Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T21:30:37.174Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Columnar-jointed bentonite below a Doleritic Sill, Tideswell Dale, Derbyshire, UK: formation during prograde contact metamorphism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2020

S Mullineux ,
RSJ Sparks Open the ORCID record for RSJ Sparks [Opens in a new window] ,
MD Murphy ,
C MacNiocaill ,
D Barfod ,
J Njorka  and
JC Schumacher
S Mullineux
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Road, BristolBS8 1RJ, UK
RSJ Sparks*
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Road, BristolBS8 1RJ, UK
MD Murphy
Affiliation:
Natural England, Northminster House, PeterboroughPE1 1UA, UK
C MacNiocaill
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, OxfordOX1 3AN, UK
D Barfod
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride, GlasgowG75 0QF, UK
J Njorka
Affiliation:
Core Research Laboratories, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, UK
JC Schumacher
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA
*
Author for correspondence: RSJ Sparks, Email: Steve.Sparks@bristol.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Columnar-jointed tuffs (bentonites) are located below the Lower Carboniferous Tideswell Dale Sill, Derbyshire, in an abandoned quarry. There are three zones of prismatic joints, columnar joints (∼60 cm thick and mean column width of 4.1 cm) and massive, conchoidally fractured rock sequentially from the dolerite contact downwards. The rocks are very fine-grained (1–10 µm) and consist mainly of sanidine, interlayered illite/smectite, and hematite, with minor quartz, apatite, montmorillonite, anatase and detrital minerals. High K2O and Fe2O3, low Na2O and low MgO are interpreted as due to alteration of felsic volcanic ash. The bentonite was contact-metamorphosed by the sill to temperatures of c. 300 °C. The progression of fracture geometries, thermal considerations and application of theories of column formation indicate that columns formed downwards away from the sill, due to prograde contact metamorphism of the originally clay-rich bentonite. The formation of columnar fracture networks by shrinkage due to igneous heating may have implications for the effectiveness of bentonite as a barrier for disposal of high-level radioactive waste. Regional dimensions include documenting widespread felsic explosive volcanism and inferring a Triassic oxidation event from palaeomagnetic data.

Keywords

columnar jointsbentonitevolcanicCarboniferouscontact metamorphism
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 157 , Issue 7 , July 2020 , pp. 1181 - 1198
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

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

Aitkinhead, N, Chisholm, JI and Stevenson, IP (1985) Geology of the country around Buxton, Leek and Bakewell. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 111 (England and Wales).Google Scholar
Arnold-Bemrose, HH (1899) On a sill and faulted inlier in Tideswell Dale (Derbyshire). Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 55, 239–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnold-Bemrose, HH (1907) The toadstones of Derbyshire; their field-relations and petrography. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 63, 241–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aydin, A and DeGraff, JM (1988) Evolution of polygonal fracture patterns in lava flows. Science 239, 471–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Babechuk, MG, Widdowson, M and Kamb, BS (2014) Quantifying chemical weathering intensity and trace element release from two contrasting basalt profiles, Deccan Traps, India. Chemical Geology 363, 56–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bachelor, RA (1999) Metabentonites from the Silurian inliers of the southern Midland Valley of Scotland: distribution and geochemistry. Scottish Journal of Geology 35, 71–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beard, CN (1959) Quantitative study of columnar jointing. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 70, 379–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Branney, MJ and Sparks, RSJ (1990) Fiamme formed by diagenesis and burial-compaction in soils and subaqueous sediments. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 147, 919–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brimhall, GH, Lewis, CJ, Ague, JJ, Dietrich, WE, Hampel, J, Teague, T and Rix, P (1988) Metal enrichment in bauxites by deposition of chemically mature aeolian dust. Nature 333, 819–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, E (1870) On a Columnar Clay-bed in Tideswell Dale, and on so-called Pholas-borings in Millers Dale. Geological Magazine 7, 585–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budkewitsch, P and Robin, PY (1994) Modelling the evolution of columnar joints. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 59, 219–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buist, DS (1980) Columnar sandstone, Island of Bute, Scotland. Geological Magazine 117, 381–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulkeley, R (1693) Part of a letter from Sir R.B. S.R.S. to Dr. Lister, concerning the Giants Causeway in the county of Antrim in Ireland. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 17, 708–10.Google Scholar
