The Middle-Upper Devonian sandstones of the West Magnitogorsk zone of the Southern Urals

A.M. Fazliakhmetov

Institute of Geology – Subdivision of the Ufa Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ufa, 450077 Russia

E-mail: famrb@mail.ru

Received July 13, 2020

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

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DOI: 10.26907/2542-064X.2021.1.88-114

For citation: Fazliakhmetov A.M. The Middle-Upper Devonian sandstones of the West Magnitogorsk zone of the Southern Urals. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Estestvennye Nauki, 2021, vol. 163, no. 1, pp. 88–114. doi: 10.26907/2542-064X.2021.1.88-114. (In Russian)

Abstract

To date, the composition of the Devonian sandstones of the West Magnitogorsk zone has been known from only a few samples. However, given the large thickness of the sections (up to the first kilometers), their number should be increased, up to several tens for every formation in each section.

The deposits of the Irendeyk, Ulutau, Biyagoda, and Zilair Formations were studied using 169 samples from a continuous section at the latitude of Magnitogorsk. In this paper, the results of the petrographic des­criptions and analysis of the contents of rock-forming elements, chromium, cobalt, and nickel are presented and discussed.

According to the ratio of clastic grains in the Irendyk Formation, two groups of rocks were distinguished – graywackes and feldspar graywackes; the two-membered structure of the lower subformation of the Biyagoda Formation and the Zilair Formation was established.

Based on the petrographic data, it was revealed that the clastic rocks belong to different genetic types. Sandstones of the Irendyk, Ulutau, and Zilair Formations are tephroids, i.e., their accumulation is caused by tephra removal. Sandstones of the bottom part of the lower subformation of the Biyagoda Formation are volcanic-terrigenous, i.e., they consist of grains of lithified volcanics. Sandstones of the upper member of the lower subformation of the Biyagoda Formation are terrigenous, i.e., they are composed of fragments of volcanic, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.

The diagrams constructed as described by F. Pettijohn, M. Bhatia, B. Maynard, and other researchers demonstrated that the studied sandstones are similar in their geochemical parameters and can be identified as volcaniclastic graywackes formed in the waters of an oceanic island arc. The sediments underwent no intensive chemical weathering.

The graywackes were compared and it was shown that they differ in the contents of Cr, Co, Ni, as well as in the values of TiO₂/Al₂O₃, (FeO + Fe₂O₃ + MnO)/(TiO₂ + Al₂O₃), (Na₂O + K₂O)/Al₂O₃, which can be used to justify the age of sediments that are not characterized by fauna.

The accumulation of the upper part of the lower subformation of the Biyagodya Formation is related to the collision and the global Upper Kellwasser Event.

The results obtained confirm the feasibility of sampling a large number of samples in individual sections.

Keywords: tephrogenic, volcanic-terrigenous, tefroturbidit, graywackes, Irendyk Formation, Ulutau Formation, Biyagoda Formation, Zilair Formations, island arc, Upper Kellwasser

Acknowledgments. The study was performed within the state assignment no. 0246-2019- 0118.

Special thanks to I.Kh. Khairtdinov and A.A. Gilyazov, the students of the Department of Geology and Minerals of Bashkir State University, as well as to I.M. Munasipov, the driver of Institute of Geology of the Ufa Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, for their invaluable assistance during the expedition.

Figure Captions

Fig. 1. Geographical location of the study area (a, b) and sampling sites (c–f). Designations: 1 – sampling sites and their numbers; 2 – approximate position of the stratigraphic borders; 3 – contours (a) and cliffs (b); 4 – motor roads; 5 – rivers.

Fig. 2. Lithological column of the Middle-Upper Devonian deposits along the profile of Tirman – Idyash-Kuskarovo – Ishkulovo as compared with the international stratigraphic scale [7]. Designations: 1 – psephytoliths with clasts larger than 10 mm; 2 – psephytoliths with clasts of 2–10 mm in size; 3 – sandstones; 4 – siltstones; 5 – argillites and argillaceous slates; 6 – flints and jaspers; 7 – basalts and andesibasalts; 8 – conodont findings by [1].

Fig. 3. Pseudospheroidal weathering (desquamation) of the sandstones of the Ulutau Formation (on the left bank of the Bol'shoi Kizil River, from the north to the village of Tal-Kuskarovo; N 53?157.28", Е 58?27'17.72").

Fig. 4. V.D. Shutov's main (a) and additional (b) diagrams [11] from the Middle-Upper Devonian sandstones of the Tirman – Ishkulovo profile. Designations: 1 – Irendyk Formation; 2 – Ulutau Formation; 3, 4 – bottom (3) and upper (4) benches of the lower subformation of the Biyagoda Formation; 5 – Zilair Formation; 6–8 – first (6), second (7), and third (8) tectonic-polymictic levels of V.D. Shutov's diagram.

Fig. 5. Classification diagrams by F. Pettijohn (a) [18], M. Herron (b) [19], A.G. Kossovskaya and M.I. Tuch­kova (c) [21], O.Yu. Melnichuk (d) [22] for the Middle-Upper Devonian sandstones of the Tirman – Ishkulovo profile.

Fig. 6. Composition diagrams by B. Roser and R. Korsch (a, b) [23], T. Kusunoki and M. Musashino (c) [24], and A–CN–K diagram by W. Nesbitt and G. Young (d) [25] for the Middle-Upper Devonian sandstones of the Tirman – Ishkulovo profile. Arrangement of blue triangles shows the composition of some rocks and minerals. For other designations, see Fig. 4. Formulae for F1, F2 and F3, F4 are given in footnote 2.

Fig. 7. Diagrams by J. Maynard (a) [33], B. Roser and R. Korsch (b) [34], M. Bhatia (c, d) [31], J. Armstrong-Altrin and S. Verma (e) [35] for the Middle-Upper Devonian sandstones of the Tirman – Idyash-Kuskarovo – Ishkulovo profile. For designations, see Fig. 4. Formulae for F1, F2 and DF1, DF2 are given in footnotes 3 and 4.

Fig. 8. Diagrams for distinguishing between the graywackes of different formations using geochemical data. For designations, see Fig. 4.

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