Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Schmitz, Darrel W.

Committee Member

Dockery, David T. III

Committee Member

Gabitov, Rinat I.

Date of Degree

5-9-2015

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Geosciences

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Geosciences

Abstract

This thesis examines the mineral suite of undeveloped heavy-mineral deposits in the Cretaceous of the Northern Mississippi Embayment and compares them to the developed deposits of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The hypothesis presented here is that Cretaceous heavy-mineral deposits of the eastern Mississippi Embayment had the same provenance, the Appalachian Piedmont, as did the younger sediments of the U.S. Atlantic Coast. Kyanite/sillimanite and staurolite were recognized in all samples, and represent strong evidence for an Appalachian Provenance. Alternatively, the overall lack of epidote in the HM suite points away from a Mississippi River related provenance. The dominant heavy minerals found in the Mississippi Embayment samples are ilmenite, leucoxene, zircon, rutile, kyanite/sillimanite, staurolite, and monazite. This suite of heavy minerals compares favorably to those represented along the Atlantic Coastal Plane, and supports an Appalachian Provenance. Southwest trending Paleozoic paleovalleys were likely sedimentation pathways from the Appalachian region.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/19208

Comments

zircon||titanium||Mississippi Embayment||heavy minerals

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