Lanthanides and highly mobile elements in sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks as indicators of the tectonic activity in the platform basement: An example of the Voronezh Crystalline Massif

The Eu/Eu*, Eu/Sm, and Ce/La ratios can serve as indicators of zones permeable to ascending fluid fluxes that mark time spans when the kinematics of faults in the basement changed (extension and compression phases). The Eu/Eu* ratio is more informative, the variations in the Eu/Sm ratio are correlated with transgressions in the territory of the anteclise, and the variations in the Ce/La ratio could be caused by both metasomatic processes and low-temperature hydrothermal solutions. In the Voronezh anteclise, whose sedimentary cover is relatively thin and provides no evidence of catagenetic processes, high As concentrations and Eu/Eu* ratios of sedimentary rocks can be utilized as indicators of deep zones of fluid generation centres. Comparable average Eu/Eu*, Eu/Sm, and Ce/La ratios in Proterozoic sedimentary rocks in the platform cover and metasediments of Proterozoic banded iron formations (BIF) confirm that the tectonic environments in which sedimentary units of various age were accumulated were similar.