Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T03:34:10.250Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The nature and origin of non-marine 10 Å clay from the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene of the Isle of Wight (Hampshire Basin), UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

J. M. Huggett*
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, University of Greenwich, Grenville Building, Central Parade, Chatham Maritime, ChathamKent ME4 4AW, UK
A. S. Gale
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, University of Greenwich, Grenville Building, Central Parade, Chatham Maritime, ChathamKent ME4 4AW, UK Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell RoadLondon SW7 5BDUK
N. Clauer
Affiliation:
Centre de Géochimie de la Surface (EOST, CNRS-ULP), 1 rue Blessig, 67084, Strasbourg CedexFrance
*

Abstract

Variegated palaeosols, which formed from weathering of clays, silts and brackish to freshwater limestones, are present in the Late Eocene–Early Oligocene Solent Group of the Hampshire Basin, southern UK. The composition and origin of the clay in three segments of the lower part of the Solent Group have been investigated by X-ray diffraction, microprobe analysis, inductively coupled plasma-mas spectrometry, K/Ar dating, high resolution scanning electron microscopy, analytical transmission electron microscopy and wet chemistry. The detrital clay mineral suite is dominated by illite and smectite with minor kaolinite and chlorite. Seasonal wetting and drying in gley soils has resulted in replacement of smectite by Fe-rich, or illite-rich illitesmectite. Illite has also formed with gypsum and calcite in ephemeral hypersaline alkaline lakes that periodically dried out. This illite may have precipitated directly from solution. X-ray diffraction data and probe analyses indicate that the neoformed illite is Fe-rich. The K and Fe for the illitization are thought to be derived from weathered glauconite reworked from the underlying Bracklesham Group and Barton Beds.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2001

