Sandstone petrology and geochemistry of the Oligocene–Early Miocene Panjgur Formation, Makran accretionary wedge, southwest Pakistan: Implications for provenance, weathering and tectonic setting

• Sandstones of the Panjgur Formation are quartzolitic and of recycled provenance.
• Trace element geochemistry indicates felsic and ultramafic/mafic source rocks.
• Major element geochemistry indicates an active continental margin tectonic setting.
• Uplift of the Himalayan orogenic belt provided initial felsic dominated sediments.
• Ultramafic/mafic sediment is from volcanics to the west and ophiolites to the east.

The Oligocene–Early Miocene Panjgur Formation is comprised of submarine fan and abyssal plain turbidites deposited within the Makran subduction complex. Sandstones of the formation are litharenite to feldspathic litharenite. Petrographic data indicates a quartzose-recycled provenance dominated by plutonic and metamorphic fragments. Major elements concentrations reveal a moderate level of mineralogical maturity and high values of Chemical Proxy of Alteration (CPA; 88.29) coupled with a high Th/U ratio (9.37), which reveals intense weathering in the source area. The Zr, Nb, Y, and Th concentrations are comparable to upper continental crust (UCC) values and trends in Th/Cr, Th/Co, and Cr/Zr ratios support contribution from a felsic source. However, enrichment in Ni and Cr, reinforced by trends in Ni/Co, Cr/V, V/Ni and Y/Ni ratios, reveals mixing of the felsic source with mafic/ultramafic source terrains. Tectonic discrimination plots suggest continental arc to active continental margin setting. This study supports the Katawaz-delta-Panjgur submarine fan model and upholds the initial southward transport of predominantly felsic detritus from the Himalayan orogenic belt controlled by the Chaman–Ornach Nal transform fault system. This study further adds that the Bela–Muslimbagh ophiolites, associated mélanges and the West Pakistan Fold–Thrust Belt, from the east, and the Chagai–Raskoh volcanic arc, from the west, were also concurrently shedding mafic/ultramafic detritus to the basin, and that the depositional system in the Makran region turned westward, roughly parallel to the present active margin of the Makran accretionary wedge.