Geochemistry and petrography of beach sands along the western coast of Ghana: implications for provenance and tectonic settings

The paleoweathering, provenance, and tectonic setting of sediments of the western coast of Ghana were unraveled using the geochemistry of 29 beach sands, which are characterized by coarse-, medium-, and fine-grained sizes. The coarse-grained beach sands contain higher SiO2 content (2.9-96 wt.%) than the medium-grained (4.9-94 wt.%) and fine-grained (16.1-90.7 wt.%) sands, implying that the increase in grain size is related to the increase in SiO2 content. Al2O3 and CaO concentrations are higher in the fine- and medium-grained sands than the coarse-grained sands. The beach sands are compositionally immature based on the index of compositional variable values (1.17-141) and Th/Sc versus Zr/Sc diagram although they have high SiO2/Al2O3 values. The high SiO2/ Al2O3 is not indicative of the weathering conditions of the coastal sediments in the area. The sands are chemically unaltered clastic materials of first cycle regime that still have their labile minerals retained in them very close to the sediment source based on the chemical index of alteration values, plagioclase index of alteration values, and A-CN-K and A-CNK-FM ternary diagrams. The total rare earth elements (ΣREE) content increases with decreasing grain size. However, there are some discrepancies where some coarsegrained samples have high ΣREE content. This suggests that apart from the grain size, the provenance of the sediments has direct control over their geochemical composition. The correlation of the rare earth elements patterns of the beach sands with those of adjacent source rocks points to felsic sources for their derivation. The felsic (granodioritic composition) igneous suites of the Paleoproterozoic Birimian highland rocks adjacent to the beach sediments in the western coast are possibly the source rocks of the beach sands. Rifting in the continents is the tectonic regime probably during the Paleoproterozoic times responsible for deposition of the beach sands in the western coast of Ghana.

Keywords:

Beach sands, geochemistry, provenance tectonic setting, western coast,

PDF

___

Absar N, Sreenivas B (2015). Petrology and geochemistry of greywackes of the ~1.6 Ga iddle Aravalli Supergroup, northwest India: evidence for active margin processes. International Geology Review 57 (2): 134-158.
Akkoca DB, Eriş KK, Çağatay MN, Biltekin D (2019). The mineralogical and geochemical composition of Holocene sediments from Lake Hazar, Elazığ, Eastern Turkey: implications for weathering, paleoclimate, redox conditions, provenance, and tectonic setting. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences 28 (5): 760-785.
Anani CY, Mahamuda A, Kwayisi D, Asiedu DK (2017). Provenance of sandstones from the Neoproterozoic Bombouaka Group of the Volta Basin, northeastern Ghana. Arabian Journal of Geosciences 10: 465. doi:10.1007/s12517-017-3243-2
Armstrong-Altrin JS (2009). Provenance of sands from Cazones, Acapulco, and Bahía Kino beaches, Mexico. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas 26: 764-782
Armstrong-Altrin JS (2015). Evaluation of two multi-dimensional discrimination diagrams from beach and deep sea sediments from the Gulf of Mexico and their application to Precambrian clastic sedimentary rocks. International Geology Review 57: 1446-1461. doi: 10.1080/00206814.2014.936055
Armstrong-Altrin JS, Lee YI, Kasper-Zubillaga JJ, Carranza-Edwards A, Garcia D et al. (2012). Geochemistry of beach sands along the western Gulf of Mexico, Mexico: implication for provenance. Chemie der Erde-Geochemistry 72 (4): 345-62.
Armstrong-Altrin JS, Lee YI, Verma SP, Ramasamy S (2004). Geochemistry of sandstones from the Upper Miocene Kudankulam Formation, southern India: implications for provenance, weathering, and tectonic setting. Journal of Sediment Research 74: 285-297.
Armstrong-Altrin JS, Nagarajan R, Balaram V, Natalhy-Pineda O (2015). Petrography and geochemistry of sands from the Chachalacas and Veracruz beach areas, western Gulf of Mexico, México: constraints on provenance and tectonic setting. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 64: 199-216. 379
Armstrong-Altrin JS, Verma SP (2005). Critical evaluation of six tectonic setting discrimination diagrams using geochemical data of Neogene sediments from known tectonic setting. Sedimentary Geology 177: 115-129.
Asiedu DK, Atta-Peters D, Hegner E, Hegner A, Shibata T (2010). Palaeoclimatic Control on the Composition of Palaeozoic Shales from Southern Ghana, West Africa. Ghana Mining Journal 12 (1): 7-16.
Basu A, Steven W, Young LJ, Sutter W, Calvin J et al. (1975). Reevaluation of the use of undulatory extinction and polycrystallinity in detrital quartz for provenance interpretation. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 45: 873-872.
Bhatia MR (1983). Plate tectonics and geochemical composition of sandstones. The Journal of Geology 91 (6): 611-627.
Boateng I, Bray M, Hooke J (2012). Estimating the fluvial sediment input to the coastal sediment budget: a case study of Ghana. Geomorphology 138 (1): 100-110.
Carranza-Edwards A, Bocanegra-García G, Rosales-Hoz L, De Pablo Galán L (1996). Beach sands from Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. Sedimentary Geology 119: 263-274.
Carranza-Edwards A, Kasper-Zubillaga JJ, Rosales-Hoz L, Moralesde la Garza EA, Lozano-Santa Cruz R. (2009). Beach sand composition and provenance in a sector of the southwestern Mexican Pacific. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas 26 (2): 433-447.
Çelik H, Salih TMH (2018). Provenance investigation from sedimentary petrography of the Upper Cretaceous deep marine low density turbidites of the Tanjero Formation around Arbat, northeastern Iraq. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences 27 (6): 432-459.
Cheng KL (1980). The role of the Akosombo dam on the Volta River in causing coastal erosion in central and eastern Ghana (West Africa). Marine Geology 37: 323-332.
Cheng KL (1981). Sources of beach sand from the central and eastern coasts of Ghana, West Africa. Marine Geology 44: 229-240.
Cox R, Lowe DR, Cullers RL (1995). The influence of sediment recycling and basement composition on evolution of mudrock chemistry in the southwestern United States. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 59: 2919-2940.
Cullers RL (1994). The controls on the major and trace element variation of shales, siltstones, and sandstones of Pennsylvanian-Permian age from uplifted continental blocks in Colorado to platform sediment in Kansas, USA. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 58 (22): 4955-4972.
Cullers RL (2000). The geochemistry of shales, siltstones and sandstones of Pennsylvaniane Permian age, Colorado, U.S.A.: implications for provenance and metamorphic studies. Lithos 51: 181-203.
Cullers RL (2002). Implications of elemental concentrations for provenance, redox conditions, and metamorphic studies of shales and limestones near Pueblo, CO, USA. Chemical Geology 191 (4): 305-327.
Dostal J, Keppie JD (2009). Geochemistry of low-grade clastic rocks in the Acatlán Complex of southern Mexico: Evidence for local provenance in felsic–intermediate igneous rocks. Sedimentary Geology 222 (3-4): 241-253.
El Asmi AM, Khaldi H, El Asmi K (2015). Elemental geochemical compositions of shallow marine deposits: a proxy for correlation. Arabian Journal of Geosciences 8 (11): 10065- 10092.
Etemad-Saeed N, Hosseini-Barzi M, Adabi MH, Sadeghi A, Houshmandzadeh A (2015). Provenance of Neoproterozoic sedimentary basement of northern Iran, Kahar Formation. Journal of African Earth Sciences 111: 54-75.
Fedo CM, Nesbitt HW, Young GM (1995). Unraveling the effects of potassium metasomatism in sedimentary rocks and paleosols, with implications for paleoweathering conditions and provenance. Geology 23 (10): 921-924.
Floyd PA, Leveridge BE (1987). Tectonic environments of the Devonian Gramscatho basin, south Cornwall: framework mode and geochemical evidence from turbidite sandstones. Journal of the Geological Society 144: 531-542.
Folk RL (1966). A review of grain‐size parameters. Sedimentology 6 (2): 73-93. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3091.1966.tb01572.x Folk RL, Ward WC (1957). Brazos River bar [Texas]; a study in the significance of grain size parameters. Journal of Sedimentary Research 27 (1): 3-26.
Guadagnin F, Junior FC, Magalhães AJ, Alessandretti L, Bállico MB et al. (2015). Sedimentary petrology and detrital zircon U– Pb and Lu–Hf constraints of Mesoproterozoic intracratonic sequences in the Espinhaço Supergroup: Implications for the Archean and Proterozoic evolution of the São Francisco Craton. Precambrian Research 266: 227-245.