Buss, HL, Lara, MC, Moore, OW, Kurtz, AC, Schulz, MS and White, AF (2017) Lithological influences on contemporary and long-term regolith weathering at the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 196, 224–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, IB and Stephenson, D (1985) British regional geology: the Midland Valley of Scotland. 3rd ed. London: British Geological Survey, 172 pp. doi: 10.1002/gj.3350220111Google Scholar
Christidis, GE and Huff, WD (2009) Geological aspects and genesis of bentonite. Elements 5, 93–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connolly, JAD (2005) Computation of phase equilibria by linear programming: a tool for geodynamic modeling and its application to subduction zone decarbonation. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 236, 524–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connolly, JAD (2009) The geodynamic equation of state: what and how. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 10, Q10014. doi: 10.1029/2009GC002540.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuadros, J and Linares, J (1996) Experimental kinetic study of the smectite-to-illite transformation. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 60, 439–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dance, M, Hancock, PL, Sparks, RSJ and Wallman, A (2001) Fracture and surface crust development in a Holocene lava flow on the island of Tenerife, Canaries. Journal of Structural Geology 23, 165–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeGraff, JM and Aydin, A (1987) Surface morphology of columnar joints and its significance to mechanics and direction of joint growth. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 99, 605–17.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Domeier, M and Torsvik, TH (2014) Plate tectonics in the late Palaeozoic. Geoscience Frontiers 5, 303–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dong, H, Hall, CM, Peacor, DR and Halliday, AN 1995. Mechanisms for argon retention in clays revealed by laser 40Ar-39Ar dating. Science 267, 355–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fedo, CM, Nesbitt, HW and Young, GM (1995) Unraveling the effects of potassium metasomatism in sedimentary rocks and paleosols, with implications for paleoweathering conditions and provenance. Geology 23, 921–5.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitch, FJ, Miller, JA and Williams, SC 1970. Isotopic ages of British Carboniferous rocks. Conference Report 6th International Congress on Carboniferous Stratigraphy and Geology (Sheffield, 1967) 2, 771–90.Google Scholar
Foland, KA, Fleming, TH, Heimann, A and Elliot, DH (1993) Potassium-argon dating of fine-grained basalts with massive Ar loss: application of the 40Ar/39Ar technique to plagioclase and glass from the Kirkpatrick Basalt, Antarctica. Chemical Geology (Isotope Geosciences Section) 107, 173–90.Google Scholar
Goehring, L, Lin, Z and Morris, SW (2006) An experimental investigation of the scaling of columnar joints. Physics Review E 74, 36–115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goehring, L, Mahadevan, L and Morris, SW (2009) Nonequilibrium scale selection mechanism for columnar jointing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106, 387–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goehring, L and Morris, SW (2005) Order and disorder in columnar joints. Europhysical Letters 69, 739–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goehring, L and Morris, SW (2008) Scaling of columnar joints in basalt. Journal of Geophysical Research 113, B10203. doi: 10.1029/2007/JB005018.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gomes, CB, Castillo Clerici, A-M, Gadea, M and Comin-Chiaramonti, P (2014) Polygonal jointing in sandstones from Eastern Paraguay. Serie Correlación Geológica 30, 13–23.Google Scholar
Gradstein, FM, Ogg, JG, Smith, AG, Agterberg, FP, Bleeker, W, Cooper, RA, Davydov, V, Gibbard, P, Hinnov, LA, House, MR, Lourens, L, Luterbacher, H-P, McArthur, J, Melchin, MJ, Robb, LJ, Shergold, J, Villeneuve, M, Wardlaw, BR, Ali, J, Brinkhuis, H, Hilgen, FJ, Hooker, J, Howarth, RJ, Knoll, AH, Laskar, J, Monechi, S, Powell, J, Plumb, KA, Raf, I, RoÈhl, U, Sanaflippo, A, Schmitz, B, Shackleton, NJ, Shields, GA, Strauss, H, VanDam, J, Veizer, J, van Kolfschoten, Th and Wilson, D (2004) A geologic time scale 2004. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 500 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grim, RE and Bradley, WF (1940) Investigation of the effect of heat on the clay minerals illite and montmorillonite. Journal of the American Ceramics Society 23, 242–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grossenbacher, KA and McDuffie, SM (1995) Conductive cooling of lava: columnar joint diameter and stria width as functions of cooling rate and thermal gradient. