Basilici, G., Lorenzoni, P., Mesquita, Á. F. et al. (11 more authors) (2024) Can palaeosols reveal palaeoenvironmental variability of fluvial systems? An example from the upper portion of the Bauru Group (Upper Cretaceous, SE Brazil). Sedimentary Geology, 464. 106604. ISSN: 0037-0738
Abstract
Palaeosols are common in sedimentary successions of continental origin, and notably they comprise the majority of the thickness of some accumulated successions of fluvial origin. Yet, detailed investigation of palaeosols and evaluation of their palaeoenvironmental significance are not routinely undertaken in detail in many sedimentological studies. A careful analysis of palaeosols may, however, reveal that sedimentary units, which appear similar if based solely on the facies analysis, indeed show strongly distinct palaeoenvironmental and depositional characteristics.
This is the case of the upper portion of the Bauru Group, a 100–190 m-thick Maastrichtian red sandstone unit of fluvial origin, present over an area of c. 180,000 km2 in south-eastern Brazil. In this study, the palaeosols of this unit, which constitute 25–92 % of the succession by thickness, are used to decipher palaeoenvironmental climate conditions, sediment source areas, and relationships between pedogenic and depositional processes. Through the combined study of macroscopic, micromorphological, and geochemical aspects of the palaeosols and of facies analysis of the deposits, the upper portion of the Bauru Group succession is separated into three sectors: north-western, north-eastern, and south-eastern. Although these three areas are all characterised by similar lithology types and lithofacies, indicative of deposition in alluvial systems, the palaeosol analysis highlights that they were each characterised by different climate, different clastic source areas and different dynamics and interaction of the pedogenic and sedimentary processes. This research reveals the critical significance of the palaeosols for discriminating otherwise apparently similar depositional units.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024, Elsevier. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. This is an author produced version of an article published in Sedimentary Geology. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Palaeoclimatology, Cycles of palaeosols and deposits, Distributive fluvial systems, Palaeosol (paleosol) geochemistry |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 19 Sep 2025 07:56 |
Last Modified: | 23 Sep 2025 01:30 |
Published Version: | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2024.106604 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:231837 |