Eker, Çiğdem Saydam; Yücel, Cem; Kaygusuz, Abdullah; Aydınçakır, Emre; Jeong, Youn-Joong; Yılmazer, Sinan; Sünnetçi, Kadir

Detrital zircons are crucial stand-ins for the history of continental crust growth and disintegration, as well as the dispersal and assembly of supercontinents. Detrital zircons are effectively used to assess crustal history because sediments transport zircons from source rocks that are no longer at the surface. This study presents detailed Lu-Hf isotopic, U-Pb geochronological analyses of zircon, Sr-Nd isotopic analyses and whole-rock geochemical results from sandstone, volcanically derived sandstone and tuff samples of the Campanian-aged Bozbent Member in the Eastern Pontide Orogen belt of the Sakarya Zone. Sedimentological analyses show that the Bozbent Member was transported and deposited by turbidite currents, while petrographic and geochemical analyses show that the sandstones range from greywacke to litharenite. In this study, U-Pb ages of detrital zircon obtained from Campanian sandstones are presented, along with in situ εHf data. A magmatic origin is indicated by the majority of zircons' oscillatory zoning and by Th/U ratios ranging from 0.2 to 1.5. The ages of detrital zircons range from 2819 to 78 Ma, with most of these zircons being Proterozoic (552–994 Ma). Proterozoic zircons are detrital zircons associated with the Gondwana and the African Craton. The whole-rock geochemical data and Sr-Nd isotope compositions of the sandstones are consistent with local Carboniferous felsic plutons, Jurassic mafic and felsic plutons, Jurassic volcanic rocks, Jurassic clastic rocks and clastic material from Precambrian recycled sediments. It was calculated that more than 90% of the detrital zircons had crystallisation ages older than their depositional ages (CA-DA > 150 Ma, indicative of an extensional basin model). These findings indicate that the Campanian-aged Bozbent Member turbiditic sequence in the Eastern Pontides was deposited in an extensional fore-arc basin and therefore exhibits the petrographic and geochemical characteristics of passive margin sandstones.

Saydam Eker, Çiğdem; Arı, Uğur Volkan; Alemdağ, Selçuk

This study assesses the organic matter (OM) content, kerogen type, maturity, depositional environment conditions and sedimentation model of Early Cretaceous (Berriasian–Aptian) black limestones in NE Turkey using geochemical analyses, including Rock-Eval/total organic carbon (TOC), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, major and trace elements and stable carbon isotope of OM measurements. The investigated black limestones' TOC, hydrogen index and potential yield values range from 0.07 to 2.91 wt%, 76 to 636 mg HC/g TOC and 0.15 to 11.17 mg HC/g rock, respectively. These results indicate that the examined limestones have variable source rock potential, ranging from low to high. Tmax values, calculated saturated biomarkers and aromatic components suggest that the OM contained in the black limestones varies between thermally immature and mature, consistent with the potential index values. The OM found in the black limestone contained kerogen varying between type I and III. It is a composition of marine and terrigenous OM, as shown by the δ13C isotope values, biomarker components and n-alkane distributions and their parameters. This OM was deposited in a salinity water environment with marine–terrigenous (transitional) surroundings under oxic, suboxic to anoxic and arid–hot climate conditions. These findings provide critical insights for assessing the hydrocarbon potential of carbonate platforms in similar geological settings.