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Provenance, also known as geographic attribution, in geology refers to the origins or sources of particles within sediment and sedimentary rocks.[1]
Metamorphic and igneous rocks are broken down via weathering and erosion into sediment as part of the rock cycle. These sediments are transported by wind, water, ice, or gravity, before being deposited in horizontal layers. As more sediment is deposited over time, earlier layers are covered and compacted. Finally, they are cemented to form a new rock.
Modern geological provenance research specifically refers to the application of compositional analyses to determine sedimental origins. This is often used in conjunction with the study of exhumation histories, forward-modeling of paleo-earth systems, and interpretation of drainage networks and their evolution. In combination, these help to characterize the "source to sink" journey of clastic sediments from the hinterland to a sedimentary basin. Sediments analyzed for provenance can provide tectonic, paleogeographic, and paleoclimatic histories.
Provenance studies are conducted to investigate scientific questions such as the growth history of the continental crust,[2][3] the collision history of the Indian and Asian tectonic plates,[4] Asian monsoon intensity, and Himalayan exhumation.[5]
- ^ "Provenance". NIST. 27 June 2024.
- ^ Taylor and McLennan (1995). "The Geochemical Evolution of the continental crust". Reviews of Geophysics. 33 (2): 241. Bibcode:1995RvGeo..33..241T. doi:10.1029/95rg00262.
- ^ McLennan, S. M.; et al. (1993). "Geochemical approaches to sedimentation, provenance, and tectonics". In Mark J. Johnsson; Abhijit Basu (eds.). Processes Controlling the Composition of Clastic Sediments. Geological Society of America Special Papers. Vol. 284. pp. 21–40. doi:10.1130/spe284-p21. ISBN 0-8137-2284-5.
- ^ DeCelles P.G.; et al. (2014). "Paleocene-Eocene foreland basin evolution in the Himalaya of southern Tibet and Nepal: Implications for the age of initial India-Asia collision". Tectonics. 33 (5): 824–849. Bibcode:2014Tecto..33..824D. doi:10.1002/2014tc003522. S2CID 55179413.
- ^ Clift P. D.; et al. (2008). "Correlation of Himalayan exhumation rates and Asian monsoon intensity". Nature Geoscience. 1 (12): 875–880. Bibcode:2008NatGe...1..875C. doi:10.1038/ngeo351. hdl:1885/29309.