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Provenance analysis and maturity of the Rayen River sediments in Central Iran: based on geochemical evidence

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to use the geochemical analysis of recent sediments from the Rayen River (length of about 25 km), located in the Central Iranian zone and Urumieh-Dokhtar Magmatic Belt, to interpret their compositional maturity, chemical weathering, source rocks, and tectonic setting. Geochemical analysis (major and trace elements) of ten sediment samples suggests that mafic and intermediate igneous rocks are the sources of these sediments. Based on discriminant function, binary and ternary diagrams, it is concluded that the tectonic setting of the study area is similar to a continental island arc. The Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) ranges between 50 and 57, suggesting low-to-moderate chemical weathering that reflects tectonic activity, erosion, and rapid deposition under arid climatic conditions, which gradually increased through time in the source areas. The ICV (Index of Compositional Variability) values show that these sediments have low compositional and mineralogical maturity. It is also shown that the bed load in the Rayen River has a mixed source from undifferentiated volcanic rocks. The data obtained from both petrography and geochemical analysis, which reflect the tectonic and climatic conditions in the study area, can be used as a guide for the interpretation of similar ancient sedimentary records.

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Data availability

These data have been collected through experiments. The data that supported the plots within this manuscript and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the Department of Geology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (Research code: 3/41849), Iran. Therefore, we thank the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad for their logistic support during this study. Thanks for the valuable comments and suggestions from Prof. Olaf Kolditz, Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Earth Sciences. We would like to acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their reviews and suggestions that improved our manuscript significantly.

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  1. Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

    Mahla Maazallahi, Mohammad Khanehbad, Reza Moussavi-Harami, Asadollah Mahboubi & Mahnaz Sabbagh Bajestani

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  1. Mahla Maazallahi
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Contributions

MM: Conducted field studies and experiments. MK: Conducted field studies, data interpretation, and manuscript writing. RM-H: Read the manuscript and provide comments. AM: Read the manuscript and provide comments. MSB: Drawing and preparing all figures and data interpretation.

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Correspondence to Mohammad Khanehbad.

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Maazallahi, M., Khanehbad, M., Moussavi-Harami, R. et al. Provenance analysis and maturity of the Rayen River sediments in Central Iran: based on geochemical evidence. Environ Earth Sci 82, 89 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-023-10763-z

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