Pb-Pb age of sedimentary phosphorite reworking in Lower Riphean carbonate sediments,the Satka Formation of Southern Urals

The mineral composition and U-Pb and Rb-Sr systematics of phosphorites from the Satka Formation of Lower Riphean carbonates, the Burzyan Group of Southern Urals, are studied. Phosphorites occurring as small lenses between stromatolite layers are composed largely of fluorapatite with admixture of detrital quartz, feldspars, illite, and chlorite. Phosphorite samples have been subjected to stepwise dissolution in 1 N (fraction L-1) and 2 N (fraction L-2) HCl. As is established, the maximum apatite content is characteristic of fraction L-1, while fraction L-2 is enriched in products of dolomite and sulfide dissolution and in elements leached from siliciclastic components. The Sr content in the Satka apatites (280–560 ppm) is substantially lower as compared with that in unaltered marine apatite. The ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr “initial ratio in the phosphorites studied (0.71705–0.72484) and host dolomites from the lower part of the Satka Formation is significantly higher than in the Early Riphean seawater that indicates a reset of the Rb-Sr original systems in sediments. The Pb-Pb age of 1340 ± 30 Ma (MSWD = 6.4) estimated based on 7 data points characterizing fractions L-1 and L-2 is younger than the formation time of overlying Burzyan sediments, being consistent, within the error range, with date of the Mashak rifting event recorded at the Early-Middle Riphean boundary. The comparative U-Pb characteristics of two soluble fractions (L-1 and L-2) and silicate residue of phosphorites show that epigenetic redistribution of Pb and U was characteristic of the phosphorite horizon only. The initial Pb isotope composition and μ (²³⁸U/²⁰⁴Pb) estimated according to model by Stacey and Kramers for the early diagenetic fluids in carbonate and phosphate sediments of the Satka Formation suggest that they were in isotopic equilibrium with erosion products of the Taratash crystalline complex.