Modeling granulometric, mineralogical, and geochemical composition of sediments: A quantitative tool for predicting sediment composition and reconstructing sediment provenance

数值模拟已成为地球科学多个领域的有力工具，但仍缺乏一个全面的模型来描述碎屑沉积物的组成。本研究旨在开发一种数值统计模型，以定量描述与物质从原始烃源岩到最终沉积地点的沉积物的整体转移有关的岩石学、化学和颗粒学变化。这些沉积物组成的相对变化（与初始来源相比）在很大程度上受构造、地貌、气候和运输能量的控制。这个模型既适用于归纳方法，也适用于演绎方法。该模型的潜在应用包括预测已知地质条件下的沉积物成分，以及根据最终成分重建沉积物物源。为了实现这一总体目标，它需要成功地执行两个子目标：(1)扩大我们对所谓的多向成分的理论理解（例如，报告沉积物样品的粒度、化学和矿物学的数据集）；(2)在几个案例研究中对多向成分变化进行建模，这些案例研究包括文献数据以及在本项目框架内获得的新数据集。

Numerical modeling has become a powerful tool in several fields of geosciences, but a comprehensive model to describe the composition of clastic sediments is still lacking. This study aims at developing a numerical-statistical model that allows for describing quantitatively the petrographic, chemical, and granulometric changes related to the overall transfer of material from the original source rock to the sediment at the final site of deposition. These relative changes of sediment composition (as compared to the initial source) are largely controlled by tectonics, physiography, climate, and transport energy. The model will be suited for both inductive and deductive approaches. Potential applications of the model are, for example, the prediction of sediment composition under well-known geologic conditions and the reconstruction of sediment provenance based on final composition. To achieve this general goal, it needs the successful execution of two subgoals: (1) the broadening of our theoretical understanding of so-called multi-way compositions (e.g., data sets reporting grain size, chemistry, and mineralogy of sediment samples) and (2) modeling of multi-way compositional change in several case studies comprising both literature data as well as new datasets obtained within the frame of this project.