Gross composition of the Lanaittu Sandstone in Eastern Sardinia, Italy

The Lanaittu Sandstone (middle-upper Campanian, Eastern Sardinia, Italy) was analyzed using the point-counting technique to determine the composition and provenance of the terrigenous detritus. 500 points were analyzed in each thin section, which had been stained to distinguish K-feldspar and carbonates. Analyses followed the Gazzi-Dickinson method (Ingersoll et al., 1984). Several grain categories were distinguished, including rock fragments. The petrographic analyses were conducted in 1994 at the Geoscience Department of the University of Padova, by Stefano Sanchetti, using a Carl Zeiss Winkel-Standard Optical microscope with KPL W 12.5X oculars. The objective magnifications were 5x, 10x, 25x, and 40x. The analysis reveals an arkosic or arkosic-lithic composition (Folk, 1980), indicating provenance straddling the fields of the transitional continent and recycled orogen (Dickinson, 1985).