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

Armenteros, I., Daley, B. & Garcia, E. (1997) Lacustrine and palustrine facies in the Bembridge Limestone (late Eocene, Hampshire Basin) of the Isle of Wight, southern England. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 128, 111–132.Google Scholar
Baker, J.C. (1997) Green ferric clay in non-marine sandstones of the Rewan Group, southern Bowen Basin, Eastern Australia. Clay Miner. 32, 499–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boles, J.R. & Franks, S.G. (1979) Clay diagenesis in the Wilcox sandstones of southwest Texas: Implications of smectite diagenesis on sandstone cementation. J. Sed. Pet. 49. 55–70.Google Scholar
Bonhomme, M.G., Thuizat, R., Pinault, Y., Clauer, N., Wendling, R. & Winkler, R. (1975) Méthode de datation potassium-argon. Appareillage et technique. Note Tech. Inst. Géologie, Univ. Strasbourg, 3, 53.Google Scholar
Brindley, G.W. & Brown, G. (1980) Crystal Structures of Clay Minerals and their X-ray Identification. Monograph 5, Mineralogical Society, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bristow, H.W., Reid, C. & Strachan, A. (1889) The geology of the Isle of Wight (2nd edition). Mem. Geol. Surv. U.K.Google Scholar
Chen, S.A., Low, P.F. & Roth, C.B. (1987) Relation between potassium fixation and the oxidation state of octahedral iro. J. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. 51, 82–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collinson, M.E. (1983) Palaeofloristic assemblages and palaeoecology of the Lower Oligocene Bembridge Marls, Hamstead Ledges, Isle of Wight. Botanical J. Linean Soc. 86, 177–255.Google Scholar
Daley, B. (1972) Macroinvertebrate assemblages from the Bembridge Marls (Oligocene) of the Isle of Wight, England and their environmental significance. Palaeoge ography, Palaeocl imatology, Palaeoecology, 11, 11–32.Google Scholar
Daley, B. (1973) The palaeoenviro nment of the Bembridge Marls (Oligocene) of the Isle of Wight. Proc. Geol. Assoc. 84, 83–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daley, B. & Edwards, N. (1974) Weekend field meeting: the Upper Eocene–Lower Oligocene Beds of the Isle of Wight. Proc. Geol. Assoc. 85, 281–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daley, B. & Edwards, N. (1990) The Bembridge Limestone (Late Eocene), Isle of Wight, southern England: a stratigraphical revision. Tertiary Res. 12, 51–64.Google Scholar
Deconinck, J.F., Strasser, A. & Debrabant, P. (1988) Formation of illitic minerals at surface temperatures in Purbeckian sediments (lower Berriasian, Swiss and French Jura). Clay Miner. 23, 91–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eberl, D.D., Środoń, J. & Northrop, H.R. (1986) Potassium fixation in smectite by wetting and drying. Pp. 296–326 in. Geochemical Processes at Mineral Surfaces (Davis, J.A. & Hayes, K.F., editors). ACS Symposium Series 323/14, American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Ferrell, R.E. & Carpenter, P.K. (1990) Application of the electron microprobe and image analysis in the study of clays. Pp. 108–132 in. Electron Optical Methods in Clay Science (Mackinnon, I.D.R. & Mumpton, F.A., editors). CMS Workshop Lectures, 2. Clay Minerals Society, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Fitzpatrick, E.A. (1980) Soils, their Formation, Classification and Distribution. Longman, London.Google Scholar
Forbes, E. (1853) On the fluvio-marine Tertiaries of the Isle of Wight. Q.J. Geol. Soc. London, 9, 259–270.Google Scholar
Gabis, V. (1963) Etude minéralogique et géochimique de la série sédimentaire oligocène du Velay. Bull. Soc. Franç. Minéral. Cristallogr. 86, 315–354.Google Scholar
Gale, A.S., Jeffery, P.A., Huggett, J.M. & Connolly, P. (1999) Eocene inversion history of the Sandown Pericline, Isle of Wight, southern England. J. Geol. Soc. London, 156, 327–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilkes, R.J. (1968) Clay mineral provinces in the Tertiary sediments of the Hampshire Basin. Clay Miner. 7, 351–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haq, B.U., Hardenbol, J. & Vail, P.R. (1988) Sea level changes: an integrated approach. Pp. 71–108 in. Mesozoic and Cenozoic Chronostratigraphy and Eustatic Cycles (Wilgus, C.K., Posamentier, H., Wagoner, J.V., Ross, C.A. & Kendal, C.G.St.C., editors). SEPM Spec. Publ. 42. Society of Economic Palaeontologists and Mineralogists, Tulsa, OK.Google Scholar
Hay, R.L., Guldman, S.G., Mathews, J.C., Lander, R.H., Duffin, M.E. & Kyser, T.K. (1991) Clay mineral diagenesis in core KM-3 of Searles Lake, California. Clays Clay Miner. 39, 84–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hooker, J.J. (1992) British mammalian paleocommunities across the Eocene–Oligocene transition and their environmental implications. Pp. 494–515 in: Eocene–Oligocene Climatic and Biotic Evolution (Prothero, D.R. & Berggren, W.A., editors). Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.Google Scholar
Hower, J., Eslinger, E.V., Hower, M.E. & Perry, E.A. (1976) Mechanism of burial metamorphism of argillaceous sediment: Mineralogical and chemical evidence. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 87, 725–737.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huggett, J.M. & Gale, A.S. (1997) Petrology and palaeoenvironmental significance of glaucony in the Eoc ene succession at White cliff Bay, Hampshire Basin, UK. J. Geol. Soc., London, 154, 897–912.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huggett, J.M. & Laenen, B. (1996) Green clays from the lower Oligocene of Aardebrug, Belgium, a reevaluation. Clay Miner. 31, 557–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglès, M. & Ramos-Guerrero, E. (1995) Sedimentological control on the clay mineral distribution in the marine and non-marine Palaeogene deposits of Mallorca (Western Mediterranean). Sed. Geol. 94, 229–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeans, C.V., Mitchell, J.G., Scherer, M. & Fisher, M.J. (1994) Origin of the Permo-Triassic clay mica assemblage. Clay Miner. 29. 575–590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jung, P. (1954) Les illites du bassin oligocène de Salins (Cantal). Bull. Soc. Franç. Minéral. Cristallogr. 77, 1231–1249.Google Scholar
Keen, M.C. (1977) Ostracod assemblages and the depositional environments of the Headon, Osborne and Bembridge Beds (Upper Eocene) of the Hampshire Basin. Palaeont. 20, 405–445.Google Scholar
Keen, M.C. (1978) The Tertiary–Palaeogene. Pp. 385–450 in: A Stratigraphical Index of British Ostracoda (Bate, R. & Robinson, E., editors). Bell House Place, London.Google Scholar
Keller, W.D. (1958) Glauconitic mica in the Morrison Formation in Colorado. Clays Clay Miner. 5, 120–128.Google Scholar
Liengjarren, M., Costa, L. & Downie, C. (1980) Dinoflagellate cysts from the Upper Eocene-Lower Oligocene of the Isle of Wight. Palaeont., 23, 475–499.Google Scholar
Newman, A.C.D. (1987) Chemistry of Clays and Clay Minerals. Monograph 6. Mineralogical Society, London.Google Scholar
Ollier, C. & Pain, C. (1996) Soils and Landforms. Wiley, Chichester, UK.Google Scholar
Parry, W.T. & Reeves, C.C. (1966) Lacustrine glauconitic mica from pluvial Lake Mound, Lynn and Terry Counties, Texas. Am. Miner. 51, 229–235.Google Scholar
Paul, C.R.C. (1989) The molluscan faunal succession in the Hatherwood Limestone Member (Upper Eocene), Isle of Wight, England. Tertiary Res. 10, 147–162.Google Scholar
Porrenga, D.H. (1968) Non-marine glauconitic illite in the lower Oligocene of Aardenburg, Belgium. Clay Miner. 7 421–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Retallack, G.J. (1990) Soils of the Past. Harper Collins Academic, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, D. & Wright, V.P. (1987) Ordered illitesmectite and kaolinite-smectite: pedogenic minerals in a lower Carboniferous paleosol sequence, South Wales. Clay Miner. 22, 109–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Crowhurst, S.J., Weedon, G.P. & Laskar, J. (1999) Astronomical calibration of Oligocene- Miocene time. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A, 357, 1907–1929.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, A. & Stoffers, P. (1980) Clay mineral diagenesis in two East African lake sediments. Clay Miner. 15, 291–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Środoń, J. & Eberl, D.D. (1984) Illite. Pp. 495–544 in. Micas (Bailey, S.W., editor). Reviews in Mineralogy, 13. Mineralogical Society of America, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Stucki, J.W. (1981) The quantitative assay of minerals for Fe2+ and Fe3+ using 1, 10 phenanthroline. II A photochemical method. J. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. 45, 638–641.Google Scholar
Stucki, J.W., Low, P.F., Roth, C.B. & Golden, D.C. (1984) Effects of iron oxidation state on clay swelling. Clays Clay Miner. 32, 357–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, H.J.O. (1921) A short account of the geology of the Isle of Wight. Mem. Geol. Surv. G.B.Google Scholar