University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2019 Detrital Zircon Provenance and Correlation of Two Newly Discovered Ripley Formation Bentonites: Pontotoc County, Mississippi Elizabeth Jayne Vitale University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the Geology Commons Recommended Citation Vitale, Elizabeth Jayne, "Detrital Zircon Provenance and Correlation of Two Newly Discovered Ripley Formation Bentonites: Pontotoc County, Mississippi" (2019). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1707. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1707 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DETRITAL ZIRCON PROVENANCE AND CORRELATION OF TWO NEWLY DISCOVERED RIPLEY FORMATION BENTONITES: PONTOTOC COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI A Thesis Presented in partiAl fulfillment of requirements for the degree of MAster of Science in the Department of Geology and GeologicAl Engineering The University of Mississippi by ELIZABETH J. VITALE MAy 2019 Copyright © 2019 ElizAbeth J VitAle ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT TWo neWly discovered bentonite deposits in northern and southern Pontotoc County, Mississippi occur in the Upper CretAceous outcrop in a banded pattern on the northeAstern mArgin of the Mississippi Embayment (MSE). The entire Ripley FormAtion (Fm) consists of ~73 m of fossiliferous clAy, sAnd, and cAlcAreous sAnd beds. The bentonites are locAted stratigraphicAlly within the ChiWApa SAndstone Member (CSM) at the top of the Ripley Fm and stratigraphicAlly lie above previously mined bentonites in central Pontotoc County. Since the northern and southern bentonites differ stratigraphicAlly from the previously mined bentonites, it is possible that there are other unknown bentonite deposits throughout Pontotoc County. This study utilizes heAvy mineral separation, scAnning electron microscopy (SEM), detritAl zircon U- Pb geochronologic dating, stratigraphic analysis, and X-ray diffraction to determine and refine the possible sources and depositional environments of the upper Ripley bentonites. DetritAl zircon ages (n = 649) were collected from the northern and southern bentonite locAtions and yielded ages ranging from MesoarcheAn (~2,870 MA) to PennsylvaniAn (~305 MA) And contAined approximAtely 91% AppalAchiAn source derived grains, including AppalAchiAn- OuachitA (~490–265 MA), GondwAnan Terranes (~900–500 MA), and Grenville (~1,350–900 MA) source terranes. Other igneous province source regions include the Mid-Continent Granite Rhyolite Province (MCGRP) (~1,600–1,350 MA), YAvapai-MAzAtzAl (~1,800–1,600 MA), Trans- Hudson/PenokeAn (~1,900–1,800 MA), and Superior (>2,500 MA). ii A high input of AppalAchiAn derived sediment, heAvy mineral abundances, and clAy mineral composition all indicAte that the bentonites were deposited in a deltAic/deltA-plAtform environment and that sediment feeding the northeAstern MSE likely originated from the AppalAchiAn forelAnd basin and AppalAchiAn-OuachitA fold thrust belt. The southern sAmples Are rich in montmorillonite and suggest that they were deposited in a pro-deltA mArine setting during a mArine transgression at the end of the CretAceous. The kaolinite rich northern sAmples suggest input into a low energy deltAic environment. However, montmorillonite rich Ripley Fm clAys have not been previously noted and possibly indicAte that bentonites could have been deposited by a younger source of LAte CretAceous volcAnism. By evaluating the depositional environments and sources of the Pontotoc bentonites, the Upper CretAceous stratA of the MSE And Gulf CoastAl plAin, mAy show an occurrence of previously unidentified bentonites and mAy indicAte that volcAnism occurred in the MSE during MAAstrichtiAn time iii DEDICATION This work is dedicAted to my Mom and DAd, DAvid and Linda VitAle. I would not have Accomplished what I have and becAme who I am without them. Also, my lAte grandfather Albert John Rustige Jr., who would have loved to explore the world of geology with me. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AB ArkomA Basin AFB AppalAchiAn ForelAnd Basin ARBM Arbuckle MountAins CDF CumulAtive Density Function CDP CumulAtive Density Plot CL Cathodoluminesence CSM ChiWApa SAndstone Member FCB Forest City Basin Fm FormAtion Ga Billion yeArs GCP Gulf CoastAl PlAin GoM Gulf of Mexico GSMRB GreAt Smokey MountAin Rift Basin IB Illinois Basin ICP-MS Inductively-Coupled PlAsmA MAss Spectrometer K-Pg CreteAcous-PAleogene K-S Kolmogorov-Smirnov LA-ICP-MS LAser AblAtion Inductively-Coupled PlAsmA MAss Spectrometer LST Lithium PolytungstAtes v Ma Million yeArs MB Michigan Basin MCGRP Mid-Continent Granite Rhyolite Province MCR Mid-Continent Rift MSE Mississippi Embayment Nu-ICP-MS Nu PlAsmA HR Multicollector Inductively-Coupled PlAsmA MAss Spectrometer PDP Probability Density Plot RCG Rough Creek Graben RR Reelfoot Rift SE Secondary Electron SEM ScAnning Electron Microscopy SG Specific Gravity XRD X-Ray Diffraction vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Firstly, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Jennifer Gifford, for providing me with the ideA and support for my thesis project and for elevating my passion And knowledge of geology. I Would have been lost without her support and encouragement. I also would like to thank my committee members Drs. BriAn PlAtt and Inoka WidanagamAge for their support and expertise. Thank you to the Department of Geology and GeologicAl Engineering for all of the knowledge And the ability to grow acAdemicAlly and professionally over the past six yeArs. Thank you to all of the faculty of the Department of Geology and GeologicAl Engineering for allowing me to Work as a teAching assistAnt for four yeArs in the department and also to my students, becAuse if it weren’t for them, I would not be able to eArn this graduate degree. Thank you to all of those in the scientific community that helped mAke this project possible including: Rooban and Orion at Mississippi StAte University for their help with SEM And XRD analysis, Berry Shaulis at the University of ArkansAs for the quick U-Pb analyses, PAul O’Sullivan from Geoseps also with U-Pb analyses, Charles SWAnn for his expertise and help in the field, Dr. George KAmenov at the University of Florida for his help running ICP-MS Analyses, and Dr. PAul Mueller for the use of his datA reduction protocol. Also, I would like to thank those who were by my side through graduate school and during the harder times of this project. You are all the reAson I kept my sAnity and stAyed optimistic. Alex WArren, Anna McWhirter, Adam Schildhammer, Steve Terracina, Bram Allen, vii Bradley LeWis, JArett Bell, and ZAck Lepchitz, I will miss you and will miss Working alongside you. MeAghan Dice and Cat Henry, thank you for ansWering your phones whenever I needed graduate school advice and also for the endless encouragement. LAstly, I would like to thank my family for their support and love through the entire thesis process. I owe everything I am to my parents, DAvid And Linda VitAle, thank you for the unwAvering love and support. I would also like to thank my brother and sister, Anthony and OliviA, for never failing to mAke me lAugh when I needed it. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................ vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... ix LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ xii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xiii 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 2. GEOLOGIC SETTING .......................................................................................................... 3 2.1. Mississippi Embayment .................................................................................................. 3 2.2. Tectonics of the Mississippi Embayment ....................................................................... 4 2.3. Study AreA ...................................................................................................................... 6 2.4. Ripley FormAtion Stratigraphy ....................................................................................... 6 3. METHODS ............................................................................................................................. 9 3.1. SAmple Collection and Preparation ................................................................................. 9 3.2. SEM ImAging ................................................................................................................ 10 3.3. U-Pb Zircon Isotopic Analysis ...................................................................................... 11 3.4. XRD Analysis ..............................................................................................................