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 69, 95–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, PK, Lovell, MA, Brewer, TS, Locke, J and Mansley, E (1996) Measurement of thermal neutron absorption cross section in selected geochemical reference materials. Geostandards Newsletter 20, 79–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hetenyi, G, Taisne, B, Garel, F, Médard, E, Bosshard, S and Mattsson, HB (2012) Scales of columnar jointing in igneous rocks: field measurements and controlling factors. Bulletin of Volcanology 74, 457–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, IG, Worden, RH and Meighan, IG 2001. Formation of inter-basaltic laterite horizons in NE Ireland by early Tertiary weathering processes. Proceedings of the Geologists Association 112, 339–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huff, WD and Turkmenogl, AG (1981) Chemical characteristics and origin of Ordovician K-bentonites along the Cincinnati Arch. Clays and Clay Minerals 29, 113–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaeger, JC (1968) Cooling and solidification of igneous rocks. In The Poldervaart Treatise on Rocks of Basaltic Composition (eds Hess, HH and Poldervaart, A), pp. 503–36. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
James, AVG (1920) Factors producing columnar structure in lavas. Journal of Geology 28, 458–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jourdan, F, Matzel, JP and Renne, PR (2007) 39Ar and 37Ar recoil loss during neutron irradiation of sanidine and plagioclase. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 71, 2791–808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirschvink, JL (1980) The least-squares line and plane and the analysis of palaeomagnetic data. Geophysical Journal International 62, 699–718.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laine, H and Karttunen, P (2010) Long-term stability of bentonite – a literature review. Posiva Oy Working Report 2010-53. 128 pp.Google Scholar
MacDonald, R, Gass, KN, Thorpe, RS and Gass, IG (1984) Geochemistry and petrogenesis of the Derbyshire carboniferous basalts. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 141, 147–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mallet, R (1875) On the origin and mechanism of production of the prismatic (or columnar) structure of basalt. Philosophical Magazine 50, 122–35, 201–26.Google Scholar
McConville, CJ and Lee, WE (2005) Microstructural development on firing illite and smectite clays compared with that in kaolinite. Journal of the American Ceramics Society 88, 2267–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mello, JM (1870) On an altered clay-bed and section in Tideswell Dale, Derbyshire. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 26, 701–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, JG (2019) Mini-columns and ghost columns in Columbia River lava. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 374, 242–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, DM and Reynolds, RC (1997) Identification of mixed-layer clay minerals. In X-ray Diffraction and the Identification and Analysis of Clay Minerals. 2nd ed., pp. 270–97. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nadeau, PH and Reynolds, RC (1981) Burial and contact metamorphism in the Mancos shale. Clays & Clay Minerals 29, 249–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neal, JT, Langer, AM and Kerr, PF (1968) Giant desiccation polygons of Great Basin playas. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 79, 69–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nesbitt, HW and Wilson, RE (1992) Recent chemical weathering of basalt. American Journal of Science 292, 740–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pellegrini, R, Lombardi, S, Rochelle, C, Boisson, JY and Parneix, JC (1999) Thermal effects of clay barrier materials: stress related effects. Proceedings of the 8th EC Natural Analogue Workshop Meeting, 23–25 March 1999, Strasbourg, France (eds von Maravic, H and Alexander, WR), pp. 107–12. Brussels: European Commission.Google Scholar
Perry, EA and Hower, J (1972) Late-stage diagenesis in deeply buried pelitic sediments. AAPG Bulletin 56, 2013–21.Google Scholar
Phillips, JC, Humphreys, MCS, Daniels, KA, Brown, RJ and Witham, F (2013) The formation of columnar joints produced by cooling in basalt at Staffa, Scotland. Bulletin of Volcanology 75, 715. doi: 10.1007/s0045-013-0715-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piper, JDA, Atkinson, D, Norris, S and Thomas, S (1991) Palaeomagnetic study of the Derbyshire lavas and intrusions, central England: definition of Carboniferous apparent polar wander path. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 69, 37–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pointon, MA, Chew, DM, Delcambre, B and Sevastopulo, GD (2018) Geochemistry and origin of Carboniferous (Mississippian; Viséan) bentonites in the Namur-Dinant Basin, Belgium: evidence for a Variscan volcanic source. Geologica Belgica 2, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, NJ and Cosgrove, JW (1994) Analysis of Geological Structures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 502 pp.Google Scholar
Pusch, R and Karnland, O (1988) Hydrothermal effects on montmorillonite. A preliminary study. SKB Technical Report TR 88-15. Stockholm: Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co (SKB).Google Scholar