Gürsu S, Möller A, Usta D, Köksal S, Ateş Ş et al. (2017) Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry U-Pb Dating of Detrital and Magmatic Zircons of Glacial Diamictites and Pebbles in Late Ordovician Sediments of the Taurides and Southeast Anatolian Autochthon Belt, Turkey: Indications for Their Arabian-Nubian Provenance. The Journal of Geology 125 (2): 165-202.
Harnois L (1988). The CIW index: a new chemical index of weathering. Sedimentary Geology 55 (3-4): 319-322.
Hayashi KI, Fujisawa H, Holland HD, Ohmoto H (1997). Geochemistry of ~1.9 Ga sedimentary rocks from northeastern Labrador, Canada. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 16 (19): 4115-4137.
Hernandez-Hinojosa V, Montiel-Garcia PC, Armstrong-Altrin JS, Nagarajan R, Kasper-Zubillaga JJ (2018). Textural and geochemical characteristics of beach sands along the western Gulf of Mexico, Mexico. Carpathian Journal of Earth And Environmental Sciences13 (1): 161-174.
Herron MM (1988). Geochemical classification of terrigenous sands and shales from core or log data. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 85: 820-829. 380
Kasper-Zubillaga JJ, Carranza-Edwards A, Rosales-Hoz L (1999). Petrography and geochemistry of Holocene sands in the western Gulf of Mexico: implications for provenance and tectonic setting. Journal of Sedimentary Research 69: 1003- 1010.
Kasper-Zubillaga JJ, Dickinson WW (2001). Discriminating depositional environments of sands from modern source terranes using modal analysis. Sedimentary Geology 143: 149- 167.
Kasper-Zubillaga JJ, Zolezzi-Ruiz H (2007). Grain size, mineralogical and geochemical studies of coastal and inland dune sands from El Vizcaíno Desert, Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas 24 (3): 423-438.
Khan T, Khan MS (2015). Clastic rock geochemistry of Punagarh basin, trans-Aravalli region, NW Indian shield: implications for paleoweathering, provenance, and tectonic setting. Arabian Journal of Geosciences 8 (6): 3621-3644.
Le Maitre RW (1976). The chemical variability of some common igneous rocks. Journal of Petrology 17: 589-637.
Lee YI (2009). Geochemistry of shales of the Upper Cretaceous Hayang Group, SE Korea: implications for provenance and source weathering at an active continental margin. Sedimentary Geology 215: 1-12.
Ma K, Hu S, Wang T, Zhang B, Qin S et al. (2017). Sedimentary environments and mechanisms of organic matter enrichment in the Mesoproterozoic Hongshuizhuang Formation of northern China. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 475: 176-187. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.02.038
McLennan SM, Hemming S, McDaniel DK, Hanson GN (1993). Geochemical approaches to sedimentation, provenance, and tectonics. In: Johnsson, M.J., Basu, A. (Eds.), Processes Controlling the Composition of Clastic Sediments. Geological Society of America, Special Paper 21-40.
Nesbitt HW, Young GM (1982). Early Proterozoic climate and plate motions inferred from major elements chemistry of lutites. Nature 299: 715-717.
Nesbitt HW, Young GM (1989). Formation and diagenesis of weathering profiles. The Journal of Geology 97: 129-147.
Ohta T (2008). Measuring and adjusting the weathering and hydraulic sorting effects for rigorous provenance analysis of sedimentary rocks: a case study from the Jurassic Ashikita Group, south-west Japan. Sedimentology 55: 1687-1701.
Peel MC, Pegram GGS, McMahon TA (2004). Global analysis of runs of annual precipitation and runoff equal to or below the median: run length. International Journal of Climatology 24: 807-822.
Rashid SA, Ganai JA (2015). Preservation of glacial and interglacial phases in Tethys Himalaya: evidence from geochemistry and petrography of Permo-Carboniferous sandstones from the Spiti region, Himachal Pradesh, India. Arabian Journal of Geosciences 8 (11): 9345-9363.
Roser BP, Korsch RJ (1986). Determination of tectonic setting of sandstone-mudstone suites using SiO2 content and K2O/ Na2O ratio. The Journal of Geology 94 (5): 635-650.
Spalletti LA, Limarino CO, Pinol FC (2012). Petrology and geochemistry of Carboniferous siliciclastics from the Argentine Frontal Cordillera: a test of methods for interpreting provenance and tectonic setting. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 36: 32-54.
Tawfik HA, Ghandour IM, Maejima W, Armstrong-Altrin JS, AbdelHameed AMT (2017). Petrography and geochemistry of the siliciclastic Araba Formation (Cambrian), east Sinai, Egypt: implications for provenance, tectonic setting and source weathering. Geological Magazine 154 (1): 1-23.
Taylor SR, McLennan SM (1981). The composition and evolution of the continental crust: rare earth element evidence from sedimentary rocks. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences 301 (1461): 381-399.
Tobia FH, Aswad KJ (2015). Petrography and geochemistry of Jurassic sandstones, Western Desert, Iraq: implications on provenance and tectonic setting. Arabian Journal of Geosciences 8 (5): 2771-2784.
Valloni R, Maynard JB (1981). Detrital modes of recent deepsea sands and their relation to tectonic settings: a first approximation. Sedimentology 28: 75-83.
Verma SP, Armstrong-Altrin JS (2013). New multi-dimensional diagrams for tectonic discrimination of siliciclastic sediments and their application to Precambrian basins. Chemical Geology 355: 117-133.
Verma SP, Armstrong-Altrin JS (2016). Geochemical discrimination of siliciclastic sediments from active and passive margin settings. Sedimentary Geology 332: 1-12.
Weltje GJ (2006). Ternary sandstone composition and provenance: an evaluation of the Dickinson Model. In: Buccianti A, MateuFigueras G, Pawlowsky-Glahn V (editors). Compositional Data Analysis in the Geosciences: From Theory to Practice. Geological Society of London, Special Publication 264: 79-99.
Wentworth CK (1922). A scale of grade and class terms for clastic sediments. The Journal of Geology 30 (5): 377-392.
Zaid SM (2015). Geochemistry of sands along the Ain Soukhna and Ras Gharib beaches, Gulf of Suez, Egypt: implications for provenance and tectonic setting. Arabian Journal of Geosciences 8 (12): 10481-10496.
Zhou L, Friis H, Poulsen MLK (2015). Geochemical evaluation of the late Paleocene and early Eocene shales in Siri Canyon, DanishNorwegian basin. Marine and Petroleum Geology 61: 111-122.