Provenance characterization of Carboniferous sedimentary rocks in the Appalachian foreland basin, Alabama, USA

Abstract:

During the Carboniferous period, the Ouachita and Alleghanian orogenic thrust fronts
intersected in west-central Alabama. Sediment from these two orogenies were shed into the
adjacent foreland basin; however, which orogeny provided the bulk of the sediments is
questionable. Ouachita, Appalachian, and northwesterly sources have been argued for some
Black Warrior basin sedimentary rocks; while the laterally equivalent and proximal sedimentary
rocks of the Cumberland Plateau are interpreted to have an Appalachian source. The purpose of
this study is to use quantitative detrital zircon geochronology and sedimentary petrography to
differentiate between Ouachita and Appalachian sourced synorogenic sediment in the foreland
basin of Alabama.
We collected foreland basin samples from the Black Warrior basin, Appalachian fold-thrust belt,
and Cumberland Plateau of NE Alabama. We compared our results with existing detrital zircon
data collected from pre-Carboniferous source strata in the Appalachian and Ouachita Mountains.
Using the DZmix tool, the existing data and our data are combined to model the probable source
area detrital zircon age distributions. Using this method, we determined where the sediment in
the foreland basin originated and sediment pathways during Carboniferous time in the southern
Appalachian Mountains.