Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-s9k8s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-20T19:49:58.087Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Illite/smectite diagenesis in Devonian lacustrine mudrocks from northern scotland and its relationship to organic maturity indicators

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

S. Hillier
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Southampton, Southampton SO9 5NH
T. Clayton
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Southampton, Southampton SO9 5NH

Abstract

Devonian rocks from the Orcadian Basin show an extreme range of organic maturity. Mean vitrinite reflectance ranges from 0·6 to 10·5% and spore colour from yellow-orange to black. Illite/smectite (I/S) is abundant in the clay fraction of lacustrine mudrocks and shows variation in expandability from 30 to <5%. A correlation is observed between expandability and vitrinite reflectance, but the specific relationship is different in the Moray Firth and the Caithness-Orkney areas. Illite ‘crystallinity’ measurements in the Caithness-Orkney area are also correlated with vitrinite reflectance. Geological evidence favours an I/S origin from precursor smectite, and mineral and chemical analyses of lacustrine shales show no evidence for regional differences in composition that might affect illitization rates. The different relationships within each region are believed to result from the different relative response of organic maturity indicators and clay minerals to temperature and reaction time. The lower I/S expandabilities in the Caithness-Orkney region at a given vitrinite reflectance are attributed to relatively longer burial times.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahn, H.J. & Peacor, D.R. (1986) Transmission and analytical electron microscopy of the smectite-to-illite transition. Clays Clay Miner. 34, 165–179.Google Scholar
Altaner, S.P., Hower, J., Whitney, G. & Aronson, J.L. (1984) Model for K-bentonite formation, evidence from zoned K-bentonite in the Disturbed Belt, Montana. Geology 12, 412–415.Google Scholar
Astin, T.R. (1982) The Devonian geology of the Walls Peninsula, Shetland. PhD thesis, Univ. Cambridge, UK.Google Scholar
Barker, C.E. (1983) Influence of time on metamorphism of sedimentary organic matter in liquid-dominated geothermal systems, western North America. Geology 11, 384–388.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, C.E. & Pawlewicz, M. J. (1986) The correlation of vitrinite reflectance with maximum temperature in humic organic matter. Pp. 7993 in: Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences 5. Palaeogeothermics (Buntebarth, G.& Stegena, L., editors). Springer-Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Biscaye, P.E. (1965) Mineralogy and sedimentation of recent deep-sea clay in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas and oceans. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 76, 803–832.Google Scholar
Burollet, P.F., Byramjee, J. & Couppey, C. (1969) Contribution a retude sedimentologique de$ terrains Devonien du Nord-est de TEcosse. Notes et Memoires No. 9. Companie Francaise des Petroles. Paris.Google Scholar
Donovan, R.N., Foster, R.J. & Westoll, T.S. (1974) A stratigraphical revision the Old Red Sandstone of north-eastern Caithness. Trans. R. Soc. Edin. 69, 167–201.Google Scholar
Eberl, D.D., Srodon, J., Lee, M., Nadeau, P.H. & Northrop, H.R. (1987) Sericite from the Silverton caldera, Colorado: Correlation among structure, composition, origin, and particle thickness. Am. Miner. 72, 914934.Google Scholar
Enfield, M.A. & Coward, M.P. (1987) The structure of the West Orkney Basin, northern Scotland. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 14, 871–884.Google Scholar
Hillier, S. & Marshall, J. (1988) A rapid technique to make polished thin sections of sedimentary organic matter concentrates. J. Sedim. Petrol. 58, 754–755.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hower, J. (1981) Shale diagenesis. Pp 6080 in: A Short Course in Clays for the Resource Geologist (Longstaffe, F. J., editor). Mineral. Assoc. Canada, Calgary.Google Scholar
Huff, W.D. & Turkmenoglu, A.G. (1981) Chemical characteristics and origin of Ordovician K-Bentonites along the Cincinnati Arch. Clays Clay Miner. 29, 113–123.Google Scholar
Karweil, J. (1956) Die metamorphose der kohlen nom standtpunkt der physikalischen chemie. Z. Deut. Geol. 107, 132–154.Google Scholar
