EGU22-4877
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4877
EGU General Assembly 2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

A sequence-stratigraphic framework for the Toarcian – Aalenian from southern Germany based on x-ray fluorescence core scanning data

Thomas Mann1, André Bornemann1, and Jochen Erbacher1,2
Thomas Mann et al.
  • 1Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR), Hannover, Germany
  • 2Landesamt für Bergbau, Energie und Geologie (LBEG), Hannover, Germany

Lower and Middle Jurassic sedimentary deposits in southern Germany have accumulated in a shallow-marine shelf environment and are typically dominated by clayey lithologies with minor occurrences of sandstones and limestones. The sedimentary evolution and paleoclimatic significance of these poorly exposed deposits often remain largely unexplored. Here we present a suite of high-resolution x-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning data from southern Germany covering the Upper Toarcian and Aalenian stages. The overall objective of this study is to identify Transgressive-Regressive cycles based on the analysis of three cores obtained during scientific drilling campaigns in 2019-2021. Cores have been analyzed with an Avaatech XRF Core Scanner at a 10 mm sampling interval, an energy of 10 keV and a current of 500 µA to measure element intensities ranging from aluminium through iron. Resulting trends in elemental ratios indicative for subtle grain-size variations such as Si/Al are used to reconstruct shoreline trajectories and establish a sequence stratigraphic framework (see Thöle et al. 2020). Particularly the thick and largely homogenous Opalinuston Formation appears suitable in that respect, likely resulting from extraordinarily high sedimentation rates during the lower Aalenian in southern Germany, thus providing a complete but unexplored archive of paleoclimatic signals.

 

References:

Thöle, H., Bornemann, A., Heimhofer, U., Luppold, F. W., Blumenberg, M., Dohrmann, R., & Erbacher, J. (2020). Using high‐resolution XRF analyses as a sequence stratigraphic tool in a mudstone‐dominated succession (Early Cretaceous, Lower Saxony Basin, Northern Germany). The Depositional Record, 6(1), 236-258.

How to cite: Mann, T., Bornemann, A., and Erbacher, J.: A sequence-stratigraphic framework for the Toarcian – Aalenian from southern Germany based on x-ray fluorescence core scanning data, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4877, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4877, 2022.