Facies-related diagenetic alteration in lacustrine-deltaic red beds of the Paleogene Ergeliin Zoo Formation (Erdene Sum area, S. Gobi, Mongolia)

The prodelta/mud-sand flat deposits (unit I) were dolomitized and cemented by high-Mg calcite during evaporative pumping at times of low lake-stand under redox conditions greater than 0 and intrastratal solutions of strong alkalinity. Manganoan dolomite is fairly widespread in the delta front sediments (unit II), the Mn content of which is likely to have been derived from decomposition of vertebrate remains. The Mn/Fe ratio in the carbonate minerals was controlled by the redox conditions and the shallow burial depth. In the porous delta front sediments Eh values around zero and pH values slightly above 7 occurred as a result of basinward fluid movements (high-Mn dolomite, high-Fe dolomite, low-Mg calcite). Fluid movement was locally impeded by finer-grained delta plain deposits (unit III), intertonguing with arenaceous aquifers (low Mg-moderate Fe calcite, high-Mn calcite). Higher up on the delta plain with deposits laid down in an environment transitional between distal alluvial and deltaic (unit IV), closed lake basin conditions reappeared as fluids emerged from the distal alluvial-fluvial deposits or were driven by capillary force to ascend and form calcretes abundant in Mg-bearing calcite. The climatic conditions in the Erdene Sum area, Mongolia, are likely to have been semi-arid transitional into arid.