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Clay mineral-grain size-calcite cement relationships in the Upper Cretaceous Chalk, UK: a preliminary investigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2018

C. V. Jeans ,
N. J . Tosca ,
X. F. Hu  and
S. Boreham
C. V. Jeans*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK
N. J . Tosca
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9AL, UK
X. F. Hu
Affiliation:
Editorial Office of Journal of Palaeogeography, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), 20 Xueyuan Road, P.O. Box 902, Beijing 100083, China
S. Boreham
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, UK
*
*E-mail: cj302@cam.ac.uk
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Abstract

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The idea is tested that the evolution of the Chalk’s clay mineral assemblage during diagenesis can be deduced by examining the relationships between its clay mineralogy, particle size distribution pattern, and the timing and trace element chemistry of the calcite cement. The preliminary results from five different examples of cementation developed at different stages of diagenesis in chalks with smectite-dominated clay assemblages suggest that this is a promising line of investigation. Soft chalks with minor amount of anoxic series calcite cement poor in Mg, Fe and Mn are associated with neoformed trioctahedral smectite and/or dioctahedral nontronite and talc. Hard ground chalk with extensive anoxic series calcite cement enriched in Mg and relatively high Fe, Mn and Sr are associated with neoformed glauconite sensu lato, berthierine and dioctahedral smectite, possibly enriched in Fe. The chalk associated with large ammonites shows extensive suboxic series calcite cement enriched in Mg, Mn and Fe that show no obvious correlation with its clay mineralogy. Nodular chalks with patchy suboxic series calcite cement enriched in Fe are associated with neoformed dioctahedral smectite, possibly enriched in Al, and berthierine. Regionally hardened chalk with extensive suboxic calcite cement and relatively high trace element contents contain pressure dissolution seams enriched in kaolin and berthierine. Laser-based particle-size distribution patterns suggest that each type of lithification has a typical complex clay mineral population, indicating that subtleties in mineralogy are not being identified and that there could be some control on the size and shape of the clay crystals by the different types of cementation.

Keywords

chalkUpper Cretaceousclay mineralsgrain sizecalcite cementtrace elementsneoformationdiagenesis
Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 299 - 325
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2014 This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2014

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