble Alpes ,Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, IRD, IFSTTAR, ISTerre Grenoble ,France
2 : Université de Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, IRD, OPGC, Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans, F‐63000 10 Clermont‐Ferrand ,France
3 : Université de Guyane ,Géosciences Montpellier Cayenne ,France
4 : Université de Perpignan, CEFREM (UMR 5110), Perpignan, France
5 : Anton de Kom University of Suriname ,Paramaribo, Suriname
Source Basin Research (0950-091X) (Wiley), 2023-08 , Vol. 35 , N. 4 , P. 1386-1406
DOI 10.1111/bre.12758
Keyword(s) Demerara Plateau, provenance analysis, source-to-sink, thermochronology, transform margin
Abstract

he provenance of Early Cretaceous sandstones dredged on the northern margin of the Demerara Plateau, offshore French Guiana and Suriname, reveals the sediment routing system that prevailed through the Equatorial Atlantic rifting. Fission-track analysis and U-Pb dating of 310 and 111 detrital zircons, respectively, have been performed. Microfacies analysis and inherited cooling ages suggest that the sandstones were deposited in shallow marine environments during the Early Cretaceous, before the Late Albian drowning of the marginal plateau. Most of the U-Pb zircon crystallisation ages are comprised between 700 and 600 Ma and attributed to the Pan-African-Brasiliano orogeny. Statistical and chronological evidences suggest that the zircon fission-track cooling ages were inherited from source material. Triassic peak ages (>50% of the population) are attributed to the early phase of Central Atlantic rifting. One sample records a cooling phase at ca. 170 Ma, presumably following volcanic hotspot activity and the opening of the Central Atlantic Ocean. Two other samples record the rapid exhumation of the French Guiana transform margin during the Equatorial Atlantic rifting (127 ± 11 and 106 ± 8 Ma). We propose a source-to-sink model in which the Pan-African-Brasiliano basement of the margin was eroded as a result of flexural uplift along the French Guiana margin, and the detrital material funnelled in the Cacipore graben sustained the Early Cretaceous syn-rift sedimentation on the marginal plateau.

Full Text
File Pages Size Access
Publisher's official version 38 9 MB Open access
Supporting Information 34 KB Open access
Top of the page

How to cite 

Girault Igor, Basile Christophe, Bernet Matthias, Paquette Jean‐louis, Heuret Arnauld, Loncke Lies, Poetisi Ewald, Balvay Mélanie (2023). Thermochronology and U‐Pb dating of detrital zircons from the Demerara Plateau (French Guiana‐Suriname ): implications for the provenance of the Early Cretaceous syn‐rift sedimentation. Basin Research, 35(4), 1386-1406. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1111/bre.12758 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00819/93108/