Provenance and distribution of tethyan pelagic and hemipelagic siliceous sediments,pindos mountains,Greece

The broad range of time over which ribbon bedded cherts were deposited does not extend into the present marine environment, and no ribbon cherts have been recovered from the sea floor by the Deep Sea Drilling Project. The depositional environment of bedded cherts is difficult to determine, but extra-silicic impurities in the rock may offer clues about the provenance of the non-biogenic component. To test the usefulness of relative abundances of the extra silicic components in extracting information on the depositional environment of the chert, I analyzed the major element chemistry of chert samples from a broad range of environments including ophiolite-associated chert from the Franciscan Formation of California, deep-sea chert and porcellanite from the northwest Pacific (DSDP Leg 32), shallow pelagic shelf chert nodules from the Chalk of Britain, continental marginal basin chert from the Monterey Formation of California, and continental marginal basin chert from the Pindos Zone of Greece. The ratios FeO/A1₂O₃, TiO₂/A1₂O₃ and A1/A1+Fe+Mn were considered in detail. The interpretative logic is simple but empirically supported by observations of these ratio values at different depositional environments in the Pacific: A1 is concentrated most highly in continental material while Fe and Mn are more concentrated in pelagic sediments. FeO/A1₂O₃ can be used to differentiate between ophiolite associated chert and chert associated only with other sediments. TiO₂/A1₂O₃ is not a useful indicator, possibly because of the equalizing effect of widespread eolian transport. The A1/A1+Fe+Mn ratio was measured in detail in one stratigraphic section in central continental Greece. This ratio varied with the type of sediment admixture, decreasing in value after the influx of ophiolite debris-bearing sediments, even when their presence was undetectable in hand sample or under petrographic microscope.To help clarify the paleogeography of the main study area, the Pindos Zone, and to identify sources and dispersal patterns of extra-basinal materials, isopach maps of sedimentary facies of the Pindos were constructed. Superimposed directly upon the series of imbricated thrust slices that comprise the Pindos Zone, the maps are at best compressed pictures of the Pindos Sea Floor. Persistent regional variation of facies thicknesses over time suggests the existence of several smaller depressions surrounded by submarine highs in the Pindos Basin.