A detrital record of the Nile River and its catchment

Fielding, Laura; Najman, Yani; Millar, Ian L.; Butterworth, Peter J.; Andó, Sergio; Padoan, Marta; Barfod, Dan N.; Kneller, Ben

doi:10.1144/jgs2016-075

Cited by 79 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…From Blue Nile, Tekeze and Atbara samples collected in nearby sites, Fielding et al. () obtained similar results, with somewhat richer Oligocene populations (Table ).…”

Section: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…The single Oligocene age obtained by Fielding et al. () in the White Nile sample collected farther north reveals mixing with Blue Nile sediments of the Gezira fan.…”

Section: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…(), which also includes petrographic and heavy‐mineral data on several samples collected and studied by Fielding et al. (). Detrital zircons were identified on heavy‐mineral separates by Automated Phase Mapping (APM) with a QEMSCAN ® WellSite™ instrument (Vermeesch et al., ).…”

Section: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nile cataracts and major dams are shown, together with location of modern sands (white circles) analysed for U‐Pb detrital zircon geochronology by Fielding et al. (). (c) Water discharge (Sutcliffe & Parks, ) and sediment fluxes (Garzanti et al., ).…”

Section: The Nilementioning

confidence: 99%

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The zircon story of the Nile: Time‐structure maps of source rocks and discontinuous propagation of detrital signals

et al. 2018

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A new dimension has recently been added to provenance analysis by the rapid development of detrital‐geochronology techniques. The application of any dating method to sediments allows the definition of a unique age pattern of parent rocks, a “time structure” that represents an essential complement to the information on their lithological structure obtained by traditional petrographic and mineralogical methods. This detrital‐geochronology study illustrates the distribution of U‐Pb zircon ages in all parts of the Nile catchment from its equatorial headwaters to the Delta, and surveys how the provenance signal is formed, transmitted, and modified along this huge sediment‐routing system. Age‐spectra obtained by targeting specific parts of zircon grains after cathodo‐luminesce imaging and by our Automated Phase Mapping + LAICPMS “blind‐dating strategy” were compared. The former approach emphasises specific magmatic or metamorphic events in source areas, whereas the latter aims at minimising selection bias and focuses on consistency among samples. Grain‐size and hydraulic‐sorting controls were also checked, but found to have only a minor effect on zircon‐age distributions. The trimodal age spectrum of Kagera zircons sourced from the rift highlands of Burundi and Rwanda, characterised by prominent late Neoarchean (Aruan) and mid‐Mesoproterozoic (Kibaran) peaks with a wider mid‐Palaeoproterozoic (Ubendian) cluster, is lost in the Lake Victoria sediment sink. The sharp unimodal Aruan peak displayed by zircon grains in both Victoria and Albert Nile is supplemented and finally superseded by Neoproterozoic grains across the vast marshlands of South Sudan, where detritus produced in equatorial regions is eventually stored. All Nile tributaries in Sudan and Egypt carry zircon grains yielding predominantly Neoproterozoic ages, with a major peak around 0.6 Ga associated with clusters around 0.8 and 1.0 Ga. A few Oligocene zircons represent the key diagnostic feature of Ethiopian provenance, the Ariadne's golden thread that allowed retracing the palaeo‐Nile to its Ethiopian sources back in the Oligocene. The Nile presents a text‐book case of discontinuous transmission of provenance signals along a segmented ultra‐long drainage system. Zircon‐age fingerprints as well as all other detrital signatures are lost repeatedly in large Ugandan lakes, reconstituted or replaced, lost again in the vast marshlands of South Sudan, and finally homogenised downstream from Ethiopia and Sudan to the Mediterranean Sea.

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“…From Blue Nile, Tekeze and Atbara samples collected in nearby sites, Fielding et al. () obtained similar results, with somewhat richer Oligocene populations (Table ).…”

Section: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…The single Oligocene age obtained by Fielding et al. () in the White Nile sample collected farther north reveals mixing with Blue Nile sediments of the Gezira fan.…”

Section: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 69%

Section: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Nilementioning

confidence: 99%

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The zircon story of the Nile: Time‐structure maps of source rocks and discontinuous propagation of detrital signals

et al. 2018

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“…Zircon was analyzed in the following order, oxygen isotopes (Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing), U‐Pb isotopes (Natural Environment Research Council Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, Nottingham), and Lu‐Hf isotopes (Natural Environment Research Council Isotope Geosciences Laboratory). Detailed methods and the data set are located in the supporting information (Fielding et al, ; Horstwood et al, ; Li, Long, et al, , Li, Li, et al, ; Spencer et al, ).…”

Section: Samples and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capturing the Mesoarchean Emergence of Continental Crust in the Coorg Block, Southern India

Santosh

2018

Geophysical Research Letters

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The emergence of Earth's continental crust above sea level is debated. To assess whether emergence can be observed at a regional scale, we present zircon U‐Pb‐Hf‐O isotope data from magmatic rocks of the Coorg Block, southern India. A 3.5‐Ga granodiorite records the earliest felsic crust in the region. Younger phases of magmatism at 3.37–3.27 and 3.19–3.14 Ga, comprising both reworked crust and juvenile material, record successive crustal maturation. We interpret an elevation in δ18O through time as an increase in both the amount of sediment recycling and hence, crustal thickening, as well as an increase in the emerged area of continental crust available for weathering. Geochemical signatures do not point to any apparent change in geodynamic regime. We interpret the isotopic evolution of these rocks as solely reflecting regional emergence and thickening of the continental crust, assisted by the increasing strength of the lithosphere.

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The River Nile: Evolution and Environment

Woodward

Macklin²,

Krom³

et al. 2022

Large Rivers

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The Nile Basin drains about one tenth of the African continent and contains the longest river channel system in the world (>6500 km). The evolution of the modern drainage network and its fluvial geomorphology reflect both long-term tectonic and volcanic processes and associated changes in erosion and sedimentation, in addition to sea level changes (Said, 1981) and major shifts in both climate and vegetation during the Quaternary (Williams and Faure, 1980;Talbot and Williams, 2009;Woodward et al. 2015a;Williams 2019). In the Holocene, abrupt climate shifts, human impacts in the form of land use change over the last few millennia, and large dam construction over the last hundred years or so, have had major catchment-wide impacts on the hydrology and sediment budget of the River Nile. The river basin extends over 35° of latitude (4° S to 31° N) incorporating a great diversity of climates, river regimes, biomes and terrainsincluding the Equatorial lakes plateau of the White Nile headwaters, the semi-arid volcanic uplands of Ethiopia, the Sahara Desert, and the vast delta complex at the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is also the world's longest exotic riverit flows for almost 2700 km without any significant perennial tributary inputs. The true desert Nile begins at Khartoum (15° 37′ N 32° 33′ E) on the Gezira Plain where the Blue and White Nile converge (Figure 14.1). These two systems, and the Atbara to the north, are large rivers in their own right with distinctive fluvial landscapes and flow regimes. The Nile has a

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A detrital record of the Nile River and its catchment

Cited by 79 publications

References 80 publications

The zircon story of the Nile: Time‐structure maps of source rocks and discontinuous propagation of detrital signals

The zircon story of the Nile: Time‐structure maps of source rocks and discontinuous propagation of detrital signals

Capturing the Mesoarchean Emergence of Continental Crust in the Coorg Block, Southern India

The River Nile: Evolution and Environment

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