Petrology and Geochemistry of Cretaceous Sedimentary Rocks of the Monte Soro Unit (Sicily, Italy): Constraints on Weathering, Diagenesis, and Provenance

The mineralogy and chemical compositions of shale and sandstone alternations of Cretaceous age of the Monte Soro Unit, Sicily, have been determined. The clay minerals in the shales are mostly illite and I-rich mixed-layer I/S reflected by enrichment in Al2O3, K2O, and chemically similar elements. The sandstones are subarkose to quartz arenite. The shales and sandstones have upper-crustal rare earth element patterns, and except for K2O, they are depleted in alkaline and alkaline-earth elements as a result of intense weathering. The sandstone and shale mineralogy suggests a diagenetic history in which the sediments were subjected to temperatures in excess of 100 degrees C, during which interaction between some minerals in the shales and sandstones took place. Thus, diagenetic quartz cementation and feldspar alteration in the sandstones and smectite illitization in the shales occurred together with the shales being a sink for potassium and the sandstones a sink for silicon. Negative europium anomalies (Eu/Eu* between 0.45 and 0.87), (Gd/Yb)(ch) ratios (<2, except for sample C1), and Sc/Cr versus La/Y and La-Th Sc diagrams suggest that the sedimentary rocks were derived from post-Archean granitoid-like rocks in a tectonically stable area. In addition, the foliated fabrics of polycrystalline quartz grains and the abundant phyllite rock fragments indicate a provenance from metamorphic rocks. The study of several trace element ratios (Ti/Zr, Cr/Zr, Y/Ni, Cr/V, Zr/Th, La/Th, La/Th, Cr/Th, Zr/Hf, Zr/Yb, Yb/Hf, V/La, La/Yb) strongly supports a local derivation from the European paleomargin.