Mineralogical and Crystal-Chemical Constraints on the Glauconite-Forming Process in Neogene Sediments of the Lower Guadalquivir Basin (SW Spain)

Glaucony is a significant green marine facies in the northwestern passive margin of the Guadalquivir Basin (Spain), where glauconite formed authigenically on a sediment-starved continental shelf, with fecal pellets and benthic foraminiferal tests being the main glauconitized substrates. Results from...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Fernández Landero, Sandra, Fernández Caliani, Juan Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
Repositorio:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/20071
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10272/20071
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Glaucony
Green marine clays
Authigenesis
Glauconitization
Glauconite-smectite mixed layer
2506.11 Mineralogía
Descripción
Sumario:Glaucony is a significant green marine facies in the northwestern passive margin of the Guadalquivir Basin (Spain), where glauconite formed authigenically on a sediment-starved continental shelf, with fecal pellets and benthic foraminiferal tests being the main glauconitized substrates. Results from a study using XRD, TGA-DSC, SEM-EDS, and EPMA have revealed that glauconite is remarkably heterogeneous in mineral composition and chemical maturity, even in a single grain, reflecting a complex interaction of micro-environmental factors, substrate influences and post-depositional alterations. In its early stage, the glauconitization process is consistent with the slow precipitation of a Fe-rich smectite phase, most likely intergrade between nontronite and Fe-montmorillonite end-members, which evolved to a regularly interstratified glauconite-smectite (Gl/S). The Fe-smectite-to-Gl/S transformation is interpreted as a diffusion-controlled reaction, involving sufficient Fe availability in pore water and the constant diffusive transport of seawater K + and Mg2+ ions towards the substrate. The pelletal glauconite is actually a highly evolved Gl/S consisting almost totally of mica layers, with 0.74 ± 0.05 apfu of K+ in the interlayer, while the Gl/S occurring as replacements of foraminiferal tests contains a mean of 7% of expandable layers in the walls and 16% in the chamber fillings, due to rate-limited ion diffusion.