Provenance of sediments deposited at paleolake San Felipe, western Sonora Desert: Implications to regimes of summer and winter precipitation during last 50 cal kyr BP (original) (raw)

Abstract

Rare earth element, major and trace element and mineralogy in the sediments representing last 50 cal kyr BP from the summer precipitation fed paleolake San Felipe identify the different association of minerals and selective transportation of different grain size fractions and relate them to the variation in pluvial discharge into the basin as well as aeolian activities in the western Sonora Desert. Period of lower pluvial discharge during 14e48 cal kyr BP is contemporary to the regime of dominant winter storms in the region. Transportation of coarser quartz and plagioclase during 40e48 cal kyr BP and dominant finer fractions during 14e40 cal kyr BP possibly mirror the variation in the frequency of winter storms. During 3e14 cal kyr BP, higher catchment erosion (sedimentation increased 4e12 times) and transportation of REE bearing heavy minerals into the basin indicate higher pluvial discharge. We relate this period to a regime of dominant summer precipitation associated with the North American Monsoon and tropical cyclones. Geochemical and mineralogical signatures of the sediments deposited during ca. 8, 12e13 and >48 cal kyr BP suggest selective mobilization of quartz and plagioclase from the surrounding sand dunes by the aeolian processes.

Figures (12)

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Fig. 1. Map showing North American Deserts (a) and location of regional paleoclimatic archives (a, b). Paleolake San Felipe is located in a tectonic basin at 31°N in the westerr Sonora Desert and in the rain shadow of ca. 2500 m high San Pedro Martir Mountain (c). The sampling locations are marked as filled triangle (sediment core), filled circles (sanc dunes), open asterisk (rock from San Felipe Mountain) and filled asterisk (rocks from San Pedro Martir Mountain). The location of the meteorological station at San Pedro Marti Mountain is marked as +.

Fig. 2. Average monthly precipitation (1941—2005 AD) in different parts of Sonora Desert, northwestern Mexico (a, source: National Meteorological Service of Mexico). Average rainfall (bars) and temperature (dotted line) in different months during 2007—2009 AD registered at a meteorological station at San Felipe Mountain, ca. 20 km west of the paleolake (b, source: National Astronomic Observatory of Institute of Astronomy, UNAM). The paleolake receives pluvial discharge mainly during the summer months.

Fig. 3. Stratigraphy of the sediment column, AMS '4C dates and ages in calendar years BP (considered from Roy et al. (2010)). Samples collected from lacustrine units of 3—14 cal kyr BP are marked as filled square and from 14 to 48 cal kyr BP are marked as filled triangle. Samples from aeolian units are marked as open circle.

Concentrations of rare earth elements (ppm), fractionations and Eu anomalies in sediments from lacustrine and aeolian units of paleolake, sand dunes and catchment rocks

+44, higher; ++, intermediate; +, traces. (a) Comparative mineralogy in sediments of paleolake San Felipe, surrounding sand dunes and catchment rocks. (b) Comparison of accessory minerals in sediments of paleolake San Felipe and surrounding sand dunes.

Fig. 4. Chondrite normalized REE patterns of sediments from lacustrine units of 3-14 cal kyr BP (a) and 14—48 cal kyr BP (b), sediments from aeolian units (c), surrounding sand dunes (d) and rocks from the drainage basin (d). REE patterns of sediments from aeolian units are similar to the sand dunes.

Concentrations of major element oxides (wt %), trace elements (ppm) and chemical index of alteration (CIA) in sediments from paleolake, sand dunes and catchment rocks Table 3

Fig. 5. Diagram showing molar proportions of Al,O3;—(CaO* + Na2O)—K20 in the A-—CN-K ternary plot and scale of chemical index of alteration (CIA). The CIA values (<60) suggest no to less weathering of the sediments. The aeolian sediments have relatively higher plagioclase compared to the lacustrine sediments. The diagram represents the fields of idealized minerals: P| = plagioclases, Ks = K-feldspars, II = illite, Mu = muscovite, Sm = smectite, Ka = kaolinite, Gi = gibbsite, Ch = chlorite.

Fig. 6. Diagram showing variation of TiO2/Alz03 and SiO2/Al,03 in sediments from paleolake, surrounding sand dunes and catchment rocks. The sediments deposited in the Aeolian regimes show geochemical similarity with the surrounding sand dunes and the sediments of the lacustrine regime show comparable geochemistry with the granodiorite of the San Felipe Mountain. Intersection of the trend comprising sediments from the lacus- trine units and the feldspar join in the A-CN—K ternary diagram

Fig. 7. Chondrite normalized light (a), heavy (b) and total (c) REE fractionations with changing REE concentrations and Eu anomalies. Sediments from both lacustrine and aeoliar units are differentiated with respect to light and heavy REE fractionations (d). The sediments of 3—14 cal kyr BP do not show LREE and HREE fractionations.

Fig. 8. Schematic diagram showing sediment transportation into the paleolake during the last 50 cal kyr BP. During 14—48 cal kyr BP, the sediments mainly sourced from surrounding sand dunes in a weaker summer precipitation regime. Dominant summer precipitation and higher pluvial discharge transported sediments from the erosion of rocks exposed in the San Felipe and San Pedro Martir Mountains during 3—14 cal kyr BP.

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