Provenance of the Palaeocene-Eocene clastic rocks of the Komandorsky Islands

The Palaeocene–Eocene sequence on the Komandorsky Islands is represented by sediments and minor volcanics with a total thickness of more than 3000 m. Sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, siliceous rocks and conglomerate, which have accumulated in the upper and middle parts of a deep-water fan, prevail. All the debris was delivered from the north-east, from the side of the contemporary Komandorsky basin in the Bering Sea. Products of volcanic denudation and fresh tephra dominate its composition. However, at some levels the sandstone contains fragments of jasper, quartzite, slate, schist, gabbro and granite as well as non-volcanic quartz along with a volcanic component. The heavy minerals fraction of the sandstone contains considerable quantities of apatite, zircon, garnet and chromite, as well as pyroxenes, amphiboles and magnetite. The chemical composition of the garnet is specific to metamorphic rocks. A significant admixture of chromite is indicative of denudation from an ophiolite complex. The folded and partly metamorphosed pre-Palaeogenic rocks were a source of these fragments. Their most likely source terrane was the Shirshov-Bowers chain (Cretaceous palaeoarc). The Komandorsky block originally was the forearc part of the Aleutian arc where the latter was superimposed on the Shirshov-Bauers chain. A subsequent north-west displacement of forearc structures, in response to the transform fault at the boundary between the Pacific and North American plates, could have resulted in the separation of the Komandorsky block from its Early Palaeogene debris source area.