Post-Acadian sediment recycling in the Devonian Old Red Sandstone of Southern Ireland

• Upper Devonian Munster Basin (S. Ireland) fill is product of mid-Devonian recycling of Lower Devonian red beds to north
• Detrital mica component from both Lower and Upper Devonian sequences overlap in composition and 40Ar/39Ar age
• Study highlights importance of Acadian deformation in recycling Lower Devonian sediment into Upper Devonian basins

The Upper Devonian Munster Basin of southern Ireland has traditionally been viewed as a post-orogenic molasse deposit that was sourced from the Caledonides of central Ireland and subsequently deformed by the end Carboniferous Variscan orogenic event. The basin fill is composed of super-mature quartz arenite sandstone that clearly represents a second cycle of deposition. The source of this detritus is now recognized as Lower Devonian Dingle Basin red bed sequences to the north. This genetic link is based on the degree of similarity in the detrital mica chemistry in both of these units; micas plot in identical fields and define the same trends. In addition, the two sequences show increased textural and chemical maturity up-sequence and define indistinguishable 40Ar/39Ar age ranges for the detrital mica grains. Partial resetting of the Ar ages can be attributed to elevated heat flow in the region caused by Munster Basin extension and subsequent Variscan deformation. The combined evidence from southwest Ireland therefore points to a Caledonian or possibly Taconian primary source area that initially shed detritus into the Lower Devonian Dingle Basin which was subsequently recycled into the Upper Devonian Munster Basin following mid-Devonian Acadian basin inversion.

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