Basic steps in determining the provenance of terrestrial sedimentary sequences, with examples from central and north west of Iran

By stating the fundamental differences between terrestrial and detrital facies, this paper emphasizes on the limitations of provenance studies in terrestrial facies. Considering the presence of coarse-, medium- and fine-grained facies in most of terrestrial sedimentary sequences, the differences in textural and mineralogical characteristics, their study methods and possible differences in the provenance of these facies, the basic and necessary steps in studying these facies for determining the sedimentary provenance was investigated. In explaining these steps, some examples from terrestrial formations of Central Iran (Upper Red Formation) and north west of Iran (Zivar Formation) are presented. The role of diagenesis, structural deformation and paleogeography in the provenance study and their importance in this type of studies are explained. Finally, it is discussed how to proof the accuracy of the interpretations for the studied sedimentary sequences.