Indo-Antarctic derived detritus on the northern margin of Gondwana: Evidence for continental-scale sediment transport

Abstract

Provenance studies from Cambro-Ordovician sediments of the North Gondwana passive margin typically ascribe a North African source, a conclusion that cannot be reconciled with all observations. We present new U-Pb ages from detrital rutile and zircon from Late Ordovician sediments from Saxo-Thuringia, Germany. Detrital zircons yield age populations of 500-800 Ma, 900-1050 Ma and 1800-2600 Ma. The detrital rutile age spectra are unimodal with ages between 500 and 650 Ma and likely represent, together with the 500-800 Ma and 1800-2600 Ma zircon populations, detritus sourced predominantly from North Africa. In contrast, the c. 950 Ma zircons, which are persistently found in Cambro-Ordovician sed..