Lopatin, N.V. (1971) [Temperature and geologic time as factors in coalification]. Akad. Nauk. SSSR. Geologicheskaya Izvestiya. 3, 95–106.Google Scholar
Marshall, J.E.A., Brown, J.F. & Hindmarsh, S. (1985) Hydrocarbon source rock potential of the Devonian rocks of the Orcadian Basin. Scott. J. Geol. 21, 301–320.Google Scholar
Mykura, W. (1983) Old Red Sandstone. Pp 205251 in: Geology of Scotland (Craig, G. Y., editor). Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Nadeau, P.H., Wilson, M.J. McHardy, W.J. & Tait, J.M. (1984) Interparticle diffraction: a new concept for the interstratification of clay minerals. Clay Miner. 19, 757–770.Google Scholar
Parnell, J. (1983) Ancient duricmsts and related rocks in perspective: a contribution from the Old Red Sandstone. In: Residual Deposits: Surface Related Weathering Processes and Materials (R. Wilson, C. L., editor). Geological Society Special Publication 11.Google Scholar
Pearson, D.A. (1984) Approaching a pollenjspore colour standard. Phillips Petroleum Company, Exploraton Projects Section, Bartlesville, OK 74004.Google Scholar
Perry, E. & Hower, J. (1970) Burial diagenesis in Gulf Coast pelitic sediments. Clays Clay Miner. 18, 165177.Google Scholar
Pettijohn, F.J. (1975) Sedimentary Rocks. Harper & Row, New York.Google Scholar
Price, L.C. (1983) Geologic time as a parameter in organic metamorphism and vitrinite reflectance as an absolute palaeogeothermometer. J. Petrol. Geol. 6, 5–38.Google Scholar
Price, L.C. & Barker, C.E. (1985) Suppression of vitrinite reflectance in amorphous rich kerogen: a major unrecognized problem. J. Petrol, Geol. 8, 59–84.Google Scholar
Ramseyer, K. & Boles, J.R. (1986) Mixed-layer illite/smectite minerals in Tertiary sandstones and shales, San Joaquin basin, California. Clays Clay Miner. 34, 115–124.Google Scholar
Reynolds, R.C. (1980) Interstratified clay mineals. Pp. 249304 in: Crystal Structures of Clay Minerals and their X-ray Identification (Brindley, G. W. & Brown, G., editors). Mineralogical Society, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberson, H.E. & Lahann, R.W. (1981) Smectite toillite conversion rates; effects of solution chemistry. Clays Clay Miner. 29, 129–135.Google Scholar
Robert P. (1985) Histoire Geothermique et Diagenese Organique. Elf-Aquitaine, France.Google Scholar
Rogers, D.A. (1987) Devonian correlations, environments and tectonics across the Great Glen fault. PhD thesis, Univ. Cambridge, UK.Google Scholar
Shultz, L.G. (1960) Quantitative X-ray determinations of some aluminous clay minerals in rocks. Clays Clay Miner. 7, 216–224.Google Scholar
Singer, A. (1984) The paleoclimatic interpretation of clay minerals in sediments: a review. Earth Science Reviews. 21, 251–293.Google Scholar
Singer, A. & Stoffers, P. (1980) Clay-mineral diagenesis in two East African lake sediments. Clay Miner. 15, 291–307.Google Scholar
Smart, G. & Clayton, T. (1985) The progressive illitization of interstratified illite-smectite from Carboniferous sediments of northern England and its relationship to organic maturity indicators. Clay Miner. 20, 455–466.Google Scholar
Srodon J., (1979) Correlation between coal and clay diagenesis in the Carboniferous of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. Proc. 6th Int. Clay Conf. Oxford, 251-260.Google Scholar
Srodon, J. (1984) X-ray powder diffraction identification of illitic materials. Clays Clay Miner. 32, 337–349.Google Scholar
Srodon J., & Eberl, D.D. (1984) Illite. Pp. 495–544 in: Micas (Bailey, S. W., editor). Reviews in Mineralogy 13, Mineralogical Society of America.Google Scholar
Tardy, Y.S. Bocquier, G., Paquet, H. & Millot, G. (1973) Formation of clay from granite and its distribution in relation to climate and topography. Geoderma. 10, 271–284.Google Scholar
Tarling, D.H. (1985) Palaeomagnetic studies in the Orcadian Basin. Scot. J. Geol. 21, 261–273.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.J. (1971) Clay mineralogy of the Old Red Sandstone (Devonian) of Scotland. J. Sedim. Petrol. 41, 995–1007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, M.J. & Nadeau, P.H. (1985) Interstratified clay minerals and weathering processes. Pp. 97118 in: The Chemistry of Weathering. (Drever, J. I., editor). D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Holland.Google Scholar
Wolf, M. (1975) Uber die Beziehung zwischen Illit-Kristallinitat und Inkohlung. N. Jb. Geol. Palaont. Mh. 7, 437–447.Google Scholar