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Lower Cretaceous lacustrine oil shales are widely distributed in southeastern Mongolia. Due to the high organic carbon content of oil shale, many geochemical studies and petroleum exploration have been conducted. Although most of the oil shales are considered to be Early Cretaceous in age, a recent study reveals that some were deposited in the Middle Jurassic. The present study aims at establishing depositional ages and characteristics of the Jurassic and Cretaceous lacustrine deposits in Mongolia. The Lower Cretaceous Shinekhudag Formation is about 250 m thick and composed of alternating beds of shale and dolomite. The Middle Jurassic Eedemt Formation is about 150 m thick and composed of alternating beds of shale, dolomitic marl, and siltstone. The alternations of shale and dolomite in both formations were formed by lake level changes, reflecting precipitation changes. Shales were deposited in the center of a deep lake during highstand, while dolomites were formed by primary precipitation during lowstand. Based on the radiometric age dating, the Shinekhudag Formation was deposited between 123.8 ±2.0 Ma and 118.5 ±0.9 Ma of the early Aptian. The Eedemt Formation was deposited at around 165–158 Ma of Callovian–Oxfordian. The calculated sedimentation rate of the Shinekhudag Formation is between 4.7 ±2.6 cm/ky and 10.0 ±7.6 cm/ky. Shales in the Shinekhudag Formation show micrometer‐scale lamination, consisting of algal organic matter and detrital clay mineral couplets. Given the average thickness of micro‐laminae and calculated sedimentation rate, the micro‐lamination is most likely of varve origin. Both Middle–Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous lacustrine oil shales were deposited in intracontinental basins in the paleo‐Asian continent. Tectonic processes and basin evolution basically controlled the deposition of these oil shales. In addition, enhanced precipitation under humid climate during the early Aptian and the Callovian–Oxfordian was another key factor inducing the widespread oil shale deposition in Mongolia.

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The present study examines the provenance of the Jurassic Ashikita Group distributed in south‐west Japan, which is composed of the Idenohana, Kyodomari and Sakamoto Formations. Two geochemical diagrams for provenance analysis were utilized, which incorporate full consideration of compositional modifications resulting from weathering (MFW diagram) and hydraulic sorting processes (SiO2/Al2O3–Na2O/K2O diagram). The MFW diagram delineates weathering trends of sedimentary rocks and allows estimation of the original source rock composition by tracing the weathering trends backwards to an unweathered domain. Weathering trends of the Idenohana and Kyodomari Formations extend backward to the domain of intermediate and felsic igneous rocks. In contrast, sediments of the Sakamoto Formation do not fit into a linear weathering trend, indicating that the source rock cannot be approximated to igneous rocks. On the SiO2/Al2O3–Na2O/K2O diagram, sediments are organized into compositional trends, in which the range reflects compositional variations induced by the hydraulic sorting effect. On this diagram, sediments derived from the igneous and recycled sedimentary provenances can be distinguished by reading the inclination of the trend. By utilizing this principle, source rocks of the Idenohana and Kyodomari Formations are interpreted as igneous rocks and those of the Sakamoto Formation are interpreted as recycled sedimentary rocks. Therefore, these diagrams concurrently estimate the source rock composition through quantifying and adjusting the weathering and sorting effects, and reveal a systematic transition in the provenance of the Ashikita Group. The Idenohana and Kyodomari Formations were supplied chiefly from an igneous provenance, which shifted from intermediate to felsic compositions in stratigraphic order. Whereas, sediments of the Sakamoto Formation were sourced primarily from a recycled sedimentary provenance.

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A method that integrates elliptic Fourier and principal component analysis is a new development in the analysis of the shapes of sand grains. However, conventional elliptic Fourier and principal component analysis based on the variance-covariance matrix of the elliptic Fourier results can determine only the form of sand grains, and fails to quantify fine-scale boundary smoothness of grains. In this study, sand grains from glacial, fluvial, foreshore and aeolian environments were analysed using both elliptic Fourier and principal component analysis and an extension of elliptic Fourier and principal component analysis based on the correlation matrix to extract information on grain form (macroscopic) and grain boundary smoothness (microscopic) separately. Conventional elliptic Fourier and principal component analysis based on the variance-covariance matrix produces macroscopic particle shape descriptors, such as the elongation index and bump indices. These indices indicate that sand grains exposed to subaqueous transportation (fluvial and foreshore) have forms that are more elongated than those exposed to subaerial transportation (aeolian dunes). However, elliptic Fourier and principal component analysis based on the correlation matrix is, in addition, able to extract microscopic particle features, which can be interpreted in terms of a boundary smoothness index. The boundary smoothness index indicates that the surfaces of glacial grains are the most rugged, whereas the surfaces of aeolian grains are the smoothest. On bivariate plots of the boundary smoothness and elongation indices, samples from fluvial, foreshore, aeolian and glacial environments cluster in discrete regions. In addition, the analysis reveals that glacial grains are exposed to different morphological maturation pathways than those from fluvial, foreshore and aeolian environments.