Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-qs9v7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-08T22:52:21.272Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Discussion on the Origin of Clay Minerals in Sedimentary Rocks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Charles E. Weaver
Charles E. Weaver*
Affiliation:
Shell Oil Company, Houston, Texas, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

X-ray analyses of the clay minerals from thousands of sediments indicate that any of the major clay minerals can occur in abundance in any of the major depositional environments and there is no consistent coincidence between specific clay minerals and specific depositional environments. It is concluded that the great majority of clay minerals in sedimentary rocks are detrital in origin, strongly reflect the character of their source material, and are only slightly modified in their depositional environments.

The most common process acting on the clay minerals in marine environments is cation adsorption. The modifications produced by this process are secondary but because of the overemphasis of names rather than processes, they have been considered fundamental changes and the process has been called diagenesis. From the geologist’s viewpoint, the basic clay mineral lattice, which is inherited from the source material, is the most significant parameter of the clay minerals and modifications caused by the adsorbed cations are secondary, derived parameters reflecting the character of the depositional environment. This concept of dualism is essential to the understanding of clay genesis, and the significance of the two parameters must be understood before a genetic classification can be constructed and before clays can be used for geologic interpretation.

Type
Article
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals (National Conference on Clays and Clay Minerals) , Volume 5 , February 1956 , pp. 159 - 173
Copyright
Copyright © Clay Minerals Society 1956

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

Brown, George, 1953, The dioctahedral analogue of vermiculite: Clay Min. Bull., v. 2, p. 64–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galliher, E. W., 1935, Geology of glauconite: Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Bull., v. 19, p. 1569–1601.Google Scholar
Gilluly, James, 1949, Distribution of mountain building in geologic time: Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., v. 60, p. 561–590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grim, R. E., 1951, The depositional environment of red and green shales: J. Sed. Petrology, v. 21, p. 226–232.Google Scholar
Grim, R. E., 1953, Clay mineralogy: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York., 384 p.Google Scholar
Hendricks, S. B., and Ross, C. S., 1941, Chemical composition and genesis of glauconite and celadonite: Am. Min., v. 26, p. 683–708.Google Scholar
Krynine, P. D., 1949, The origin of red beds: New York Acad. Sci. Trans., ser. 2, v. 2, p. 60–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kunze, G. W., and Jeffries, C. D., 1953, X-ray characteristics of clay minerals as related to potassium fixation: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc., v. 17, p. 242–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levinson, A. A., 1955, Studies in the mica group: Polymorphism among illites and hydrous micas: Am. Min., v. 40, p. 41–49.Google Scholar
Millot, Georges, 1949, Relations entre la constitution et la genèse des roches sédimentaires argileuses: Géol. Appliq. et Prosp. Min., v. 2, Nancy, France, 352 p.Google Scholar
Millot, Georges, 1953, Héritage et néoformation dans la sédimentation argileuse: Congrès Géologique International, 1952, Fascicule 18, 163–175.Google Scholar
Pettijohn, F. J., 1949, Sedimentary rocks: Harper & Brothers, New York, 526 p.Google Scholar
Powers, M. C., 1957, The adjustment of land derived clays to the marine environment: J. Sed. Petrology, v. 27, p. 355–372.Google Scholar
Rice, C. M., 1948, Dictionary of geological terms: Edwards Brothers, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan, 461 p.Google Scholar
Rich, C. I., and Obenshain, S. S., 1955, Chemical and clay mineral properties of a Red-Yellow Podzolic soil derived from muscovite schist: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc., v. 19, p. 334–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rivière, André, 1953, Sur l'origine des argiles sédimentaires, Congrès Géologique International, 1952, Fascicule 18, p. 177–180.Google Scholar
Yan der Marel, H. W., 1954, Potassium fixation in Dutch soils: Mineralogical analyses: Soil Sci., v. 78, p. 267–287.Google Scholar
Walker, G. F., 1949, The decomposition of biotite in the soil: Min. Mag., v. 28, p. 693–703.Google Scholar
Weaver, C. E., 1953, Mineralogy and petrology of some Ordovician K-bentonites and related limestones: Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., v. 64, p. 921–943.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoder, H. S., and Eugster, H. P., 1955, Synthetic and natural muscovites: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 8, p. 225–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar