Grain Chemistry

Grain chemistry involves the detailed study of a specific mineral species. These studies can help enhance interpretations and be particularly useful in providing provenance and correlation solutions especially in sequences with a pronounced diagenetic overprint.

These studies can be broadly split into geochronological and geochemical techniques. Geochronological techniques, such as detrital U-Pb zircon dating, measure radioactive isotope systems in specific minerals which can provide information on major tectonic events that affected source rocks feeding the sedimentary system. Geochemical techniques can involve the measurement of major elements, trace elements or stable isotopes within a species of minerals in a clastic sediment. These techniques have been employed in the past for tracing sediment pathways, characterising source rocks, mapping reservoir fairways within a basin through well correlation.

For more information please click on the links below.

Single Grain Geochronology, including detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology and detrital zircon CL imaging.
Single Grain Geochemistry & Pb-in-feldspar Geochemistry.