A record of Late Cambrian–Early Ordovician arc magmatism in Yazd block, Central Iran

The petrological, geochemical, and zircon geochronology studies on the sandstone from Yazd block in Central Iran were performed to recognize their composition, provenance, and tectonic setting. The type of this sandstone is graywacke which is mostly composed of quartz, feldspar, lithic fragments, and clay minerals in the matrix. Geochemical data and several indicators such as indices of alteration suggest weak weathering, low maturity, arid paleoclimate, and oxic condition in the source area. The trace elements and REE pattern and discrimination diagrams reveal the provenance of the sandstone has the features of arc-related felsic igneous rocks. The detrital components of sandstone have rapidly deposited in transitional facies and the shallow marine basin near the source area. The most population of detrital zircon shows that they have derived from the surrounding felsic igneous rocks in Central Iran belonging to Late Neoproterozoic–Early Cambrian times that this magmatism is simultaneous with magmatic activity in Arabian–Nubian Shield. Maximum depositional age of the sandstone correlated to Late Cambrian–Early Ordovician defined from the youngest U–Pb age populations of detrital zircons (490–465 Ma) introducing magmatism activity at this time. Therefore, the detrital zircon populations extracted from the terrigenous sediments and other geochemical data present a new record of arc magmatism during the Late Cambrian–Early Ordovician in the Yazd block.