The sources of the Paleocene London Basin marine to fluviodeltaic sandstones are currently unclear. High analysis number detrital zircon U-Pb age investigation of an early-mid Thanetian marine sand from East Kent, reveals a large spread of zircon age peaks indicative of a range of primary sources. In particular, a strong Ediacaran age peak is associated with the Cadomian Orogeny, while secondary peaks represent the Caledonian and various Mesoproterozoic to Archean orogenies. The near absence of grains indicative of the Variscan orogeny refutes a southerly or southwesterly source from Cornubia or Armorica, while the strong Cadomian peak points to Avalonian origin for a major component of the material. Furthermore, the relatively well expressed Mesoproterozoic to Archean age components most likely require significant additional Laurentian input. Comparison to published data shows that both Devonian Old Red Sandstone and northwesterly (Avalonia-Laurentia) derived Namurian-Westphalian Pennine Basin sandstones show strong similarities to the Thanetian sand. This pattern is consistent with derivation of Thanetian material via a SE draining proto-Thames River system that was initiated in the Paleocene due to uplift of western and northwestern Britain. This river system would have incised and eroded cover sandstones and potentially also Avalonian basement of mid to north Wales and England. However, the possibility of a contribution of Laurentian grains directly from the north via longshore drift cannot be excluded by the data, and the extent to which the sediment source signatures of Paleogene sands of the London Basin are variable both geographically and over time remains unclear.

目前尚不清楚古新世伦敦盆地海相到氟三角洲砂岩的来源。对来自东肯特的中南部Thanetian海砂的高分析数碎屑锆石U-Pb年龄调查显示，锆石年龄峰的分布范围很大，表明一系列主要来源。特别是，一个强烈的埃迪卡拉纪年龄峰与卡多马造山运动有关，而次要峰则代表了加里东纪和古宙造山运动的中元古代。几乎不存在指示瓦里斯卡造山运动的晶粒，这反驳了来自Cornubia或Armorica的南风或西南风，而强烈的Cadomian峰则指向该材料的主要成分是阿瓦隆人。此外，相对表达良好的中古生代至太古宙时代的组成部分极有可能需要大量的劳伦式输入。与已发布数据的比较表明，泥盆纪旧红砂岩和西北（Avalonia-Laurentia）衍生的那慕尔-威斯特伐利亚的奔宁盆地砂岩都与塔内期砂岩有很强的相似性。这种模式与通过英国东南部和西北部隆升在古新世开始的SE排放的原始泰晤士河系统推导塔尼陶质材料是一致的。该河流系统将切割和侵蚀覆盖的砂岩，并可能还会破坏威尔士中北部和英格兰的阿瓦隆地下室。但是，该数据不能排除Laurentian谷物通过北岸漂流直接从北部产生的可能性，而且伦敦盆地古近系砂的沉积物来源特征在地理上和时间上的变化程度仍不清楚。