Continental Genesis of Sands of the Novolutsk Member, Sablinskaya Formation of the Middle Cambrian (Northwestern Flank of the Moscow Syneclise)

Despite the high degree of knowledge about Cambrian-Ordovician sandy sequence in the northwestern flank of the Moscow syneclise, some of its subdivisions are still poorly studied. For the first time the article provides a comprehensive lithological analysis of the textural and mineral-structural composition of the Novolutsk member sands, common in the west of the Leningrad region. This member conventionally belongs to the Sablinskaya Formation of the Middle Cambrian. Significant differences between the studied sands and the sands of other units of the formation are shown, and their analogues are found in the eastern sections of the Baltic-Ladoga glint. The lenticular occurrence, specific textural complex and coarse-medium-grained composition of the Novolutsk unit sands made it possible to prove their continental alluvial genesis and link them with the sedimentary environments of the earlier identified Putilovskaya member sands of the Sablinskaya Formation.