Abstract: The properties of sandstones are strongly affected by formation of minerals in the pore space during diagenesis. In many sandstones, quartz overgrowths are the most important pore-filling cements and show a characteristic trace element composition. The most important impurities are Al, Li, H and Ge. The Al concentration of quartz may reach up to several 1000 µmol mol −1 and is assumed to reflect the composition of the porewater. Geochemical modelling of the activity ratio of Al and Si revealed a minimum at nearly neutral to slightly acid conditions. This minimum shifts to lower pH with increasing temperatures. Due to complexing, organic acids may strongly affect the Al solubility especially in acidic water at low temperatures. There is a linear correlation between Al and Li, indicating their incorporation in a combined [AlO 4 |Li] centre. Since Li only accounts for 10–30% of the Al concentration, the remaining Al needs to be balanced by H. The ratio of Li/H-compensated Al centres seems to depend on the Li activity and the pH in the aqueous solution. Germanium concentrations in quartz cements are slightly higher than the crustal average and they show a weak correlation with Al. The excess of Ge in authigenic quartz requires pre-enrichment, probably by formation of kaolinite. Possible applications of trace element analyses of authigenic quartz include discrimination of different sources that contribute to the supply of silica, enhanced understanding of inhomogeneities that are related to cementation and possible tracking of fluid migration.

Abstract: High-resolution chronostratigraphic correlation using elemental chemostratigraphy in platform carbonates is typically difficult to achieve. Here, elemental chemostratigraphy is used to correlate between two platform-top, carbonate-dominated field sections from the narrow Lennard Shelf that existed on the NE margin of the Canning Basin, Western Australia, during the mid-late Frasnian. The correlation, constrained by magnetic polarity reversals and physical ground truthing, is based on recognition of distinctive cyclical “stacking patterns” defined by changes in concentrations of the trace element zirconium (Zr). Zr concentrations are controlled by the amount of the heavy mineral zircon in the sediments, which is derived from a terrigenous source and is diagenetically very stable. The stacking patterns in the lower part of the study sections display gradually upward-increasing values of Zr to a maximum, followed by an almost immediate fall to a minimum. In the upper part of the study interval, the cycles are more symmetrical, with both gradually increasing and decreasing portions. The point at which the change in Zr stacking pattern occurs in the two sections is synchronous and occurs in association with a supersequence maximum flooding surface. The correlation based on maximum and minimum Zr values throughout the two sections is demonstrated to be chronostratigraphic by comparison with correlations based upon paleomagnetism and physical ground truthing. When element ratios commonly used as provenance and paleoclimate proxies are plotted, the variations between closely spaced samples are greater than any systematic variations throughout the study intervals. Therefore, no isochemical chemozones can be defined, implying that during deposition of the study intervals, there were no long-lived changes in sediment provenance or paleoclimate that the elemental chemistry can detect. The work presented here shows that the standard approach of defining isochemical chemozones for chemostratigraphic correlation is not always appropriate. However, an approach using cyclical changes in elemental variables for chemostratigraphic correlation between two closely spaced sections is chronostratigraphically valid. The greater challenge is in application of the same approach to more widely spaced sections, potentially in different facies of a carbonate setting.