Terrestrial dominance of organic carbon in an Early Cretaceous syn-rift lake and its correlation with depositional sequences and paleoclimate

Organic carbon (OC) burial in lakes has been identified as an efficient sink in the global carbon cycle. Abundant input of terrestrial-derived OC leads to high variability in OC origin and type, but its role in determining organic-rich sediments has been overlooked in prior studies. Here, we investigated the OC source and concentration of the Lower Cretaceous (Middle Aptian to Lower Albian) Shahezi Formation (Songliao Basin, NE Asia) to reveal the burial of terrestrial OC in relation to syn-rift lake evolution and paleoclimate change. The sequence stratigraphic framework of fan-deltaic and lacustrine successions was established by identifying depositional facies and sequence boundaries. The lacustrine-dominated interval was further subdivided into four facies associations (i.e., lake shore to littoral siltstones, shallow-littoral mudstones, sublittoral, and profundal) and a few cyclic, parasequence-order packages, using 90 m of continuous cores and high sampling frequency of RoqSCAN SEM-EDS. Multiple independent proxies (macerals identified using correlative light and electron microscopy, pyrolysis indices, Ro, TOC/TN, and δ13Corg) suggest that the organic fraction of the highly mature mudstones was predominantly contributed by terrestrial-derived OC (gas-prone type III/IV kerogen). A direct correlation between depositional facies, chemical weathering proxies (CIA, CIAcorr, and Ln(Al2O3/Na2O)), and OC burial (TOC and HI) has been established. A steep syn-rift slope, a warm–humid climate, abundant vegetation, and the subaqueous transport of OC-bearing sediments (e.g., massive mud-rich conglomerates and sand- to pebble-bearing mudstones), may have jointly promoted the high input of terrestrial OC. A comparison between two Lower Cretaceous terrestrial records from high and low paleolatitudes suggests that the shift from the syn-rift to post-rift phase was accompanied by an increase in TOC concentration and a change toward Type I kerogen of aquatic origin. The tectonically-controlled evolution of rift basins might be an important forcing function for the change of OC sources and concentrations, which is responsible for long-term OC burial in hinterland environments.