Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T03:33:12.888Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Clay mineral evolution in the Illinois Basin and its causes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

M. Gharrabi  and
B. Velde
M. Gharrabi
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Géologie, URA 1316 CNRS, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris, France
B. Velde
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Géologie, URA 1316 CNRS, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris, France
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Samples from deep wells of the Palaeozoic Illinois Basin show the evolution of the illite-smectite (I-S) mineral transformation under low temperatures for very long periods of time. Curve decomposition of the XRD traces was used to identify and follow the evolution of the different clay minerals. All samples showed the presence of a large amount of illite (fine and coarse grained micaceous material) and a much smaller quantity of I-S. In a vertical section the R=1, I-S diffraction peak initially changes with depth indicating change from 80 to 95% illite content but it changes little with further depth. The I-S intensity decreases with depth compared with the illite peaks. These relations indicate that the clays in the Palaeozoic sequence of the Illinois Basin evolve continuously in the deep well, It appears that the final stages of I-S mineral transformation can reach a compositional stagnation (smectite content) as the I-S phase is dissolved to produce illite.

Using a kinetic model to describe the smectite to illite clay transformation, it is deduced that the Illinois basin had a longer period of deposition than indicated by present stratigraphy and that almost 1.5 km of sediments deposited in the Mesozoic were eroded in later Tertiary times. These conclusions are confirmed by published data on the maturation of organic matter.

Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , December 1995 , pp. 353 - 364
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1995

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

Barrows, M.H. & Cluff, R.M. (1984) New Albany Shale Group source rocks and hydrocarbon generation in the Illinois basin. In: Petroleum Geochemistry and Basin Evaluation, (Demaison, R.J. et al., eds.) American Association of Petroleum Geology, 429 PP.Google Scholar
Bergstrom, R.E., Shimp, N.F. & Fluff, R.N. (1980) Geologic and Geochemical Studies of the New Albany Shale Group in Illinois. Contract report DOE DE AC21 T6ET121442Google Scholar
Bruce, C.H. (1984) Smectite dehydration–its relation to structural and hydrocarbon accumulation in the northern Gulf of Mexico basi. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 68, 673–683.Google Scholar
Choo, M-I., Dickerson, D.R., CHOU S-F. & Sargent, M. L. (1991) Hydrocarbon source potential and organic geochemical nature of source rocks and crude oils in the Illinois Basin. Illinois Petroleum, III. State Geol. Survey, Urbana, III., 39 pp.Google Scholar
Comer, J.B., Smidchens, Z., Irwin, P.N., Sowder, K., Frankie, W.T., Lumm, D.K. & Hamilton-Smith, T. (1994) Plate 7, Map showing mean random vitrinite reflectance (Ro) for New Albany Shale (Devonian and Missippian) in the Illinois Basin. In: Final Report GRI-92/0391 Illinois Basin Studies, Gas Potential of the New Albany Shale (Devonian and Mississippian) in the Illinois Basin, (Hasenmueller, N. & Comer, J.B., eds.), Gas Research Institute, 83 PP.Google Scholar
Dambegger, H.H. (1971) Coalification pattern of the Illinois Basin. Econ. Geol. 66, 488–494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damberger, H.H. (1974) Coalification patterns of Pennsylvanian coal basins in of the Eastern United States. Geol. Soc. Amer. Spec. Paper 53, 53–73.Google Scholar
Dambeger, H.H. (1991) Coalification in North American coal fields. Pp. 503-522 in: The Geology of North America. (Gluskoter, H.J. et al., eds.), Geological Society of America, 622 pp.Google Scholar
Eardley, A.J. (1951) Structural Geology of North America, pp. 37–39. Harper Bros., New York, 624 pp.Google Scholar
King, P,B. (1951) The Tectonics of Middle North America, pp. 40-43. Princeton Univ. Press, 203 pp.Google Scholar
Lanson, B. (1990) Mise en évidence des mécanismes de transformation des interstratifiés illite-smectite au cours de la diagénese. Thése de Doctorat, Univ. Paris VI, France.Google Scholar
Lanson, B. & Champion, D. (1991) The I/S to illite reaction in the late stage of diagenesis. Am. J. Sci. 291, 473–506.Google Scholar
Lanson, B. & Velde, B. (1992) Decomposition of X-ray diffraction patterns; A convenient way to describe complex US diagenetic evolution. Clays Clay Miner. 40, 629–643.Google Scholar
Lanson, B. & Besson, G. (1992) Characterisation of the end of the smectite to illite transformation: decomposition of X-ray patterns. Clays Clay Miner. 40, 40–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leighton, M.W., Kolata, D.R., Oltz, D.F. & Eidel, J.J., editors (1990) Interior Cratonic Basins. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Memoir 51, 819 pp.Google Scholar
Nelson, W.J., Trask, C.B., Jacobson, R.J., Damberger, H.H., Williamson, A.D. & Williams, D.A. (1991) Absoraka Sequence, Pennsylvanian and Permian Systems. Pp. 143-164 in: Interior Cratonic Basins, (Leighton, M.W. et al., eds.) American Association of Petroleum Geology, Memoir 51. 819 pp.Google Scholar
O'HARA, K., HOWER. J. & Rimmer, S. (1990) Constraints on the emplacement and uplift history of the Pine Mountain thrust sheet, Eastern Kentucky: evidence from coal rank trends. J. Geol. 98, 43–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, R.C. Jr. (1985) NEWMOD: A computer program for calculation of one-dimensional patterns of mixed-layered clays. R:C. Reynolds, 8 Brook Rd. Hanover, NH 03755, U.S.A.Google Scholar
Spotl, C., Houseknecht, D.W. & Jacques, R. (1993) Clay mineralogy and illite crystallinity of the Atoka Formation, Arkoma Basin and Frontal Ouachita Mountains. Clays Clay Miner. 41, 745–754.Google Scholar
Sweeney, J.J. & Burnham, A.K. (1990) Evaluation of a simple model of vitrinite reflectance based upon chemical kinetics. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. 74, 1559–1570.Google Scholar
Vasseur, G., Demongondin, L. & Bonneville, A. (1993) Thermal modelling of fluid flow effects in thindipping aquifers. Geophys. J. Int. 112, 276–289.Google Scholar
Velde, B. (1985) Clay Minerals: a Physico-chemical Explanation of their Occurrence, pp. 334–357. Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Velde, B., Susuki, T. & Nicot, E. (1986) Pressuretemperature- composition of illite-smectite mixedlayer minerals: Niger Delta mudstones and other examples. Clays Clay Miner. 34, 435–441.Google Scholar
Velde, B. & Vasseur, G. (1992) Estimation of the diagenetic illite to smectite transformation in timetemperature space. Am. Miner. 77, 967–976.Google Scholar