Reijonen, HM and Alexander, WR (2015) Bentonite analogue research related to geological disposal of radioactive waste: current status and future outlook. Swiss Journal of Geoscience 108, 101–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Renne, P, Karner, B and Ludwig, KR (1998) Absolute ages aren’t exactly. Science 282, 1840–1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, EC (1988) Thermal properties of rocks. US Geological Survey Open File Report 88-441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sak, PB, Navarre-Sitchler, AK, Miller, CE, Daniel, CC, Gaillardet, J, Buss, HL, Lebedeva, MI and Brantley, SL (2010) Controls on rind thickness on basaltic andesite clasts weathering in Guadeloupe. Chemical Geology 276, 129–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarjeant, WAS (1967) Fibrous chlorites in the volcanic rocks of Derbyshire. Mercian Geologist 2, 85–95.Google Scholar
Schmidt, ST and Robinson, D (1997) Metamorphic grade and porosity and permeability controls on mafic phyllosilicate distributions in a regional zeolite to greenschist facies transition of the North Shore Volcanic Group, Minnesota. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 109, 693–7.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, RB (1971) Alkali exchange during devitrification and hydration of glasses in ignimbrite cooling units. Journal of Geology 79, 100–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smalley, IJ (1966) Contraction crack networks in basalt flows. Geological Magazine 103, 110–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sparks, RSJ (1988) Petrology and geochemistry of the Loch Ba ring-dyke, Mull (N.W. Scotland): an example of the extreme differentiation of tholeiitic magmas. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 100, 446–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Splettstoesser, JF and Jirsa, MA (1985) Columnar jointed sandstone in Beacon Supergroup, Britannia Range, Antarctica (Note). New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 28, 761–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srodon, J and Eberl, DD (1984) Illite and micas. In Reviews in Mineralogy, vol. 13 (ed. Ribbe, PH), pp. 495–544. Washington, DC: Mineralogical Society of America.Google Scholar
Stevenson, IP and Gaunt, GD (1971) Geology of the country around Chapel en le Frith. Memoir of the Geological Survey, Sheet 99 (England and Wales).Google Scholar
Tang, A-M, Cui, Y-J and Le, T-T (2008) A study on the thermal conductivity of compacted bentonites. Applied Clay Sciences 41, 181–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomkeieff, S.I. (1940) The basalt lavas of the Giant’s Causeway district of Northern Ireland. Bulletin of Volcanology 6, 89–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toramaru, A and Matsumato, T (2004) Columnar joint morphology and cooling rate: a starch–water mixture experiment. Journal of Geophysical Research – Solid Earth 109, B02205. doi: 10.1029/2003JB002686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torsvik, TH, Van der Voo, R, Meert, JG, Mosar, J and Walderburg, HJ (2001) Reconstructions of the continents around the North Atlantic at about the 60th parallel. Earth Science and Planetary Letters 187, 55–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Pluijm, BA and Marshak, S (1997) Earth Structure: An Introduction to Structural Geology and Tectonics. New York: WCB/McGraw-Hill, 495 pp.Google Scholar
Villa, IM (1997) Direct determination of 39Ar recoil distance. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 61, 689–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wall, GRT and Jenkyns, HC (2004) The age, origin and tectonic significance of Mesozoic sediment-filled fissures in the Mendip Hills (SW England): implications for extension models and Jurassic sea-level curves. Geological Magazine 141, 401–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waters, CN (2005) Tideswell Dale, Derbyshire (SK154 740). In Carboniferous and Permian Igneous Rocks of Great Britain North of the Variscan Front (eds Stephenson, D, Williamson, IT, Loughlin, SC, Millward, D and Waters, CN), pp. 293–5. Geological Conservation Review Series, No. 27. Peterborough: Joint Nature Conservation Committee.Google Scholar
Waters, CN, Waters, RA, Barclay, WJ and Davies, J (2009) A lithostratigraphical framework for the Carboniferous successions of southern Great Britain (Onshore). British Geological Survey Research Report RR/09/01.Google Scholar
Weinberger, R (2001) Evolution of polygonal patterns in stratified mud during desiccation: the role of flow distribution and layer boundaries. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 113, 20–31.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, P (1967) Volcanic rocks in the Peak District. In Excursions in the Sheffield Region and the Peak District National Park (eds Neves, R. and Downie, C.), pp. 47–53. Sheffield: University of Sheffield.Google Scholar
Wilson, E (1870) Altered clay-bed and sections in Tideswell Dale, Derbyshire. Geological Magazine 7, 520–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, M (1989) Igneous Petrogenesis. A Global Tectonic Approach. London: Unwin Hyman, 466 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, GM (2008) Origin of enigmatic structures: field and geochemical investigation of columnar joints in sandstones, Island of Bute, Scotland. Journal of Geology (Note) 116, 527–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, C-L, Conil, N and Armand, G (2016) Thermal effects on clay rocks for deep disposal of high-level radioactive waste. Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering 9, 463–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar