Using the U-Pb system of calcretes to date the time of sedimentation of clastic sedimentary rocks

The time of sedimentation of rapidly deposited clastic sedimentary rocks in fluvial environments may be directly dated with an uncertainty of less than three million years using U-Pb dating of pure micritic calcite from calcretes developed in overbank deposits. This conclusion is based on results obtained for calcretes (soil calcite, caliche) formed in the late Triassic New Haven Arkose, Hartford Basin, Connecticut, USA. The paragenesis of calcrete samples from the New Haven Arkose was determined using plane-polarized light and cathodoluminesence petrography, uranium fission track analysis, as well as trace element and stable isotope geochemistry. These calcretes contain an abundance of paleosol microfabrics and diagenetic calcite. The first-generation micritic calcite and second-generation blocky calcite have characteristics consistent with soil calcite. The third generation blocky calcite is a later diagenetic calcite (post-soil calcite). The U-Pb data for pure micritic calcite (first generation) in a horizontal sheet calcrete in sedimentary rocks of Norian age gives a 238U/ 207Pb- 206Pb/ 207Pb isochron age of 211.9 ± 2.1 Ma (2-sigma, and used hereafter for all ages). This age and the stratigraphic position for this sample are in excellent agreement with the ages proposed by Gradstein et al. (1994) for the Norian/Rhaetian boundary of 209.6 ± 4.1 Ma and the Carnian/Norian boundary of 220.7 ± 4.4 Ma. The U-Pb data for two samples of first generation micrite in rhizoliths with about 15% insoluble residues give “ages” of 7 ± 66 Ma and 20 ± 36 Ma. These results suggest that relatively recent events disturbed the U-Pb system of these detrital rich samples, perhaps due to redistribution of U during weathering or during chemical dissolution for analysis. The U-Pb data for a sample of pure third generation blocky calcite cement in a rhizolith yields a 206Pb/ 238U- 207Pb/ 235U isochron age of 81 ± 11 Ma. This age suggests that this sample of third generation blocky calcite precipitated during the late Cretaceous perhaps over an extended period. These results suggest that by carefully selecting samples using petrographic and geochemical characteristics U-Pb dating of pure calcite found in calcrete horizons in clastic sediments can be used to precisely date the times of sedimentation and times of later diagenesis.