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Aluminosilicate diagenesis in a Tertiary sandstone-mudrock sequence from the central North Sea, UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

J. M. Huggett*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, SW7 2BP, UK

Abstract

Mudrocks and sandstones from the Palaeocene of the central North Sea have been studied to assess the petrology, diagenesis and extent of any chemical interaction between the two lithologies. Authigenic and detrital minerals have been distinguished using a variety of electron microscope techniques. Small but significant quantities of authigenic minerals, which would not be detected by conventional petrographic tools, have been detected through the use of high-resolution electron beam techniques. Sandstone mineralogy has been quantified by point counting, and mudrock mineralogy semi-quantified by XRD. The detrital and authigenic mineralogy in the sandstone is almost identical to that found in the mudrock. The principal difference is in the relative proportions. Qualitative mass balance suggests that cross-formational flow has not been significant in either clay or quartz diagenesis.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1996

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