Formerly aragonitic limestones associated with tillites in the late Proterozoic of Death Valley, California
Formerly aragonitic limestones associated with tillites in the late Proterozoic of Death Valley, California
Journal of Sedimentary Petrology (November 1986) 56 (6): 818-830
- alkaline earth metals
- ancient ice ages
- C-13/C-12
- California
- carbon
- carbonate rocks
- clastic rocks
- cyclic processes
- Death Valley
- diagenesis
- geochemical indicators
- geochemistry
- glacial environment
- glacial geology
- glaciomarine environment
- Inyo County California
- isotopes
- Kingston Peak Formation
- limestone
- major elements
- marine environment
- metals
- Neoproterozoic
- O-18/O-16
- oxygen
- paleoclimatology
- Precambrian
- Proterozoic
- San Bernardino County California
- sea-level changes
- sedimentary rocks
- sedimentation
- shelf environment
- stable isotopes
- stratigraphy
- strontium
- tillite
- trace elements
- transgression
- United States
- upper Precambrian
- southeastern California
- Sour Dough Limestone
- Virgin Springs Limestone
The Upper Proterozoic Virgin Spring and Sour Dough limestones occur within the glaciogenic Kingston Peak Formation of the Death Valley region, eastern California. The Virgin Spring limestone is black, thinly laminated, and consists of microscopic spheroids and scattered ooids, contained within coarse neomorphic spar. An original aragonite mineralogy is inferred and this is supported by high contents of strontium (up to 3,650 ppm). Thin sandstone beds occur within the limestone, and their features suggest a storm origin. The Sour Dough Limestone has been metamorphosed and deformed but shows similar sedimentary structures and a high Sr content. Both limestones are interpreted as deeper-water, outer-shelf deposits, and their sedimentation is related to a sea-level rise through deglaciation. The Virgin Spring limestone has a typical marine delta (super 13) C signature (average +2.0 per thousand PDB), but the delta (super 18) O is very negative (-15.8 per thousand PDB). The latter is attributed more to the burial-diagenetic calcitization of an originally aragonitic sediment than to precipitation from (super 18) O-depleted seawater.
