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Clay mineral variation in Tertiary sediments from the eastern flank of the Niger Delta

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

S. P. Braide  and
W. D. Huff
S. P. Braide
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221, USA
W. D. Huff
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221, USA
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Abstract

Detailed clay mineralogical and chemical analyses of well cuttings of Tertiary sediments from two wells, Uruan-1 and Uda-1, on the eastern flank of the Niger delta, have been made in an attempt to investigate clay mineral burial diagenesis. The clay mineralogy indicates a transformation of smectite to an interstratified illite-smectite (I/S) phase. The relationship between ordered and random interlayering, however, is nonsystematic. The chemistry of the <0·1 µm size fraction shows some tendency towards a net gain in K2O and Al2O3 and a net loss in SiO2 with depth, but the relationship does not correlate well with the thermal gradient. The distribution of kaolinite and chlorite in both wells appears to be unrelated in any regular way to smectite transformation and these two minerals are considered to be either the products of other diagenetic reactions affecting various stratigraphic levels, or the result of primary sediment deposition. In well Uda-1, kaolinite decreases in relative abundance with depth. This trend has been interpreted elsewhere as indicative of a transition from nonmarine to marine facies. The results of this study indicate that lack of ion mobility, rather than availability, is a significant factor in retarding the formation of ordered I/S with depth, and that lithology, overpressuring, carbonate cement, and original smectite layer charge may be controlling factors in the smectite → illite transformation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , June 1986 , pp. 211 - 224
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1986

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