Abstract

The mineral and chemical composition of clastic deposits is commonly used as a proxy for reconstructing the climatic history of the Earth. A mineralogical and chemical study of clastic deposits from the Jurassic Tlaxiaco basin of southern Mexico illustrates that the entire sedimentary system in which detritus is generated, subaerially transported, and deposited exerts a major control on the composition of sedimentary rocks, placing some constraints on the use of mineral and chemical indices as paleoclimatic proxies. Since clastic deposits of the Tlaxiaco basin were formed under similar humid climatic conditions, but in sedimentary systems with different topography and transport histories, they represent a natural laboratory for testing the control that these parameters exert on the composition of clastic rocks. Our petrographic and chemical results show that, in sedimentary systems associated with low relief and in which detritus had the possibility of being temporarily stored in floodplains and meandering bars, parent rocks and the derivative detritus interacted with weathering fluids over a long time, producing clastic deposits with composition that is representative of the weathering conditions and climate of the region. On the other hand, in environments associated with steep and tectonically active relief, the rates of sediment transport and burial exceed the rate at which weathering can generate detritus, producing sedimentary deposits with composition that largely underestimates potential weathering and provide unreliable information on climate. Mineral and chemical indices should be considered as reliable paleoclimate proxies only when sedimentological data indicate that the sedimentary system allowed sediment interaction with weathering fluids over a long time.