Sediment- and basalt-hosted regoliths in the Huronian supergroup: role of parent lithology in middle Precambrian weathering profiles

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Abstract
Weathering profiles developed side-by-side on sandstone and a mafic dike provide an unusual opportunity to examine the role of parent rock bulk composition in the chemical evolution of middle Precambrian regoliths. Because the profiles are adjacent to one another, differences in topography can be eliminated in accounting for differences in the chemical evolution of the two profiles. Both profiles show upward increases in Al, Ti, K, and Rb and decreases in Mg, Ca, and Na. In addition, the mafic regolith increases upward in Zr and Nb and decreases in Zn and Ni. Total Fe decreases upward in both profiles, but the sandstone profile retains significantly more of its initial Fe than does the mafic dike. This difference in Fe loss is consistent with weathering in a low-oxygen atmosphere of rock types with very different initial Fe contents and therefore different atmospheric requirements for complete oxidation of the Fe present. The Fe in the sandstone was mostly oxidized and retained within the profile, whereas much of the Fe in the mafic dike was not oxidized and was removed from the profile in the more soluble ferrous state. Petrographic evidence indicates that both sandstone and mafic dike weathering profiles underwent preweathering diagenesis, postweathering K–Rb metasomatism, and very low-grade metamorphism. Mineral chemistry indicates that, in the absence of chlorite, white mica composition closely reflects variation in bulk composition. Where both white mica and chlorite are present, changes in bulk composition are accommodated by variations in the proportions of these two minerals rather than by variations in white mica composition.

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