Elemental geochemical insights into sediment sources, influx variations and depositional environment changes in the Eocene–Miocene Lark Formation, Danish North Sea

Abstract

The Lark Formation in the Danish North Sea holds great paleoenvironmental interest for understanding climatic and tectonic impacts on sediment supply and depositional environment during the latest Eocene to the Middle Miocene. This study investigates sediment provenance, variations in sediment flux, chemical weathering intensity, and redox conditions in relation to these climatic and tectonic events. A dataset of 86 cuttings and one core from six wells in the Danish North Sea was analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The recently published maceral composition of these samples was also included in this research.