『Abstract
At 〜1.1 Ga, the North American Craton began to rift, resulting
in flood-style basaltic volcanism. During the phase of active
tectonism, some of that basalt was weathered and redistributed
by fluvial processes. New observations near the northwestern shore
of Lake Superior have also revealed the presence of seven paleosols
formed on weathered, immature sediments derived from the basalt
that are described here for the first time. Only three other paleosols
have previously been described from this part of the geologic
record, so these new paleosols represent a significant new discovery.
The paleosols are weakly developed and exhibit physical and chemical
characteristics similar to Phanerozoic Entisols. In contrast to
many Precambrian paleosols, the Keweenawen paleosols have been
subject to minimal post-burial alteration. Among the paleosols,
three distinct pedofacies are recognized: (1) water logged/gleyed
fluvial-proximal paleosols, (2) dry fluvial-distal paleosols,
and (3) cumulative fluvial-proximal paleosols. Despite these facies
differences, using a combination of physical and chemical measures
of weathering it is found that the paleosols are all derived from
the same parental basalt, with one of the paleosols showing an
additional extra-basional rhyolitic component. By considering
the mass-balance behaviour of a variety of alkali and alkaline
earth elements, it is possible to rule out significant potassium
metasomatism, suggesting that these paleosols may be particularly
useful for paleoatmospheric and paleobiologic reconstructions,
and that they form an important new source of data about Mesoproterozoic
weathering.
Keywords: Paleosols; Precambrian; Keweenawan; Weathering; Paleoenvironments;
Midcontinental Rift』
1. Introduction
2. Geological context
2.1. The MCR
2.2. North Shore Volcanic Group (NSVG)
2.3. Good Harbor Bay sedimentary rocks
3. Methods
4. Results
4.1. Physical sedimentology
4.1.1. Sedimentary rock overview
4.1.2. Volcanogenic deposits
4.1.3. Paleosols in outcrop
4.2. Petrography
4.2.1. Paleosols
4.2.2. Sedimentary lithologies
4.3. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
4.4. Geochemistry
4.4.1. Loss on ignition
4.4.2. Molecular weathering ratios
4.5. Mass-balance calculations for paleosols
5. Discussion
5.1. Pedofacies
5.2. Mass-balance and pedogenic processes
5.3. Provenance of paleosols and surrounding sedimentary rocks
5.4. Metasomatic alteration?
6. Conclusions
Acknowledgements
Appendix A. Supplementary data
References