Reconstruction of provenance and climatic conditions in the source areas based on fine-grained sediments from the Pliocene Productive Sereis, western South Caspian Basin

The study examines sediments of the Productive Series from the western South Caspian Basin. The main goal of this work is to reconstract provenance of the sediments and its relation to the climatic variability during the deposition of the Productive Series. The Productive Series is divided into a lower and upper division. The Russian Platform was the main sediment source area for the Lower Division. Three different sediment source areas were determined for the Upper Division: the Russian Platform was sediment source area for the Absheron Peninsula; the Greater Caucasus was the main sediment source area for the South Absheron Offshore Zone and the Lesser Caucasus was the main sediment source area for the Baku Archipelago. The sediments of the Lower Division have variable smectite and illite concentrations which indicate climate change between humid and arid conditions in the Russian Platform. The Upper Division of the Productive Series from the Absheron Peninsula is characterised by high amounts of illite. It suggests physical weathering under arid climatic condition on the Russian Platform at the time of deposition. Variation of the smectite and illite assemblages of the Upper Division from the South Absheron Offshore Zone probably indicate that the climate alternated between humid and arid conditions in the Greater Caucasus. The low amount of the TOC ratios in the Productive Series are associated with arid climatic condition in the Russian Platform and the Greater Caucasus. The much higher TOC/TN ratios (>35) indicate that sediments of the Productive Series were impacted by oil. However the low TOC/TN ratios (