Progress in application of cathodoluminescence (CL) in sedimentary petrology

Summary

¶Significant progress has been made in cathodoluminescence (CL) studies in the last three decades due to the application of enhanced methods such as high-resolution spectroscopy. The luminescence of all detrital and diagenetic minerals such as quartz, feldspar, phyllosilicates, carbonates, apatites, zircons etc. can now be quantitatively characterized by spectroscopy. For siliciclastic sediments, the potential for provenance studies has been explored because varying conditions at the time of formation (e.g. of quartz and zircons) might be encoded within the CL and therefore provide fingerprints for particular grain populations. Different cement generations allow a cement stratigraphy to be established and the deconvolution of the diagenetic history of carbonate and clastic sediments. CL investigations of carbonate, apatite and – with some limitations – siliceous biogenic skeletons provide evidence of growth zonation (ontogenetic cyclicities and changes in spatial distribution) and diagenesis (intra-skeleton cementation and recrystallization).

However, further research using CL is required to fully understand detrital components, primary and secondary mineralization in sedimentary deposits and biogenic materials. We present here an, admittedly incomplete, overview of these developments.